9 April 2015

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Pigeon in a hole - St Botoplph's Priory, Colchester - established 1095
Day Three at Mersea. Yesterday - Day Two - we drove over The Strood and onwards to Colchester which proudly boasts that it is England's oldest town. And they are probably right as The Romans established a major garrison there between AD43 and AD50. 

We parked near St Bodolph's Priory, the oldest Augustinian priory in England and then we visited the Minories Arts Centre where we chatted with the friendly director before heading into Castle Park. This is where some of Colchester's oldest architectural treasures may be found - including the Norman castle, a Roman wall and the foundations of a Saxon church. I also spotted some fine swans on the boating lake.

Then we wandered around the shopping streets before heading back to the Minories for lunch.

Back on Mersea Island, we headed for the hammerhead jetty and soon upon a whim we paid for a short harbour cruise that took us around The Packing Shed Marsh Island where oyster fishermen once prepared barrels of  local oysters for transport to London and beyond. Later, Shirley drove me over to the hamlet of East Mersea so that I could undertake a five mile walk along the coast and back to West Mersea, reappearing at our apartment just before six. Soon after that we ambled round to "The Fox" for our evening meal - great value homemade roast beef dinners with lubrication courtesy of IPA ale and French Merlot.
This morning a sea mist cloaked Essex coastal areas and all day the sun struggled to make an impact. Half a mile inland there were blue skies but at the coast a Sherlock Holmes fog swirled. We went to Clacton on Sea and then on to Frinton and Walton on The Naze. It was only when we turned up in Brightlingsea that the sea fret receded for a while and allowed us to experience some of the sunshine that had been bathing the rest of the British Isles all day.

Brightlingsea is less than half a mile from Mersea but there is no ferry and no bridge so you have to drive eight miles north to Colchester to cross The River Colne and then eight miles south to get back to the island

We went straight to the local curry house for an excellent Indian meal. When we came out it was getting dark and the sea mist was thicker and chillier than before. We are hoping that Day Four won't be shrouded in fogginess but the forecast looks similar - sunshine everywhere else but clouds over the Essex coast.
Sandcastle at Brightlingsea

20 comments:

  1. No photos? Don't think you have ever posted just words before. Your five days are flying by.

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    1. I am sure there were no photos 5 minutes ago ~ must be going crazy. Did you have a ride on a big swan? Perhaps that's you in the digger looking for treasure on the beach?

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    2. Carol Has a New Blog! Hurrah! I shall go over there shortly!
      No I was not digging for treasure with the yellow digger, I was burying poems!
      And I did not have a ride on a big swan, I chose a giant lobster instead!
      All the best with the new blog Carol!

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  2. Seriously, Mr. Pudding, you really need to sell that fifth picture. I love it! I am a sucker for well done photos of doors and unusual windows and homes. Wow! The weather might be less than perfect, but your photos are perfect, as usual!

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    1. You are so kind Mama Thyme! Those beach huts have bugged me. They're so delightful to see in reality but hard to capture in photographs. I have taken about thirty snaps of them and I am still not entirely happy with the results.

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    2. No, no, no, no. That is an absolutely gorgeous! pic!

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    3. I agree!
      So you have a thing for doors, too? I have an entire collection of "Doors & Doorways" and have posted about that topic on my blog some time ago. My pictures are, of course, nowhere near as well done as YP's, but maybe you are still interested and want to have a look.

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    4. Sigmund Freud would have been able to analyse your obsession with The Doors. Perhaps it's down to Jim Morrison's boyish good looks!

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  3. I'd love a couple of those swans, but they wouldn't fit in my shower recess; but, on further thought...they would float nicely on my landlords' larger pond. Hmmmm......

    I agree with Ms Thyme's comment re the fifth photo...find time to show it far and wide...it's a beauty!

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    1. You don't need a swan in your shower Lee, you need a great big duck!
      Thanks also for your photo vote! The Beach Hut Party wins the election.

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  4. Great shot of the beach huts. I hope they let you back into Yorkshire.

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    1. I doubt that the border guards will prevent my re-entry - especially when I sing them every verse of "On Ilkley Moor Bah Tat".

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  5. Did you take pictures on the 5-mile-walk from the hamlet back to where you are staying?

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    1. The photo of the digger and the beach walkers was taken on that walk Miss A. I also saw damage to the sea wall on the south coast. Clearly some of the land lies below sea level and winter waves have bitten hard into the concrete. The southern path was "closed" to the public but I ignored it.

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  6. Such pretty beach huts too. Put it up on Google Earth YP, it's very English. Looks like you are having a nice holiday.

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    1. I will add the photo to Panoramio when I get home along with numerous others Helen. Don't you have beach huts in Australia? How can anybody have beach fun without a beach hut?

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    2. We're too busy surfing and fighting off sharks to huddle inside funny little houses at the beach YP !

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  7. The photo of teh beach huts is a doozie

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    1. Thank you John even though I am not sure what a "doozie" is!

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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