We had 2 lovely days with friends, Judith and Roger at Thorpe Bay, next to Southend on Sea. We drove along the coast to Leigh-by-the-Sea, where Judith had spent her early life. We tasted some of the local delicacies - cockles and whelks! The cockles were OK but the whelkes... Mal liked them!

We also walked around Southend, looked at the pier, the 18th century housing above the gardens and had a look at the Garrison development, a really good re-use of a huge area which was built for an army battalion but has been converted to housing