Felixstowe

Felixstowe is a seaside town in Suffolk and is home to the largest container port in the UK. I took three empty cat baskets there for a day trip earlier this week. Like you do…

It all started a week ago when I checked the Facebook page of one of my rescuer friends. A lovely lady had been fostering some of her Romanian cats over here, but due to circumstances beyond her control, she could no longer afford to keep them. Another wonderful lady offered to take them on, but she was about a 2.5-hour drive away and there was a panic to find transport. I read many offers to take them part of the way, but people either didn’t have enough cat baskets or were talking about transferring the cats en route. This seemed like a recipe for disaster, so I checked my little Smart car would take four of our baskets and volunteered to do the entire run.

Tuesday was chosen for the transfer and because the lady in Suffolk wasn’t available until mid-afternoon, I decided to check out Felixstowe as a possible sunset location on the way home. There are some wonderful sea defences that I have had my eye on for some time. Remarkably, the tide fitted perfectly with sunset and the weather forecast was promising too. So I paid for the Dartford Crossing, but arriving at the fosterer’s house at lunchtime, it was to find all the arrangements had changed. I already knew one cat had been adopted, but the remaining boy had a fit after being put in a basket to await my arrival. He recovered quickly after being released, but it was clear he wasn’t up to the long journey. The ladies had been chatting and decided that the two female cats could stay too and would receive a monthly donation for their keep instead. That was wonderful news, but it left me part-way through a rescue mission with nothing to rescue. I rang my husband who was working from home while keeping our eleven cats company. He urged me to go to Felixstowe anyway and that is how I found myself parking up by the beach with three empty cat baskets on board.

I was way too early for sunset, but I checked out the defences and with the angle of the tide and the steep drop of the beach on the left-hand side, I couldn’t figure out how to handle the shot. I went for a walk instead, but a couple of hours later I was confronted with the same problem. My solution was a simple one – my gear and I got a soaking as the waves crashed over the defences. I was grateful to my tripod that stayed rock solid for the 51-second exposure and the image can be seen featured above.

Just before the sun set behind the port, I rushed up the beach to take the image below. Wiping down my camera and tripod, I poured the seawater out of my wellies before setting out for home. I was still soaking wet when I arrived two hours later.