Osea sunset

With just a few days to go until the end of winter and temperatures soaring up to 20C, the last week of February found me looking for a new location. I found it in the stunning little beach huts at Osea leisure park. It didn’t take me long to spot them nestling on the Blackwater estuary and just opposite Osea island. They were sometimes completely surrounded by water at high tide and according to The Photographer’s Ephemeris, the sun was due to set slightly to the right. Checking that my husband was OK to cover the zoo that evening, I hastily charged up my batteries, paid the Dartford toll charges and set out.

It had been glorious at home, but still looking very much like a winter day. As I headed into Essex, I could clearly see masses of fresh buds along the hedges and village greens were covered in daffodils. It was stunning and I felt a pang of guilt that my previous impressions had been of a flat, boring county and one that was to be crossed as soon as possible. By the time I arrived at the Heybridge basin I had been converted.

Parking up just outside the leisure park, I strolled past lines of neat holiday homes. There wasn’t another soul in sight. Arriving at the sea wall, I could see the huts not far along to my left. I had intended to have a hot drink in the park cafe as a gesture for spending an hour or so on their site, but it had closed an hour earlier. It meant that I was now far too early and what’s more, looking over the wall I could see the water was way short of the huts. While the tide was incoming, it was doing so at a snail’s pace. I knew high tide was an hour after sunset, but I didn’t have much choice about the timing as the decent weather was due to change the following morning.

So I sat on the wall and chatted to local dog walkers. One lovely couple stayed for ages and we discussed all manner of things before they finally headed for home. As the sun got lower in the sky, I started setting up – this being the very first outing for my new tripod. It’s a Manfrotto carbon fibre model and it weighs a ton. Thankfully it comes with a padded bag, but together with the rucksack, I now feel like a beast of burden when I venture out.

The water never did get anywhere near the huts, but I spent the most delightful half-hour along the sea wall. I feel in tune with the camera now and I can honestly say that I moved around and took the shots without thinking too much about what I was doing. Packing up and driving home in the fading light, I had a feeling I would be visiting this stunning location once more before too long. Looking at the forecast and the tide tables, chances are that I will be back again in a few days.