Reaching the Sea

on the way to the beach

looking for the sea

When giving the kitchen a quick clean the day before our trip water poured onto the floor below the fridge. Van-Man switched off the tap and investigated. After some muttering he found the waste pipe below the sink leaking. He removed the sink and reconnected the pipe. Though he had fixed it he was reluctant to use the sink this trip as he gloomily felt the pipe was too short and could pop off again.

Walking along the Dyke

We left home at 10.35 after packing the fridge and lading clothes and dog food. Van-Man drove to the first services on the M25 then I took over and drove through rain showers while he sipped his Costa coffee. I drove through the Dartford tunnel and turned onto the A12 until I reached Chelmsford. I feel more confident with the Motor Home now and rolled along at a steady 60.

between the shingle and the dyke

From there Van-Man drove to Sutton Heath where we had our lunch. Lottie Lurcher lay down beside the van while we ate and waited expectantly. Afterwards we took Lottie Lurcher for a sunny thirty minute walk through the heath land. Rather than return the way we had come we followed Lottie back through the wooded paths to our van. She seemed to know the way back even though she was on strange territory. Could she smell her way back?

It was only 6 miles from our lunch stop to Run Cottage Touring Park. We found it easily and were greeted with smiles.

Once we booked it Van-Man brewed tea, happy that the site was level so that he didn’t have to use his ramps. However Lottie was restless. I took her to the dog walk but she wanted to go further and Van-Man didn’t want to drive again.

Shingle street

Then he decided to walk to Shingle Street the local beach, which would probably be rejected by our sand loving hound. Shingle Street was supposedly 1½ miles away along narrow lanes. The whole area was criss-crossed with drains wide and narrow.

The lanes bent this way and that. It was the longest 1½ miles I could remember. It normally takes me half an hour to go that far yet after 40 minutes there was no sign of the sea. Lottie was well behaved on the road, which only had a couple of cars pass us while we trudged along.

At last we rounded a bend and a pebble wall was stacked ahead of us. Two cars were parked opposite a footpath which wound along a grassy dyke. I guess all the locals walk from there not the village.

sea view

We finally left the road and took a path along a dyke following a wide drain that led to the top of the shingle. Lottie Lurcher took a quick dip and lapped at the water. She stopped as if surprised by the sea water as most other streams she has paddled in near the sea stay salt free all the way to the beach. Once wet she had a run and then rolled on the coarse grass alongside the dyke. As predicted she didn’t like the shingle beach and lagged behind. Once back on the dyke she ran ahead exploring.

Salt marsh 

On the walk home on the lead Lottie Lurcher was determined to walk on the wrong side of the road instead of walking towards any oncoming traffic as advised in the Highway Code. Of course Lottie Lurcher has not read that manual but again traffic was scarce. In the end Van-Man followed her rather than let her jay walk along the road. We cut off a corner of the long walk by passing through the church grounds.

Dyke walk

Back at the van she relaxed and so did we. After cooking and eating our meal Van-Man insisted on taking our washing up to the wash up facilities which were fairly close to the van.

“The last thing I want is dirty water running over our fridge and floor,” he declared. “There is no way of checking the waste pipe without lifting the sink. I will improve the plumbing when we get home.”

I didn’t mind where he washes up. After cooking it’s just great that he tackles that. There was a clear sky full of bright stars this night, which made the stroll to the toilet block a real treat.