Madhouse diaries : A race against the weather

We're on holiday this week and next but we've been stuck indoors because of the abysmal weather. We did attempt a trip to the park on Tuesday but it was closed due to the high winds, so as the rain had finally stopped and the wind had dropped today, I decided we needed to get out in the fresh air. Sophie was lured away by the call of the high street but Pierre and Juliette were up for a big long walk to the beach and a geocaching adventure.

 We called into a park on the way for a quick play.

And I noticed that the sky was greying over. Hmm not a good sign !

We carried on our way towards the beach and, walking through the port area, we noticed that one of the derelict boats was being propped up by big inflatable buoys. Maybe it was getting a bit precarious after storm Imogen ?

We looked out to the lighthouse and saw the skies darkening before our eyes !

We carried on nevertheless and walked through the Garden of Sculptures.

 The Madhouse kids always love clambering over the rocks here.

We spotted a beautifully coloured duck - it looked black but changed to green as the light reflected off it. It's basically the colour of a mallard's head but all over.

Coming out of the park, we headed for the Passerelle, Dunkirk's newest bridge, linking the modern art museum to the promenade.

As we admired the architecture, Mother Nature wanted to show that she can do better. It was only faint but a rainbow appeared in the sky behind the bridge. You can just see it if you look carefully.

It fits in quite well with the surroundings, especially when the white bridge stands out against a grey sky, like today.

We went looking for a geocache and Pierre was very proud to be the one to find it.

Oops, look at the colour of the sky !

It looks like the end of the world is nigh !

It was still not enough to dampen our spirits though and Pierre had fun pretending to be a koala ! 

I must admit, I was keeping a wary eye on the sky though !

Juliette decided to have a go too.

But she's grown a bit since the last time she tried ! Well, she will be the ripe old age of 11 in three days !

We could see that it was raining out at sea and it wasn't long before big fat drops started spattering around us.

I asked the kids if they wanted to go and shelter but they said no, we've got hoods, let's carry on. I've trained them well !

They even wanted to peel off their socks and shoes to run across the sand.

I warned them it would be freezing cold but they had to see for themselves ... which they did after five minutes !

We followed the jetty towards the brighter weather.

 But behind us, it was closing in fast.

Run Pierre, the storm clouds are trying to catch you !

At the end of this jetty is the west jetty from which the British and allied troops made their escape during the Evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II.

A new Hollywood film about Operation Dynamo is currently being prepared and filmed in Dunkirk so it will be interesting to see that when it hits the screens.

The seagulls were out in force so I guessed a storm was really on the way.

We picked up our final geocache then headed for home.

It was only half past four but the light was fading fast.

Luckily the kids still had big smiles on their faces, especially as we popped into a shoe shop just next to the bus stop and grabbed some new boots for Juliette. They had a promotion where you could get a second pair for free so Pierre got some new trainers too - bonus ! When we got home, I checked the Fitbug and was slightly shocked to see that we'd walked 13.3km (8 and a quarter miles).

Happily linking up with Showcase Sunday!