Clacton on Sea – Thorpe le Skolen – Frinton on Sea or Walton on Naze ????????.....

…..we finally opted for ‘Walton on Naze’ for our day and night off after much deliberation – there are so many choices??? Anyway, what the heck is a “Naze” we wanted to find out. Now going to the beach in England is definitely not like going to the beach as we know it. In some instances it can be more like going to the Easter Show, but that’s another blog. Beach Huts (the size of a small windowless garden shed)????????? Now what are they about? You can’t just go and buy one for a start, you have to wait years in some instances to get one and then apply…. Now if you are lucky ….”lucky”?? …enough to finally get one, it is going to set you back anything between £30,000 to £60,000 no kidding! So what we really want to know is what do you do with it? You can sit in it, while everyone else sits on the steps or on the sand, or in the many purpose-built shelters. I suppose you can change into your togs in it…..and you can make a cup of tea in it. You could chat with the hut people inches away on either side of you, or in front of you or behind you….. BUT! you cannot sleep in it or have more than about 4 people in it. We just don’t get it………..
Anyway back to ‘Walton on Naze’ - we stayed in a gorgeous little pub, great food, an excellent bottle of NZ wine and went to sleep to the sound of the sea – bliss. They said they didn’t want to do breakfast until 10am, which was great for us – a sleep-in AND a good walk before the most enormous breakfast we have ever undertaken. Then we went for a walk along the most interesting beach. The cliffs behind it are crumbling away and washing down bits of fossilized trees, bones, all manner of things. It is one of the most significant paleontological sites in England. I found a fossilized poo for Sammy, we also found sharks teeth and Rod thought he had found a large tooth thing and so lugged it back up the cliff only to find out it was a fossilized sponge of quite modern times – like a mere few thousand years, where as my poo is 2.6 million years old!!!
Also there is this amazing tower, 3 or 4 centuries old, which is 9 stories of art gallery……by the way we finally found out that Naze is a derivation of an old English word for nose – so Walton on the Naze is named because it’s on a bit of land that juts out………………lots of love xxxxxxx