Across the Channel....

The idea of catching the earliest ferry from Dunkirk was soon scotched after we eventually turned up 5 minutes after the sailing had effectively been closed - a two hour wait or a rush to Calais to use another ferry line. So much for supporting Norfolk Lines who had opened up much to the chagrin of P&O, part of the cross-channel mafia who had tried to put them out of business. It turns out that Norfolk Lines who had originally been undercutting P&O had succumbed to the market and were now actually more expensive than their rivals and had adopted their mean business practices.

At Calais, ever reluctant to set foot on a P&O ship, we opted for France Ferries and practiced my seldom used French language skills to get us the best deal they had on the next available ferry. It worked and we managed to get tickets and soon were waving goodbye to mainland Europe.

Where to go in England? That was the question we had to answer. I'd made arrangements to meet my daughter in Glasgow in four days time, so we had time to kill and take in a few memories and nice places. Barbara remembered having had a lovely time many moons ago in a small fishing village in Essex, images of Essex-man and estuary English sprang to mind, but I was impressed by what she described, so, off we sped heading for Burnham-on-Crouch. Now that might sound an easy thing to do, and, yes, we had a map-book, bought somewhere in Europe and swearing to be the latest edition etc. So what problem could there possibly be - answer - plenty......

We got round london without problem and just as we came out the tunnel under the Thames did a sharp right and headed for Southend-on-Sea. We did as the map book indicated and looked for a small B-road - in Britain these are little twisty roads going through beautiful villages etc. Well, the B-road we wanted didn't exist anymore and we started the usual circular effect, - you know, going round in circles until we saw a signpost for Burnham on a completely different road. Beggars can't be choosers, so off we went again. "Can't be far," says Barbara, "it's on the coast and I'm sure the sea is just behind those trees." What trees? The ones 20 miles away I can see on the far horizon, or these nice ones on top of the small hill just over there? Yes, the ones 20 miles away. We arrived in Burnham one hour later, remember the twisty B-roads, well, they are twisty and have speed bumps in the beautiful villages. By now it was getting late to find B&B's - usually anytime after 4:00 p.m. is not a good time to look for a bed for the night.

Burnham is a lovely village with an acute absence of hotels, but some pubs offering rooms do exist, three of them to be exact! We went in the first that came to hand and no-one was behind the bar to give us any info about accommodation. So, off we went to the next which turned out to be quite disgusting, but full of character, the local drunk characters that is. The next had just let the last room to the people we had been following around the village. Back to the first, in desperation to find the bargirl to be very pleasant and soon, dangling a set of keys, she was taking us out to the back yard and showing us their newly refurbished self-catering little house. Wonderful and all for 40 pounds and there was a small Tesco supermarket just along the road. What more could we want, 2 microwaveable dinners, some ready made desserts and a nice comfy bed.

Some photos of Burnham:

The Main Street in morning light



The pub back yard - our wee house was inside the white wall on the near right.



The evening view of the River Crouch Estuary




Wasn't that lovely. In the morning we posted the keys through the pub letterbox. Still old-fashioned trust around in Essex coastal villages!! The idea now was to head for the Lake District and spend a day or two there before heading for Scotland, but on the way see something of interest. getting back to the motorway system from the far reaches of east Essex is no mean matter. You have several options - get lost is only one of them. Ely Cathedral is something I've wanted to see for quite some time, mostly from a wish to photograph its interior roof! So, what popped up on the way out of Essex but Ely with its Cathedral, only 20 miles off course, but why miss it now? I did my thing and paid the 6 pounds to go in. Here's the result - the famous roof -


The painted roof.



Detail of the painting.



The view of the interior of the Tower.



And another of the Tower



And so, it's on to the Lake District.....