Anna's Island Style: Nornour island

Hello lovelies!

Yes, this was our Friday escape. Steve and I had an awayday motoring off in our little boat to the Eastern Isles for a day of eating, drinking and splashing about in the sea. We've both been working hard, putting in long hours to keep up with things and this was our reward.

This is our favourite uninhabited island giving a Robinson Crusoe feel to our day. As we landed on the tiny spit of sand the flock of gulls took flight leaving us to set up camp on the white brow of the island. Our needs were simply to sit down and enjoy the view. Taking time away from home was long overdue and we talked and talked and talked. We've both been on a loop of eat, work, sleep for weeks and this was such a treat.

The pale turquoise strip of sand is where a beautiful sandbar reveals itself on the low tide. I was hoping we could get onto the sandbar before we went home and kept my eye on things as the day progressed.

And I wasn't the only one to be drawn to the lure of Ganilly sandbar.

Kayaks and boats arrived spilling the beach lovers onto the silky smooth sand as it revealed itself more and more. Steve and I bided our time, waiting until the last visitor left before we headed across.

The water was deliciously warm around the edges of the sandbar, ideal for wee paddle.

Messing about in boats, a picnic and splashing about in the water - that's my idea of a fun way to spend a day off!

Here's an update for you late readers -

I sent this photo into BBC Breakfast programme last Sunday just as I was writing this blog post. They had asked for viewers to send in photos of how they were managing to keep cool in the heatwave. Much to my amazement, and only 5 minutes later this appeared on my screen.

Some of my Instagram followers saw it on TV and sent me messages too!

Anna

Meet my lovely friends Bo and Dave who recently travelled from Portugal to visit us for a long weekend. That's surely the sign of a great friendship when your mates travel for 24 hours just to see you for three nights. We had a busy few days, eating, drinking and generally making merry and yes, we had a lot of laughs too.

The weather was cool but bright and calm enough for a boat trip. Bo was keen to visit one of the Eastern Isles so that's what we did. It was dead low water as we chugged across St Martin's flats resulting in our fine boatman having to pull the engine up and use a paddle to punt us across the stretch of water that was at times just inches deep. It all added to the sense of adventure, especially when Steve declared that we might not be able to land on Nornour as the low tide had revealed a lot of rocks. We hatched a back-up plan that we would land instead on the nearby stretch of white sandbar and set up our picnic there if necessary.

But rocks, seaweed and low tide weren't going to scupper our plans! We skimmed around the sandbar and Steve manoeuvred the boat slowly into the shallows of the Eastern Isles. We encountered lots of seals along the way as we pootled slowly through the long fronds of seaweed, picking our way into the shore. They are hugely inquisitive mammals, but are also quick to duck out of the way in response to a camera being pointed their way.

Hurrah, Nornour was ours!

After a couple of beers to wash down our picnic we climbed to the top of the island to admire the view. The autumn sunshine was dazzling and the company wasn't half bad either.