Sun, sea and sand

The weekend arrived, the sunshine out, temperatures soaring and the days getting longer. It can only mean one thing...A trip to the beach!

IT is that time of year. The temperatures rise and the days are long. Us Brits always moan and put up with the rain - cliched it may sound. But when the sunshine's out, we all like to make the most of the weather. More so on a weekend and that's understandable.

That's what the weather was last weekend. It was hot and dry, so it was perfect day to go out on a road trip. Head to the beach and get a nice tan to boot. Which was what me and my friends went on a convoy to Ainsdale. With three cars and nine people en route from Darwen.

The trip to the Merseyside coastal town means driving on different kinds of roads. It starts off on the motorway on the M65 and then onto the M61, which is only for the first quarter of the journey. Then it goes onto twisty B-roads and long, straight country lanes. It was a blast. If you happen to be a keen driver from East Lancashire, you will enjoy driving to and from Ainsdale.

On route M65: Mark was in front of me, and Dany lead the way.

Being a road trip, it wasn't just about me, Dany and Mark out for a long drive in our cars. It was also about spending quality time with friends out on the road. I had three of my friends: Sam, Vicky and Marty on board. Dany had Laura and Chris, and Mark with Lewis in their cars. Having spontaneous conversations, banter, blasting out tunes (oh yes a bit of Motorhead!) with the windows down made it even more enjoyable.

On our way down to Ainsdale, we had our moments. The funniest was when we we were passing a young lad, who was riding his bike on the pavement of the dual carriageway. He didn't have his hands on the handlebars. So I beeped the horn, he jumped and quickly grabbed the bars so he didn't fall off his bike. Cruel but funny nonetheless.

Brave taking an Audi R8 to the beach. I'd worry about ruining the paintwork.

As we were arriving, traffic slowed down as there was a long queue to get into the beach. That was down to people stopping, and having to pay to park their cars in the beach at the entrance. But as I was waiting, I spotted a lovely Audi R8 on the way in.

On arrival, we looked for a spot where we could park all three cars. Then laid everything out, everyone except me slapped on some suncream. We played with a rugby ball, had a paddle in the sea and did some digging in the sand with a shovel. We also met up with Steph, who I went to school with and haven't seen for a long time. She came up with her boyfriend Logan and their dog Oscar. We had nice catch up.

Besides spending time with my friends. I couldn't help myself but do some car spotting. As the evening folded, there was many modified cars turning up, and more people were racing and/or ragging their cars on the sand. There were some hideous cars like some clunked up  Vauxhall Corsas. There was also some nice ones like the white Ford Focus RS and the custom early Nineties, Volkswagen Polo that made Dany's knees ache. That's because he used to own one and he loved that car which he christened as Lola. Then there was the Nissan GT-R too which made mine ache.

We stayed at the beach until sunset. The only gripes were that it was too windy, and that I brought some of the beach back in the car with how much sand was in it when I got home. Some of us got sunburned. Oh and the awkward moment I ripped my pants and when running to catch the rugby ball.

Despite that, we didn't let it get in the way and spoil the fun for us all. To top it all off, it was great day out once again like it was the first time. To conclude on this, we love going to Ainsdale. No doubt it will be done again this summer.