A return to Clacton and a latte please

Saturday 25th July 2026 I enjoyed a day trip to the electoral hotbed of Clacton-on-Sea with Julian Peddle (Centrebus and associated companies Supremo) on Wednesday. Despite the number of candidates standing in next month’s by-election (a motley band of 34 hopefuls) we didn’t see any campaigning, not even a waste bin. Mind you, we were only in the town for around 25 minutes as our main objective was to see the expanding presence of Central Connect in this part of the county including yet another new bus route (the 78 between Clacton and Brightlingsea) as well as what Julian describes as the Country’s ‘Most Useless Bus Lane’ in Colchester. Another highlight of our day’s travels was also sampling Café Connect – the new initiative from Central Connect that combines coffee and bus information in central Colchester. So read on for a montage of Essex bus travel experiences. Julian had planned a ‘Tobermory style’ tight schedule offering a five hour round trip from Colchester to…