Wensum: Fakenham writer Jim Harding on trip to Borth in Wales and ‘sad reflection’ on empty shop

In this week’s column, Fakenham writer Jim Harding discusses his family trip to Wales and its similarities and differences to his home town…

After a long-winded drive across the country from Fakenham to the west coast of Wales, we settled into our holiday home by the sea in Borth, relieved to have made it there without incident.

Nothing much had changed in a place familiar from family visits over the past ten years or so. This time we were on our own.

That first evening was sunny and warm so Alison headed into the sea, having pledged to take a daily dip.

With a grey sky over a grey sea the next morning that pledge was tested but survived.

The view from our upstairs window is defined by two rocky breakwaters, separated by some fifty yards.

These indicate the state of the tide, clear when it is out, and covered when fully in.

I loved the sight of a determined cormorant, perched on one end, desperate to retain its position until the incoming water finally forced it into flight.

Summer turned to winter the next day with strong winds and crashing waves. The kite surfers were undeterred.

In fact they revelled in the conditions, skating across the sea with amazing skill, their colourful kites pulling them along at what I considered to be reckless speed. But then they were young.

I had similar thoughts watching surfers tackling huge waves in Honolulu and somehow emerging unscathed.

My attempts at surfing were pitiable in comparison, despite putting in time previously on the beaches around Sydney.

Whilst Borth is familiar territory and a quiet retreat, it does sit by a long-distance coastal path which connects with Aberystwyth to the south.

With energetic sons for company, I have previously trailed this tough up-and-down path alongside them with a welcome pub at its culmination.

This year my sights have lowered somewhat and I’m happier to contemplate the sea from my window seat.

A small pleasure in this town is to wander along its solitary main street.

House fronts are not just painted in bright colours, some in the blue and yellow of Ukraine, plenty of them acknowledge the sea-faring history of the community.

There are sailing ships, pirates, fish, mermaids - you name it.

The artistry is quite impressive. I once recall a shop in Fakenham painted in Norwich City colours being deemed ‘inappropriate’.

Whilst I may have complained about the current ‘empty shop’ factor in Fakenham, poor old Borth has a similar plight.

As more of a tourist town, the past summer season’s weather may have had much to do with this. One window caused me to pause.

Writ large on it was ‘Harry’s Cafe and Ice Cream Emporium.’ It was shut fast, its dining area filled with a jumble of tables, chairs and other bits of furniture. Such a sad reflection on what might have been.

Our personal break away from home has been a period of welcome separation and relaxation from all the numerous demands which make up our daily round.

I’m sure we’ll fit back into them again with renewed energy and be grateful to have ’switched off’ for a couple of weeks.

I brought three paperback books with me and have so enjoyed them whilst also gazing seawards that they were somehow finished in the space of less than a week.

They were all about someone else’s adventures in places I had previously travelled through, and more to the point, were well-written and often made me laugh out loud.

I’ll now have to raid the well-stocked library here in the downstairs living room.