Colchester; Saturday, 28 January, 2012

I woke to a stunning morning, and after an excellent breakfast headed out to the station to catch the train one station north to the town of Manningtree.

Manningtree is the nearest station to the Dedham Vale, an area immortalised by landscape painter John Constable.

His most famous work, the Haywain, was painted at the mill in Flatford and after a pleasant two mile walk across the countryside I arrived to find a scene that, apart from a slightly raised water table, hasn’t changed since the scene was originally painted (except that is for the missing hay wagon).

I had a wander around the really pretty little settlement, and stopped for a mid-morning cup of tea and a scone in the National Trust tea room, before heading back over the countryside to Manningtree station and back into Colchester.

From Colchester I hopped on another train and out to the coast at Clacton. I had a long wander around Clacton taking in the pier and the esplanade gardens before wandering back into town and catching the bus further up the coast to the small town of Walton-on-the-Naze.

The bus went all the way out to the Naze so I wandered back along the beach front to the town centre. By the time I got back to the pier the sun was starting to set so I headed over to the station and caught the train back to Colchester.

After dropping my stuff off at the hotel I wandered down into town for dinner.