Walton-on-the-Naze Travel Guide

For my money, the best way to get to Walton (from London) is the train. A journey of just over one and a half hours out of Liverpool Street will land you at the station pictured. Admittedly, the service isn't terribly frequent (once an hour at peak times at 8 minutes at the hour) and you have to change at the delightfully named Thorpe-le-Soken.

See the appended website for full details.

Walton town has changed with the times, & like many a seasonal resort, shows a different character out of season, when the tourists are scarce...
But, as well as the seasonal fluctuations affecting the resort, Walton's retailing front seems to alter with economic times more than any other place I know...
The resort used to be a typical seafront town, that could be characterised by 2 businesses - 2nd hand shops, & take-aways...
The take-aways & snack bars remain, but the 2nd hand shops were a victim of the previous consumer boom, when nobody was being thrifty because credit was so easy to come by...
In their place has come a few charity shops & souvenir-type gift shops, while a biker-styled cafe/boutique has opened at the end of the High Street, opened by the man who used to keep the Marine Parade kiosk, on the opposite side of the junction...
Pubs to be found within the town, are The Royal Marine, Queen's Head, Red Lion, Royal Albion, The Victory, & The Walton Tavern, while out of town, near the Bathhouse meadow, is The Bathhouse...
There is also The Sanctuary Bar night club, opposite the pier...
0fficial market day is Thursday, but during high season, when tourist crowds make it lucrative enough for traders to travel down by van from as far away as London, Monday afternoon receives a secondary market in the same venue, the High Street car park...
Walton must have been 1 of the very last towns in England not to have a high street hole-in-the-wall, but that changed when Tesco entered the scene, so now there are 2 ATM's, here, near the church, & at the other end of the High Street, at the obligatory Co-op...
The most unique business in the High Street, is The Cherry Blossom Tattoo studio, which has gained some notoriety, because the owner specialises in only for the brave, 0riental-style, all-over body tattoos, & his artwork has been featured in specialist tattoo publications...

What to buy: If you're a biker, be sure to drop by the cafe at the end of the High Street, which specialises in 2wheel fashion...

Yesterday I got caught in a storm down by Walton seafront, so I took shelter in 1 of the public places provided for this...
No sooner had I sat down & started to eat something, than I noticed that I was surrounded, & I do mean SURROUNDED - by piles of dog crap...
I suppose I ought to consider myself lucky that it wasn't summer, when all the flies would've been swarming around the disgusting stuff...
& it's the absolute worst thing about this resort - the ignorant locals treat it as their dog toilet, & the stuff is all over the place, i.e; step off the pavement to avoid it, & on the grass you step in it instead...
Even more annoying in some ways, is that some people put it in plastic bags, but instead of depositing these in a bin, they have to attach the bag to a tree branch, where it hangs for months, if not years...
WINDS ME UP...