Exploration Essex

~ Clacton Station ~

Summer holidays provide a great chance to relax, unwind and take your time whilst exploring new places and enjoying new experiences. This year's holiday saw me down in Essex, using Clacton-on-Sea as a base for exploring the local towns and seaside resorts. The weather was fine and I was excited about the potential discoveries awaiting me, so let's see what I got up to...

Monday - the journey down to Clacton, largely uneventful apart from an unplanned detour around some roadworks in Luton! We had a quick look around Clacton itself, first impressions were of a clean, well maintained town with a nice promenade and gardens - not quite the run down hellhole I was somehow expecting. Then its across to St Osyth to find our camp and have a drink in the Essex Seagull pub, my local for the week.

Tuesday - the first full day of the holiday begins with a closer look at Clacton, walking along the seafront before heading off to investigate the impressive railway station and the rather ugly library. I then spend half an hour or so lurking on Pier Avenue taking pictures of the local First Essex and Hedingham buses, before strolling along the pier feeling slightly concerned about some worrying creaking noises coming from below. Next up was the sedate seaside town of Frinton-on-Sea, where I found a nice local station complete with traditional level crossing (a dying breed sadly). The afternoon was spent exploring Brightlingsea, a historic cinque-port with a quiet little town centre and endless rows of beach huts.

Wednesday - another busy day of exploration began with a ride up to Walton-on-the-Naze, admiring yet more beach huts and dodging swarms of pesky bugs. As usual, I tracked down the train station, finding a rather boring modern booking office and a single platform - the neighbouring building looked far more interesting, and I wondered if this might have been the old station house? My next point of call was Harwich, a working port with a hint of industrial grimness that brought back painful recollections of visits to places such as Lowestoft and Barrow-in-Furness, memorable for all the wrong reasons! Harwich did grow on me actually - the historic quayside had some interesting buildings and a number of traditional backstreet pubs, whilst I also enjoyed visiting the train station and bus garage. Saying that, we didn't want to hang around too long and instead headed over to Manningtree for a hearty lunch in the Crown pub overlooking the River Stour. Dodgy weather then set in for the afternoon so it was back to Clacton for a look around the retail centres and shopping villages, although bargains seemed very thin on the ground.

Thursday - the highlight of the whole holiday came with a cracking morning spent at Colchester, admiring the Castle and surrounding gardens then getting the usual transport shots. Colchester Bus Station proved a great base for bus photos, although I wasn't so keen on Colchester Town Railway Station. I also indulged in a couple of First Essex bus rides when exploring Colchester North Station, catching the 62 there and the 61 back - it's always great to try out the local network and this proved no exception. The afternoon saw us head across Mersea Island, parking up for lunch by yet more beach huts (by this stage, I was seriously beginning to wonder just how many huts one stretch of coastline can take!) A final visit to Clacton and a farewell drink in the Essex Seagull then finished things off very nicely indeed.

And before I knew it, the holiday was over and it was time to come home. On reflection, I really enjoyed looking around this little corner of Essex and I must admit that any concerns I had about arrogant Cockneys and seaside squalour proved totally unfounded. The quiet, residential (dare I say retired?) nature of the locations I visited, and the welcoming, friendly locals meant that I left instead with fond memories of an area that is well cared for, has a lot of pride and was a pleasure to explore. If nothing else, I certainly know where to go if I want a beach hut in future...