31 Jan Weekend walk and breakfast

There’s nothing quite like an early walk on a Sunday morning. Lovely in the summer but invigorating in the autumn and windswept winter months when the promise of a cooked breakfast, a latte and the Sunday papers makes you walk just a little bit faster.

The Penguin Cafe on the seafront at Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire serves a perfect full English for just such an occasion. Its walls are decked with photos of every shape and size of penguin and its owners are more than happy for you to bring your dog in out of the cold.

From the cafe you can walk in either direction along the beach – head South East towards Elmore with its firing ranges where your dog (and your children) can run totally free, or head in the opposite direction towards Stubbington past the public slipway with its summer jet skiers and hovercraft museum.

Both are level and easy walks along the promenade – and make for the basis of some great family cycling routes as well.

If a full cooked breakfast isn’t your thing then there’s always The Shack at the end of the prom by the beach huts – there you can park and sit in your car with a steaming coffee or a hot chocolate.

In the right winds the skyline is alive by this car park with kitesurfers jumping waves – the perfect backdrop to while away an hour.

You never know, you may get inspired to take to the waves yourself!