Daily Archives: May 5, 2014

Monday, 5th May, 2014

Country: England
Distance travelled:
Weather: warm but no blue skies

Since today is a bank holiday in Britain (the equivalent of our public holidays back in Australia), we assumed that it would get rather busy in the National Trust carpark, especially since the weather lately has been warm and occasionally even sunny. We decided to be up and moving with a little more enthusiasm than usual so as a result we were on the move by about 9am. We drove out of the carpark and into the closest village, at which point we went back since we had forgotten to take the obligatory location photo. The people in the other motorhome gave us puzzled looks when we waved the second time.

We were on our way to Southend-on-Sea to see the longest pleasure pier in the world at over 2km long complete with it’s own train. However we were distracted by another huge car boot sale, this one still in full swing. We wandered about hoping that we would find another bakery stall like at the last one but no such luck. However we did find a stall selling salami and sausages and so forth all made from game meats. We walked away happily clutching both venison and wild boar sausages. Happy days. Interestingly I noticed that the van belonging to the stall holders had Latvian number plates. I wonder if we will make it to Latvia when we eventually get to Europe.

At about 11.30am it seemed almost like someone had blown a whistle and stall holders started packing up even though customers were still walking about. By about 12pm, we arrived back at the van and the queues to get back onto the road were barely moving. People continued to queue and blow their horns and wave their arms while we sat comfortably in the van having our lunch. By the time we had finished, cleaned up and sneakily dumped a bag of rubbish in the site bins, the exit roads were clear and we drove easily and calmly out.

Over lunch we had decided against the drive to Southend-on-sea and opted to drive to the second of the wild camps we had considered for last night. This is located in the car park of Broaks Wood. It is quite a small dirt parking site and the road in is rather rough so not really suitable to larger motorhomes but we found ourselves a quiet corner and set off on a walk while the sun was still up. These woods are supposed to be some of the oldest and most varied woodland in Essex.

Brooks Woods

Mark downloaded a map onto his phone and we wandered off to find a geocache I had noted down. We had no luck with the geocache, although that could probably be chalked up to my inexperience, but while we we thrashing about in the approximate location, I came across several absolutely huge fungi. They reminded me of the slippery jacks we had seen in the Blue Mountains in Australia although I think the caps were different.

Fungi - Brooks Woods

Once we had given up on the geocache, we continued for quite a while exploring the woods and admiring the various trees we came across. A quick cross-country detour had us clambering though an area covered in what I assume was a wild version of bluebells, very pretty, although they were probably about a week past their prime. I realized as we clambered around that there isn’t many poisonous animals or insects in the UK and we would have been very reluctant to try the same trick in the bush at home.

Eventually we headed back to where the van was parked. The rest of the evening has been pretty quiet, watching the dog walkers come and go. Now it is dark, it sounds like someone out there is shooting deer although they could be on the farmland beyond the woods. I hope they give up by the time I’m ready to sleep.