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.

BUDE

What a contrast to the last time we were by the sea in Teignmouth, with sub-zero temperatures only a month or so ago. It took us about an hour and a quarter to drive to Bude, which, contrary to my shameful geography, is just onto Cornwall rather than North Devon. I know this, not just because we whizzed past a 'WELCOME TO CORNWALL' sign, but because it was printed on the top of our parking ticket. More stupidity here....we just forgot to buy a ticket, despite the 'pay and display' signs everywhere. Too excited about being at the seaside no doubt. A £25.00 fine we could well do without but, on a positive note, the diesel is much cheaper in this part of the world, and the parking would have been a staggering £5.00 anyway. Origami Boy ventured into the freezing water - rather him than me! 

Today, I did something I have always been self conscious and terrified to do, and that's taking pictures of the public. The photographers I most admire have always done it, so I gritted my teeth, and they were slightly gritty after dropping my sandwich, and pointed the lens.....not all with people in obviously, but the day would not have been depicted properly without doing so. 

Snippet on the rocks

Many of the horizontal rocks were eroded into these soft, pillowy shapes

The vertical cliff faces, not so pillowy

Preparing to launch....

Launching......It crashed to the ground seconds later sadly

More pillowy rocks 

Happy in the sand

Kidney Vetch....thanks Caroline! 

http://carolinegillwildlife.blogspot.co.uk/

Sitting with the Antiques Roadshow again writing this and feeding the fire or we won't have any hot water tomorrow. It can be a chore when the weather's hot, but it's usually chilly in the evenings here. Snip is lying on my feet having had to be brought home after some reluctance regarding his evening walk. This is unheard of.....a slight limp on a rear paw seems a likely cause. What on earth has he done this time? Until next time, here he is looking particularly sweet on the rocks again.