On Saturday we decided to give the car an outing and see what was going on at Walton-on-the-Naze.
Adult and young herring gull, Walton-on-the-Naze
The journey to Walton usually takes about an hour and a half, but the roads were exceptionally busy this weekend with people taking advantage of the last weekend of the school holidays. So by the time we got to Kirby Cross, Parker’s Garden Centre with its free to pee loos was a most welcome site. We had a bit of a mooch around and bought some biscuits and cider, before heading into Walton itself.
After a great fish and chip lunch at Yates, we headed out to the Naze peninsula. Despite the weather being a bit grim there were plenty of people determined to enjoy a day out by the sea in that dogged British way. Barefoot Mums, huddled in blankets to supervise their rain-coated broods as they splashed in the surf or hunted for fossil shark teeth by the breakwaters, grans munched on winkles bought at the seafood stalls, while granddads unscrewed the cap of the Thermos for ‘a nice cup of tea’ while one young couple stripped off and ran into the waves, love almost blinding them to the icy cold.
Even the gulls were cold
I stuck to observing the wildlife. Aside from getting a few decent pictures of herring gulls, I spotted black headed gulls, feral pigeons, sand martens, pied wagtails, magpies and jackdaws.
Sounds like you had a great time. 🙂 How do you decide upon the places ? You always choose very interesting ones.
Walton is only about 70 miles from where we live and the Naze peninsula is an are of special scientific interest thanks to the fossils that are constantly weathering out of the cliffs, It’s also a good place to see birds and if you take a boat trip to the backwaters seals.
Ah! Thank you for this information. 🙂
These are beautiful descriptions of the day. I could picture the beach so clearly. Gray days are my favorite. I would have loved to huddle under a blanket with a thermos full of tea.
We are a stoic island breed over here in the UK, a bit of cold won’t stop us enjoying ourselves at the seaside
What is a wrinkle that you eat? I couldn’t find a definition for it. I’ve heard of winkles (don’t know what they are, either!) I enjoy your descriptions very much!
A winkle is a small mollusc, Looks a bit like a snail. Traditionally you soak them in vinegar and pick them out of the shell with a pin. Other popular shellfish you can get from seafood stalls at the British seaside (and sometimes from pubs inland) are cockles, whelks and prawns
Glad you enjoy the posts.
Whoops wrinkle was a typo should have been winkle