- Mon - set off to hitch to Mersea Island :

Not the destination, it's the Journey : Met some kind interesting people on a surprising easy hitch from Southend to Mersea Island. After Pat dropped me off I took the bus to Hullbridge, as the map marked a byeway across the river Crouch. However the ford only works at super low tide & there were no yachties to ferry me, so I walked across the fields to the Battesbridge road. Got a hitch through Battlesbridge (the Hay on Wye of Antiques village) all the way to Maldon with a Tracey Emin type artist, then a bloke went a bit extra to drop me on the Mersea road. Then a top of the range Land Rover driver owning a yacht supply company took me right to the harbour on the Island.

What the heck is that huge huge building across from the millionaires houses & West Mersea harbour ? is it a hotel or something ?

- The houseboat people told me it's the old nuclear power station.

Tue : Mersea - Walked from West Mersea to the burial mound, to East Mersea. Then used the dial-a-ferry to leave the Island to Brightlingsea.
- Actually I died in the night. As ever I tied the hammock to a sturdy tree, this time one of the 5 20cm thick trunk of a pollarded tree. Then right in the middle of the night a deer ran through me or someting. Actually what had happened was the whole trunk had snapped due to beetles etc. but the break was 90 degrees so it fell sideways & not on to me

Wed - Walked & hitched to Manningtree & onto Ipswich ....bought some new boots, my old ones never recovered from the rain on Snowdonia. Keith had recommended the Village Green Festival in Southend so I decided to contact them about volunteering.
- Ipswich was OK like a forgotten European market town like Bruges, but full of tattooed people & East Europeans.
- The non-commercial campsite costs £21 so I camped

Thu and then on the way back into town I met some people packing up from the Bicycle Ball. So I helped Frankie, John, Jon & Adam

- "would you like to use our washing machine ?"said Adam - cheers mate good call ..thanks for the hospitality ...about to hitch back to Southend, Chalkwell Park.

Fri - Hitching was a bit of a mess. I tried hitching from the beginning of London Road, but ended up having to walk 4 miles out of town, then later I missed the A130 turn so had a job to get across to Southend by slow slow bus.