One thing we weren’t short of was a dramatic sky.
I did a lot of popping in and out of the terrace doors in the evening to capture the sun setting or the rain clouds. We get some stunning sunsets here in west Cornwall, but I have to get in the car to capture one over water.
Brightlingsea has a sandy beach called Brightlingsea Beach, which features colourful beach huts and runs along the Western Promenade next to Bateman’s Tower.
I am particularly fond of photographing beach huts and had a walk along the promenade on a very sunny though extremely windy day. The clouds were almost more appealing than the huts.
Behind the row of beach huts is a boating lake which looked a lot more attractive than on our previous visit back in 2016.
The huts along with Bateman’s Tower make a rather nice backdrop when the sun sets behind them.
One thing we weren’t short of was a dramatic sky.
It was supposed to be a 2 week break covering Essex (to see our latest grandchild) then onto Suffolk and finally across country to our old abode in Ludlow. But things didn’t quite work out as planned. Such is life.
We spent most of the week in Brightlingsea itself other than a couple of trips into Colchester which has the most horrendous traffic (and roundabouts). Our apartment however was magnificent and I would move there in a heartbeat if I didn’t have to go anywhere near London or Colchester. The views across the water, the sunsets, even a couple of sunrises, endless fun watching the goings on including people crabbing from the heritage jetty (feature image), the ferryman taking foot passengers back and forth to Point Clear, river policemen stopping for their lunch break, posh yachts coming and going, rowing clubs out on the water and more.
Brightlingsea is a coastal town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek.
I have split the photos up into several posts (there are a lot of photos) so let’s first go for a walk around the Waterside Marina area in which we stayed.
The weather was unpredictable with sunshine, some heavy rain and almost always windy, with the terrace doors open we were serenaded by the ‘whap, whap, whapping’ sound of the closest yacht’s rigging slapping against the mast and on the windiest days a shrill whistling or howling sound. I have to say that I actually liked it. Made a change from the usual cattle sounds.
During July I will be joining in with Becky’s SimplyRed Squares.
I have a bit of a thing about beach huts. I remember seeing them at the seaside near Mablethorpe when I was a little girl and wishing we had one in which to change into our swimming costumes or get dressed out of the wind and somewhere to boil the kettle for a cuppa. I envied people who had one.
And then when I lived in Cape Town in South Africa there were clusters of brightly coloured ones on the False Bay beach which provided shelter from the wind as it blew in every afternoon. They are an icon now and even used in fashion shoots.
But these particular beach huts are located in West Wittering, West Sussex. I was there last week, but not in the 34° heat of Thursday and Friday. No, my visit was on the very blustery and cooler Saturday. We set off in the pouring rain, but according to the weather app it was supposed to clear at 11 am.
We arrived in the pre-booked and pre-paid for car park at 10:56 just as the clouds broke and the rain stopped.
But is was very windy. Look carefully at these images and you might just be able to see how much the sand is blowing around. And how likely it is that some of these huts will be buried if someone doesn’t get a digger out soon!
Despite the wind my granddaughters went for a dip in the rough waves. And we all went for a walk around the headland, though it was hard going at times. And cutting through the dunes and along the boardwalk we were rewarded by seeing lovely coastal flowers.
I was still crunching on sand two days later.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #104 | Summer
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