A Year Around Britain in a Motorhome - Week 7 - Wallasea, Walton-On-The-Naze, and Ipswich

 

WEDNESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2014 Week 7

Essex was a very short and sweet county to travel through. Derek and I lived in the county for far too long 😊, and as I worked around there for a while, I’d pretty much seen most of the place. But we did stay at Riverside Village at Wallasea Island, and it rained and rained and rained and rained... you get the gist.

We have done very well with the weather since arriving back from Cyprus from our honeymoon in mid-August. I couldn’t believe we were still sitting out on our reclining chairs in shorts and t-shirts at the beginning of October, so I guess we can’t complain too much. We’ve had an Indian summer, and now, apparently, we are set to endure an arctic winter. Great, and we’ll be spending it in the northern tip of Scotland as we plan to spend Christmas up there. 

I’ve never understood the British obsession with weather forecasts. My mum used to go on about it all the time, but whoa, betide us if she missed the weather after the six o’clock news! All I used to do was look out of the window and see clouds, wind, rain or sunshine and dress appropriately for the day. 

Now I understand the obsession, having sat in a motorhome while a thunderstorm passed right overhead this week while I was in Walton-On-The-Naze. The whole van shook; it was quite scary, and I usually LOVE thunderstorms.

Enough of the weather for now. So, Wallasea was an odd place. When we checked in, the lady in reception was showing us the map of the caravan site and pointed out ‘the clubhouse’. So we were like, ‘Ooh, let's go for a walk and have a drink in the clubhouse' (orange juice before anyone asks). It was deserted and had looked as if it had been all summer, with weeds everywhere, windows frosted, etc. So we went to this mariner with million-pound yachts moored there, and this clubhouse was also shut with the creepiest, mankiest toilet facilities ever, urgh. (I will save my public toilet phobia for another blog).

Walton-On-The Naze was much nicer; the campsite (Naze Marine) was actually still providing evening entertainment, which was great. We watched a comedy act called We’re Not The Blues Brothers. It was amusing, and the swimming pool was open, undercover, and warm. The seaside town was small and cutesy, with a dinky pier, and I actually liked the area. 

I wanted to stay a few more nights, but we were moving on to Orwell Meadows, close to Ipswich. The site was lovely, in beautiful countryside, although there were no towns close by; we booked over the weekend because it had a swimming pool and a clubhouse, both of which were closed. It was a ghost camp, and we were expecting small camps to be like this after Halloween, not before.

Anyhoo!! Onwards and Upwards, along the East Anglian coastline and on to Felixstowe.

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