Traveler’s Tales

Last day of our holiday in Essex so we spent the day exploring the local town and marina. We enjoyed having time to enjoy a coffee and chat with a few locals, including a man who sailed his family on a catamaran to Australia in the 1970s - in the days when navigation was done manually with charts and a sextant. Refreshing to meet such a free spirit.

In the afternoon we enjoyed the views from the radar tower. It was built in 1940 in the early days of radar. The radar was on the top (second ) floor. It wasn’t considered safe for the men operating it to be on the same floor so they were located on the first floor. On the ground floor was their living quarters. There appeared to be four small rooms for the 6-8 men who operated the radar. If enemy boats were detected, the men would issue a signal for mines in the river to be detonated. In the wider area, there was a search light on the marshes in front of the tower and anti-aircraft guns in the fields around. Apparently only one bomb dropped in the area in the war and that landed on a farm gate not far from the tower. No lives were lost.

In front of the tower was a light railway. Initially constructed to take passengers to the coast, during WW2 it was used for transporting goods to the tower and coast. After the war it was dismantled. Most days on this holiday we walked along a small section of the route of the railway that remains and runs from the tower to the local town.

Our day ended with the drive home! After the delays we experienced on the roads travelling to Essex, we decided to journey in the evening. It was considerably improved although not without its issues. We arrived home at 10.30pm feeling a little tired but pleased to have completed our journey. Merlin celebrated with a zoomie around the house before settling down in his bed.