WALTON ON THE NAZE

East, West, home's best, but we had a great few days away in the East. In Tilbury, I was camera free in my wedding gear, so no pictures. Another time with that one; a town that deserves attention. We also stayed in Upwell, near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire and Leytonstone in London again, but failed to photograph anything of interest due to the whistle-stop nature of our visits. Walton, however was great. The slightly down at heal neighbour of Frinton-on-Sea a little way along the coast, Walton is a classic British seaside town with a pier two thirds of a mile long and a great sandy beach. The inevitable amusement arcade is housed in an enormous hangar-like structure at the coast end of the pier, along with a ghost train, waltzer, and bumper cars. I'm not sure I would want to spend too long there but the surrounding countryside and salt marshes are fantastic. We stayed with an old friend of mine who I had not seen for at least fifteen years. His house backs onto Walton Mere (seen below), a lovely salt marsh earmarked for a very controversial development which would involve the destruction of a fabulous area for birds and wildlife, and my friend's view. It seems plans are currently on hold due to local opposition. Walton boasts a Martello Tower, which you can see in the background of the picture below, and in the words of the entrance sign close by, 'Britain's cheapest camp site'. It could have been Essex rather than Britain, but whichever it was, it's not helping the image of the place. Classy. Here are some pictures at last.....

View from friend's garden with the Martello Tower in the background

Boats on the Mere

Concrete barge used to transport fuel during WW2, now abandoned

Looking over towards the port of Harwich and its giant cranes

Beach huts and the pier 

The pier again

OB avoiding the waves

The tide was right in at this point, with waves spraying people walking by

Not doing so well avoiding getting wet here

Lifeboat at the end of the pier

More pier shots; I love the pattern of the boards, some of which were looking a bit dodgy

Inside the hangar

New residents in a run down sea-front house

Interesting spelling here, particularly the use of the acute accent

These next few were taken in the evening sun down Quay Lane where there is one of the many creeks in the area:

Sorry it's taken me so long to post but it's taken days to get back to normal. The dogs are well, as is Trigger although he has some serious separation in one of his hooves. Am packing it and it should grow out fairly quickly. The weather is lovely. I won't bore you with the tale of the Renault Megane and the Tilbury monsoon this time so until next time, here are the dogs sleeping together at last.