1st August – A trip to the Essex Coast

 1^st August – A trip to the Essex Coast

After a trip a couple months ago I had 2 Greater Anglia stations left to revisit for photographs, which I was leaving for a trip where the weather forecast was promising so I could walk along the coast between Walton on the Naze & Clacton as it looked like an interesting walk along the promenade then a sea-front path.

 

The trip began with the 07:35-odd from Grateley which took me towards London Waterloo, however after Fleet we were delayed due to overrunning engineering works in the Woking/Brookwood area, eventually getting moving to head towards London but it wasn’t the fastest of journeys as the 159s got caught up behind a stopper from Basingstoke so arrival into London was around 20 minutes late, enough time for me to ditch my original idea of a fast connection towards Stratford for the 09:37-odd Liverpool Street – Clacton service (an unofficial connection because the minimum connection time for cross London journeys are long).

 

With around an hour to get to Liverpool Street, I first swung via the Tesco Express outside Waterloo to grab lunch items, before heading towards the Jubilee line for a Jubilee service to Bond Street, however when I got to the Central line platforms to see the next train was in 9 minutes (with the one following being in 19 minutes) I decided to head back to the Jubilee line to take another service one more stop to Baker Street, and headed towards the Hammersmith & City line platforms as that was the next train heading west, which I took to Liverpool Street and exited the underground and headed towards the mainline platforms.

 

I decided to have a look to see which 745 was running the 10:30 Norwich service, and I was in luck as it was a required “Airport” 745 (one with no first class or tables in the bays), which I took a seat on and settled down for the run to Colchester.  Along the way I was a bit shocked to see a pair of 315s heading into Liverpool Street (didn’t think those ran at the weekends anymore), but things went wrong as on the approach to Chelmsford the train called additional and we were told it was terminating there due to a broken down train in front.

 

745 running to the loop ECS

 

The platform got very busy with everybody off that Norwich train as it departed to the loop and a pair of 321s arrived.  I got lucky to get a seat, but it did sound like the rear unit was more busy, eventually the 321s departed but didn’t get that far before coming to a stop to allow a train from Norwich to clear the single track section (bi-directional working around the broken down train), before carrying on towards Colchester, the driver not hanging around with the motor noise.  The train emptied out at Colchester (I wouldn’t have liked to see how busy the next Ipswich or even Norwich train would have been!) and continued towards Clacton.  Due to it being a Sunday it calls at most of the stations along the way, arriving around 23 minutes late into Clacton (arriving after it was meant to have departed).

 

After a couple photos I exited the station and headed towards the beach, reaching the path and turned left to head in a northerly direction along a busy promenade (at a guess a mix of locals and tourists on holiday).  Quite a lot of beach huts and a nice sandy beach with a few little bays, it was an enjoyable walk other than a short section near a place called Holland on sea where the tarmac promenade was closed due to cliff strengthening works forcing me to walk onto the beach itself, finding something a bit solid to walk on (very loose sand).

 

Clacton Beach

 

After Holland on Sea, the path turned more rural as it went onto a sea defence wall, the water below me on the right and rural land to the left, very peaceful, even with the wind.  Some good views from the top of the wall before I arrived on the outskirts of Frinton where the rural land/golf course gave way to beach huts (and some of those looked very posh), with the beach being busy (which is good to see people out enjoying themselves on the beach, rather than staying indoors to play video games).  I reached Walton pier and swung up towards the station arriving just as the train was rolling in from Thorpe Le Soken.

 

A Pair of 321s at Walton on the Naze

 

I was very surprised to see the train being a pair of units, a bit overkill in my eyes as I had a private coach all the way to Thorpe Le Soken where I changed over to board the London train for the run to Colchester (as it started to throw it down with rain).  I was a bit foolish to change at Colchester to board the 745 from Norwich as it was the same one I had in the morning, but mainly because it was rammed, but I got a seat by asking someone if they didn’t mind if I sat opposite them.  I noticed when I was at Colchester a Norwich service where the first-class area at the back looked quite busy (but standard class nearer the front was a lot quieter).

 

Anyhow the 745 was speedy as it took me back towards London as I alighted at Stratford for the Jubilee line to take me to Waterloo where I had a short wait before boarding the Salisbury service to take me back towards Grateley, the end of an enjoyable day on the Essex coast.

 

Seaside near Holland on Sea