I am of course speaking of the Edmonton in Greater London, not the city in Canada. We are supposed to be meeting a friend who will pick us up in a borrowed car.

Pret A Manger

We started with a visit to Pret in St John Street for coffee and cake.

Aboard the 341

Then we caught a 341 bus for a very long ride to what felt like the end of the world.

Is this the end of the world?

It also looked like the end of the world but is really a district known as Upper Edmonton. To be fair, it is an area of warehouse-sized “superstores” and such places do tend to look bleak.

Inside IKEA

We were well ahead of time (journey times in London can be unpredictable) and so entered IKEA to wait in that store’s cafe. IKEA is not my favourite store but, then, I suspect it’s a lot of people’s unfavourite store. Still, we were only using their cafe, not intending to buy anything.

The IKEA cafe

IKEA has a well organised one-way system. When we reached the cafe, there was of course a one-way system there too but that’s not all. You are met by an employee who first makes sure that you use the track-and-trace app to record your presence and then indicates that you use a QR code to access a booking system to obtain a table. At last, when all this is done, he leads you to your table.

On the map

Just for fun, here is a screen grab from Apple Maps showing our location.

Nightmare landscapes

Curiously, the most difficult part was leaving the store. You would think that a huge premises like this would have clear indications for the exits, in case of fires and emergencies, but such an obvious policy has apparently not occurred to the management of IKEA. In the end we had to ask an employee to direct us.

Caption

At last we made it to the final stage, the moving footway, after which we could breathe the fresh air of freedom!

We located our friend in a nearby car park and took up position in his car. For some time – and miles – after this, there was nothing to do but watch various landscapes unroll across the windows.

After a rather long drive, we arrived at Tiptree in Essex. We had come to visit the Tiptree Jam Factory. I spotted the above roller though I don’t know whether it hss anything to do with the factory.

We were hoping to have tea in the tearoom but there was a queue and a long wait.

While waiting we paid a visit to the shop. Then it was back to the queue for a long, long wait.

We were eventually offered a table outside. As it was under cover, in case it rained, we were happy to accept rather than go on waiting.

We each had a cream tea with scones, clotted cream and, of course, Tiptree strawberry jam. There was a choice of teas and I chose Assam, though, being in tea bags, it tasted rather anonymous.

There was the inevitable one-way system in place and, to leave, we had to pass through the museum. I didn’t stop to look at the exhibits so cannot say whether it was interesting.

We now set off again, this time aiming for Harwich.

We reached Harwich and parked near Harwich Harbour.

Part of the Old Buoy Network, perhaps?

The old Low Lighthouse and…

…the old High Lighthouse, both dating from the early 1800s.

The Harwich Redoubt, 1810-1946, now a museum.

The Redoubt’s moat, now dry.

The Harwich Guild Hall.

The pier is s curious little L-shaped affair with the evocative name of Ha’penny Pier.

After this dip into the treasures of Harwich, we set off again. The phrase “whirlwind tour” springs to mind.

This is one of the seafront gardens at Clacton-on-Sea where we arrived next.

This is a panorama shot (and therefore slightly distorted) of Clacton Pier.

One of big wheels (there are two).

The War Memorial to the fallen in both World Wars.

This pretty bridge crosses Pier Avenue (I think).

Clacton beach (well, some of it).

We came here for supper which turned out to be quite good. Quick hint: to eat well, order whatever Tigger orders. Do that and you can’t go wrong 🙂

Our friend proposed to drive us back to the bus station at Edmonton, an offer we were happy to accept. After all the rushing about, I quite looked forward to a sedate ride home on s bus.

During the car ride, the rain came down with a vengeance. Visibility decreased alarmingly as did our speed for safety’s sake. Many drivers had turned on their hazard lights. It was a fraught time. Gradually, the rain eased though there remained pools and streams of water on the road so that at times our vehicle resembled a speedboat more than a car.

We reached Upper Edmonton at last. Having parted from our chauffeur, we made our way to the bus stop. The bus in the picture will shortly make its way to our stop and we will go aboard for that journey of an hour or so to home.

And here we are aboard our bus en route for the Angel.

Composed “on the hoof” while travelling.