Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside.....

My wife and I both had the day off together yesterday so, as a little treat, we decided to take a bit of time out and drive to the coast. Living in Essex, we're lucky to have the longest coastline in England and as we're surrounded by beautiful coastline it's not exactly a major outing to just nip out somewhere to be by the sea for the afternoon. 

After a little bit of thought, we decided to go to  Leigh on Sea. Old Leigh, is a lovely little fishing village with a beautiful harbour and it's only about 25 minutes drive from us so it's not far to go to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life for a bit of tranquillity. And, as I'm a bit of an amateur photographer, I took my camera along for the ride, too!

The traffic wasn't too bad and before we knew it we were there. And what a lovely afternoon it turned out to be. The sun was scorching hot and so the warm sea breeze was welcome. We started off by having a little wander through the  cobbled streets of Old Leigh and then took a stroll along the harbour. We had a little sit on the harbour wall, dangling our feet over the edge and watched some 'big' kids having a wonderful time throwing each other into the sea off the breakwater. Oh to be young and carefree again! They were having an absolutely wonderful time. Chasing each other around and pushing each other in. Picking the girls up and pretending that they were going to throw them in, making them squeal, but they were all squeals of joy and it was light hearted fun. They created some fun and happy memories to take away with them, that's for sure.

A short time later we decided to move on and took a very slow stroll indeed along the sea front. Kat had a little paddle and collected some 'pretties' or shells to everyone else, and, I took lots of photographs of the boats dotted along the harbour and further out into the sea. And, with my super duper lens I could even see the end of Southend Pier, looking a little warmer than the last time I saw it, I might add! 


We ambled along like a pair of old timers, in our flip flops, no rush to get anywhere. I really do love days like this, there's nothing better than a visit to the seaside to forget all your stresses. Before we knew where we were we were almost in Chalkwell, the next town along. Knowing that we had to walk all the way back we decided to turn around just before we got there and make our way towards the temping pubs we had so far managed to elude the clutches of. It was time for a well deserved beer. 


We found a lovely little pub on the harbour wall and managed to bag ourselves a little table overlooking the sea, which was decidedly more 'mud' by this time as the tide had all but gone out but that didn't matter to us, we were just happy to be away from it all for a little while, enjoying each others company in the sunshine and calm.


After our beer it was time for us to start making our way back. Unfortunately, the pressures of time, namely car parking restraints, were upon us and so we started to head back along the harbour towards the car. The smells of the sea and freshly caught fish, cockles, muscles and the like wafting past our nostrils as we walked by the cockle sheds and fishmongers. This is a smell I can honestly say that I don't miss, phewy!

So, that was our opportune afternoon outing to the sea. 

Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside.....