Shoeburyness
Billy Bragg writing on the A13 and Shoeburyness (found via Luke):
Southend is the mecca of Essex, with its Golden Mile and longest pier in Britain. However, for my family, paradise was to be found beyond the arcades and winkle stalls, past the coloured lights that flashed out a welcome on even the wettest, windiest days. Go along the East Beach, past where Edwardian beach huts still stand in rows, through Thorpe Bay to the hamlet of Shoeburyness. Here, out of the mouth of the Thames Estuary, facing the North Sea itself, you will find the finest beach in the county.
It was here that I came with my parents as a boy to sit on towels on the sand and watch the Thames sailing barges lazily cross the horizon, listening out for the big Navy guns being tested on Foulness Island, eating sandwiches from Tupperware containers.
It’s funny, but I don’t remember ever going to Shoeburyness beach when I lived in Leigh-on-sea. The summer before we moved to Leigh we stayed in our caravan near there for a week and it rained which probably set my feelings. But once I had moved away and was a visitor it became the beach to take #1 to when he needed entertaining. Maybe, once my parents are back in the country, we’ll go there again…
November 28th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
Far better to buy a tide table, ensure accuracy of watch and go for a Ray day. Fewer people, a square mile or two of pristine sand and panoramic views.
The challenge, of course, is getting there.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Well obviously some of us are better on the water than others.
January 3rd, 2007 at 9:35 am
Bah… just get to the Crowstone and walk out to sea. After about half a mile, swim a short distance (20m? 50?).
Disclaimer: there is, of course, a reason why Southend has one of the busiest lifeboat stations in the UK.