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June 06, 2005
Wivenhodyssey part 2
Note : you might want to read part 1 first.
Sunday 22 May 2005
08:30 (BST) Extraordinarily, wake up feeling quite chipper and not at all like a bear has pooed in my mouth. I shower, dress and head down for breakfast.
09:00 Breakfast. In the dining room. Which, for reasons only known to the owners of this fine 14th century ex-coaching inn with oak-beamed walls has a carpet with a black background and ranks of vividly coloured playing cards on it. One wall is a smoky, dented mirror. The overall impression is of a very unsuccessful nightclub, or a dining room in a hotel which hasn't been redecorated since 1983. The food is OK-to-bland - sausage, egg, bacon, baked beans, mushrooms, toast. The sausage is standard issue cheap, which is a great shame because Procter's in Red Lion Yard sell top notch sausages : take a hint, Rose and Crown, and push the boat out a little.
10:00 Am feeling a little worse for wear (probably the fault of the sausage, don't you know). I go back to the room to sleep for a while longer. I do remember to hang the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. I sleep, albeit fitfully.
13:00 Awake again, feeling slightly drowsy. I freshen up and head out for a drive this time.
13:15 Lunch at Tescos. Yippee. A cheese sandwich, a chicken salad, and water. I sit and munch in the car park, watching shoppers come and go. SMSs are arriving from Wivenhoe people wondering when I will put in another appearance. I feel I need a quiet drive to steady the nerves, so I set off.
13:30 I head up Boundary Road, intending to go to Lodge Farm. However, it is a no through road, and I have forgotten that the "no through" part is before Lodge Farm. I turn in the University car park and rejoin the depressingly busy Sunday traffic jam.
13:45 I drive along the A133 and take the Wivenhoe turnoff, then turn right at the other end of Boundary Road. I park the car opposite the sports centre and get out.
13:55 Lodge Farm is in parts over 150 years old. When my ex-wife and I kept donkeys in the paddock here, we used parts of the deserted farm buildings for storing feed, donkey toys, tack etc. It pleases me enormously to see that there is little change in its appearance and no sign of the school development which had been in the works some five years previous.
My second favourite tree in the world (next to the cypress tree at Westwood park) looks healthy too. An oak, it rarely produces any acorns.
Two beautiful horses are grazing in the paddock.
I sneak inside for a peek into the old farmyard.
I venture upon some chickens feeding in the farmyard. I don't know who is more surprised, me or them.
I decide to leave : it's one thing to snoop around a deserted farmyard, but quite another to disturb someone's poultry, especially when trespassing. I guess the people living in the house might not be too pleased if I let the chickens out, so I carefully close all the doors on the way out.
I walk around the edge of the field to my oak tree to take one last picture of the wonderful old building.
14:36 I take to the car again and drive to where my parents used to live, now undergoing a rather striking renovation.
15:00 More driving around, and then back to the hotel for a freshen up, and a quick nap.
15:45 A walk into Colchester this time. However, I have forgotten the sparse Sunday timetable as furnished by the Colchester bus companies ... next bus: 1 hour and 15 minutes away!
16:25 So a no-so-short walk to nearby Colchester Town (formerly St Botolph's) railway station, and, no trains on Sunday, either. I offer silent thanks that I live in a civilized city where people start tutting if buses are more than 2 minutes late, and where the average price of a daily ticket is about 80p.
16:35 I take a photo of Dr Chippy's chipshop. Well, I like it.
16:36 Just across the street is the site of St Bololph's priory, named in memory of the trains that used to run at the station of the same name. In fact, St Botolph's was founded around 1100 as the priory of St Julian and St Botolph. St Julian was dropped for having a far too sensible name, and in revenge he directed Henry VIII to destroy many of the communal buildings of the priory in the 1530s. To St Julian's delight, the job was virtually concluded in 1648 during the Siege of Colchester.
My photo campaign of St Julian's revenge complete I catch a bus to Wivenhoe.
17:20 The Park, Wivenhoe (not to be confised with Wivenhoe Park). I walk down to meet Julie and Isabella, then we head for the Black Buoy to meet Colin, Ildiko and assorted others.
The Black Buoy has a better vibe this afternoon, aided by good Chardonnay and no cup final. Much reminiscing again, followed by a tour of Cook's shipyard.
19:58 Cook's shipyard closed in 1986, and has lain dormant ever since. Plans for development, akin to the port site, remain in the pipeline. In fact, the port closed and was redeveloped within 10 years.
The Wivenhoe Encyclopedia contains much of interest about Cook's and other historical Wivenhoe sites.
Beyond Cook's lies the Wivenhoe tidal barrier and the Wivenhoe Yacht Club.
This is the tidal barrier control centre.
The tidal barrier.
Cycnics claim that the building of the tidal barrier raised house prices and lowered the risk of flood damage. In fact, flooding still occurs, such as in the autumn/winter of 2000, so what purpose does the multi-million pound barrier actually server?
20:01 I snap this striking rainbow and its pot of gold apparently marked out by the gravel excavation pit in Fingringhoe ...
The wet dock may become a casualty when the Cook's development finally takes place, although there is strong opposition to its loss, not least of all by the trawlermen.
20:12 I get another snap of a rainbow, this time with St George's banner in full glory - I take nine shots before I get a recognisable St George ...
20:20 A quick curry at the Bengal Spice (good, but not as good as it used to be ...)
21:00 Across to the Greyhound for a final convivial evening. Drinks with Peter, Julie, Hunter, Nick and Rick again, then (saved by the 22:30 bell) out into the night again.
22:35 Feels very strange not to say to everyone "OK, back to my place for a nightcap". I am now a stranger in Wivenhoe, with no home and no claim there save for happy memories. Four of us leave and walk up Park Road. By the time I get to Bellevue Road, I am alone apart from the beer, the curry, happy memories and a taxi to the Rose and Crown.
22:55 Back at the Rose and Crown, I venture into the bar for a swift nightcap. I get talking to the only other inhabitants of the bar, four guys who are there for a clay pigeon shoot the next day. They are quite a bunch of characters : all businessmen from various walks of life ; a renter of chemical toilets ; a builder ; a pie manufacturer ; and a guy who does something in the city. I'm sure there is a link there somewhere. They are very friendly, and stand me a couple of drinks.
00:30 I finally part company with them and head for bed. The bed is comfortable again, although the 04:30 start rather spoils the comfort factor.
13:00 (CET) I am back at work. Did that weekend really happen? Well, it's in my blog, so it must be true.
Posted by daen at June 6, 2005 09:19 PM