In summary
- House we rented was nice
- Weather was pretty good (warm and sunny intervals most days) so spent a long time on the beach
- Had a lot to eat
- Walked about a bit
- Lovely and restful break
- Didn't do much else :)
More details
Sunday 30th June
Left home at 11am. Stopped at Rayleigh at 1pm for lunch. Got told at 2pm we could get into the property (check-in advertised for 3pm), so left for Southend and got in by 2:30pm Unpacked and washed up to get settled in. Nice enough place. Plenty of room for 2 people, clean and tidy, with good TV, Amazon and internet access. Very close to beach and secured parking behind the house. Went for walk along prom and found was heaving with people ! Had a car show on the prom as well, which was a mixed blessing. Walked through town, then back to the house for dinner and to watch Grand Prix and Glastonbury on TV
Monday 1st July
Woke 8am after a lovely sleep and out the house by 10am. Bit blowy but sunny. Found a proper bakers for future reference Setup camp on beach for 10:30am. Back at midday for lunch in garden. Went for walk and found tourist information office. Walked past west cliff casino, found theatre and had an ice cream. Walked back into town, then back to the house by around 4:30pm a bit worn out! Left to get to the Toby Carvery for dinner at 5:45pm (40 minute walk) Walked back along prom for drinks back at the house.
Tuesday 2nd
Had lovely sleep again ! Woke 9am (which became the default time then on!) Breakfast at 10am so didn't get to beach until 10:30am. Little cloudy but wind not so bad, nice when the sun is out. Lunch at 12:30 until 2pm, then went to park for walk and to find nice sheltered spot to sit for a while. Ended up walking around mostly until about 5pm. Went to Rose resteraunt for dinner on the sea front. I had lovely pie and mash
Wed 3rd
10am got bus to Leigh-on-sea. Lots of cake/coffee shops, but didn't stop ! Walked back along prom, where it was very windy. Lunch stop was at fish & chip shop half way back. Found a sheltered bench in the park and had nice rest then walked into town and got cakes, which we ate back at the house on the patio. Restful evening watching "The Accountant" film
Thu 4th
Solid sleep again :) On beach by 10:30am. Back to the house for lunch on the patio, then afternoon session on the beach from around 2pm until 5pm. Off to the Brewers Fayre for dinner. Had long wait and then the food was only OK Didn't get to bed until late (by our standards anyway)
Fri 5th
Long sleep, beach at 10:45am. First time not needed wind break or T-Shirt on. Meant to be hottest day at 26 degrees. Lots of school trips showed up on the beach, one group descended on us (or so it seemed) This was a pattern going forward for the remainder of our stay, in that on weekdays, there were hoards of mainly primary school groups on the beach. We had our lunch in the garden of the house as normal, then back on beach for the afternoon. Out for dinner at 6pm and went to an Italian Fish & Chip shop by the pier, where there is a string of around 10 fish & chip shops in a row! I had Lasagne, Lynn going for Panini. Then went onto Genting casino where I managed to turn £40 of our holiday money into £80 so a bit of a result ! Had celebratory ice cream on the way back to the house
Sat 6th
On beach in the morning, with far fewer people on the beach than during the week. Had lunch in the garden as normal and back on the beach, but had turned cloudy so went to town for a teacake in the tea shop. Later we went to the chip shop for dinner, our first "proper" fish and chip supper... also my first pudding of the holiday (Syrup sponge and custard of course)
Sun 7th
Went on the train to the end of the pier today. Lynn wasn't comfortable once we'd got out, so got straight back on the train to go back to land. Then went into the pier museum, which was quite interesting, showing the history of the pier and the trains running on it. After lunch we went for a "shopping day" into town, leaving the house at 1pm. Every shop we went in, seemed like we bought something ! 3pm stopped in M&S for our tea and cake, then later on back at the house we had a rest and more tea :)
Mon 8th
Bit cloudy and windy, but promise of sun so had a morning on the beach. In the afternoon session, the sun went in at 3pm which turned it quite cold, so decided to finish off our "shopping day" and went into town again. Went back to the Toby Carvery for our dinner, which is a decent walk, and ended up at the Rendevous Casino on the way back. I got a free pint of beer which was nice, but wasn't able to repeat the luck I had with the holiday money when using my own money and left the casino down £100 ! Expensive beer in the end :)
Tues 9th
Got bus to Shoeburyness East Beach at around 10:20am, taking around 25 mins to get there. Unbelievably there was loads of school kids there.. seem to be following us around ! Walked around town until 1pm when we were pleased to arrive at the Harvester restaurant which was our lunch destination. Had nice lunch and long rest... Long walk back along the prom, but stopped at the Dog & Coffee cafe for tea and cake. Were worn out by the time we got back, so watched "Dream Girls" on TV for the evening entertainment
Wed 10th
Cloudy, but warm and no wind, so decided to have another walking day. Went along the coast to West Cliff, then inland and ended up at the top of Southend town. Walked back towards the shops and found the Museum which had various exhibits about ship wrecks, Romans, etc so was quite interesting. Stopped for lunch in a Pie and Mash shop. I did have pie and mash, but didn't fancy the Eels :) Walking through town, stopped at our current favorite shop (Poundland) and bought half hundred weight of chocolate again :) After a rest at the house, had another walk along the prom and got an ice cream which we ate sitting in the park again. Had a light tea and watched "The Rewrite" film at the house
Thu 11th
Beach day today. Warm and sunny most of the day, with little wind. Ended up walking to the Toby Carvery again, as wanted a bit of exercise... and also a large meal :)
Fri 12th
Up and about relatively early, ended up leaving for home at 9:30am... getting home after small holdup on M25 at 11:45am.. plenty of time to open the post, get some food and do the washing :)
