A Year Travelling the UK Coastline - Week 6 - Essex - Kelvedon - Tiptree Jam - Braintree - Southend On Sea - Mersea Island

 WEDNESDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2014 Week 6 - Different Strokes

This week, we have mainly been in Essex, which has meant sorting out little jobs, like getting the back of the van sorted with my book stickers and promotional material for when we go to book signings and, fantasy conventions, etc. (picture).

We’ve stayed in Kelvedon Hatch, near the 'secret' war bunker, which's not so secret anymore and Steeple Bay Holiday Park near Maldon. Ever stayed in a small caravan park at the end of the season? It’s odd, a bit of a caravan ghost town, and the clubhouse at night is like going to a village of die-hard bingo-crazed people who all know one another (caravan owners’ exclusive club). 

Having said that, there are some lovely places to visit around here: Castle Hedingham. We went here on a medieval day, with knights fighting and jousting and fair maidens showing the tourists around! I love anything like that.

If you have a sweet tooth, there's Tiptree, where the world-famous Tiptree jam is made. They offer a tour of the game and chocolate-producing areas, which offers lots of opportunities to taste yummy products.

I particularly love Mersea Island. You can access via a bridge which floods twice a day as the tide comes in, so you do need to check the tidal times so you don't get cut off if you are staying on the island or you get stuck on the island if you are just visiting. This island is famous for growing oysters, so there are some great seafood shacks along the beachfront. I recommend The Shed. It's simply presented with just crusty French sticks and salads, but it's absolutely delicious, and you cannot get seafood or oysters any fresher than here. There beach area has cute coloured Beach huts and there is a great camp site right of the beach. Thoroughly recommend Mersea. 

Southend On Sea may not be for everyone, but I love it. It's Essex's Blackpool, but smaller. It's got everything you need for a traditional British Seaside holiday town, with a fun fair and a train that takes trips out to the longest pier in the UK. I first discovered the cockney classic, Pie and Mash with Liquor and jellied eels! (I didn't try the eels, though!). And Jaime Oliver even has a temporary restaurant on the pier where he films his seasonal cookery programme.

I can only have a blog about travelling through Essex if I mention Braintree and Halstead. I love this little market town, but I may be biased as I lived in Braintree for a year. Halstead has the most amazing antique warehouse, which was featured in the fabulous 90s TV series Lovejoy. And I have to say that this area of Essex is where Lovejoy was regularly filmed, so if I ever feel I need Braintree or Essex, I watch a little of Ian McShane!

Del and I took a little detour back to London for a night this week ten years ago to attend the Different Strokes Annual Convention. Since Derek suffered his stroke twelve years ago, he has raised funds for this noble charity, which helps with knowledge, rehabilitation, and support for young stroke sufferers, their families, friends, and carers. I can honestly say it was a moving and humbling experience for both of us.

Derek had already raised money for them in the past by doing a 101-mile walk (when doctors told him he would never walk again and then said he would only ever walk with a stick!). He proved the doctors wrong and then went on to do a 101-mile swim a few years later. Different Strokes have given him and continue to provide help and support. We believe more awareness about stroke needs to be raised, like knowing what signs to look out for in recognising a stroke and acting fast when it happens to get the necessary clot-busting drugs to that person as quickly as possible.

For me, the best parts of the day were the uplifting and heart-warming stories that stroke survivors shared of how they coped with their new lives after stroke and how they have found the positive from something that has left some of them with challenging disabilities. An inspirational and humorous speaker was Megan Giglia, who had a stroke at just 27 years old, an active, healthy young woman who was a sports coach and carer. Two years later, Megan 2 (as she calls herself) has found love with “One who loves her for who she is” and is now representing Team GB in the Rio 2016 Para-cycling team. She said, “The way I look at it, Megan 1 had no chance of competing in the Olympics, but Megan 2 has every chance.”. Since meeting Megan, she went on to win a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic games and was awarded an MBE at the 2017 New Year's Honours list. Amazing!

We heard an acceptance speech from the husband of the recently deceased Mal, who won the Volunteer of the Year Award. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Despite her own illness and disabilities from her own stroke, she worked tirelessly campaigning for stroke survivors and fundraising for Different Strokes.

Then there was the learning aspect for me; despite being married to a stroke survivor, there were a lot of things I didn’t kno
w myself about the condition or that the level of treatment and care differs greatly depending on which part of the country you live in, which was shocking. (More facts and figures will be provided in the next blog post.)

I particularly enjoyed the presentation by Clinical Neuropsychologist Jo Johnson, who has written and published a book – Shrinking The Smirch; by using a metaphorical creature to explain some of the problems stroke survivors suffer, especially self-esteem and self-doubt, she demonstrates how those harmful little monsters (Our Smirch) constantly nagging away at us in our heads and how it can be shrunk or changed to something positive, (I noticed quite a few NLP techniques in there) and as Jo delivered her speech it was quite obvious to me that anyone and everyone could read this book and recognise themselves in there.

Don't forget to go to my YouTube Channel for more Travel VLOGS 

And my book Links here for The Beyond Series of Epic Urban Fantasy 

or if you prefer crime and suspense, why not try The Mancunian Tales