Romilly wanted to see the sea, so we took the train from Limehouse (change at Barking) to Leigh-on-Sea, what remains of a small fishing village on the western outskirts of Southend.   It’s a place of pubs and boats and views across the water to Sheerness:-

We walked along the seafront, through the more genteel Chalkwell, to Westcliff-on-Sea, with its cafés fronting onto the Esplanade:-

Southend has a funfair:-

The longest pier in the world:-

And Royal Terrace, built in the 1790s as part of the New Town and so called after Queen Caroline’s visit in 1803:-

How pleased we were to make it to Southend Station:-