Staycation Spring 2023 #2 Fen Farm

We were finally packed up and ready to leave just before 11am.

The drive up towards the Dartford Crossing was very odd as the Ohrex Satnav seemed to think we needed to go through London. Even once we ignored it and it kept recalculating it seemed to think we had more than a hundred and thirty miles to go.

A quick cancel and reprogram and it cut that to 36! It still took us through Colchester itself.

Amazingly the Dartford Crossing was flowing traffic. Even though we planned to stop at Thurrock Services I got in the right tunnel. The left one was held at a red light.

Our left turn off the M25 was done easily as there was no traffic in the roadway. What the hold up was I have no idea.

From there it was plain sailing. The satnav reboot had us arriving at the entrance to the site just after 3pm.

By the time we arrived the tide had dropped and the causeway was open. There was plenty of evidence that when high tide the sea covers a large part of the land.  

I had fitted my brother's GoPro Hero and hoped to get some footage. The screen stays on for a few minutes and I have no idea how long it actually records for. If at all.

Our first stop was a a seafood place called The Company Shed.  Luckily it is near the car-park as the road is a dead end.  Although the car-park says that the first hour is free, how you prove this seems impossible as both machines are out of order? We almost fitted in a space.

At West Mersea

I tried not to look too surprised when they charged £16 for a dressed crab!  GULP! You can eat in but it's a BYOB type of place. The latter B could be bottle and it could be bread!

Once we had spoken to the warden and shown to our pitch I hooked up the electric and we had a cuppa before exploring the nearby beach. 

Of course. I took the Sony Cybershot with me. Anyone remember the curse of Sony's MemoryStick?  

Any photos you see in this blog will have been added once I got home!

On the pitch at Fen Farm

We had a walk along as far as we could towards West Mersea and then back. There's another caravan site that stops any further progress. Some of them have a very close view of the sea....

The beach is covered in oyster shells. Some single halfs but many where the shells have stuck to others. All empty of course.

The tide was out by now.  It was getting on for 4pm.

On the way back we stopped at the shop of the next door site. Just for a few "essentials". The Quavers and cheese biscuits were very nice. But expensive!

Once back it was time to eat the dressed crab and bread.. washed down with Thatcher's cider. Very nice.

It turned cold and I turned on the gas. We had a few teething problems with the Whale Space Heater switching off and flashing a red light at us. Solved? Don't know.

It's dark as I write the blog and coming up to 7pm.

Reggie is fast asleep in his bed and we are reading. Or would be had I not been doing this!

We had beans on toast for dinner, after scoffing too many snacks and biscuits during the evening.

Tomorrow, we'll have a whole day to relax and take a few walks.