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Over Christmas, I couldn't drag Kat from the sofa to visit Old Leigh so I went on 22 January to try out some more panorama shots without using a tripod. The day was dull and raining but nevertheless I decided that I would go and forget about the rain. I forgot to look at the tide times so arrived at high tide when none of the beach was showing, the area was deserted and I could wander round in the rain.
Leigh is an ancient small port so the streets are narrow and cobbled. Cars have to be parked a few hundred yards away near the train station on higher ground. I paid my 70p for one hour of parking, grabbed the camera and walked down to the sea front. Some of the houses and pubs look as if they date from the 16th or 17th century. There are the usual art galleries, boat yards, rock shops and sea food bars, mostly shut in the winter but teeming with visitors in the summer months. Here's a shot of the boats and mounds of empty cockle shells looking from the road which curves up to the higher ground and the newer part of Leigh and it's shops along the Broadway.
Old Leigh: Old Leigh is about 5 miles up the road from Canvey, closer to the mouth of the River Thames. It's tidal, much like Canvey and provides a safe mooring for the many cockle boats that fish around the Thames estuary.
I was unable to use a tripod anyway as I turned the camera on it's side to get the greatest height for the panorama. Knowing that as I twist my body clockwise to take the shots, whilst keeping my feet still, I invariably lower the camera slightly, I consciously made an effort to move the camera up a fraction to get the most area for the photo before cropping. I'm using a simple panorama program Serif Panorama Plus 2 which does all the hard work.
I'll post another picture when I've had my cup of coffee and a piece(s) of chocolate sponge bought this morning from the cheap bin at Sainsbury's when I went out to get the sunday papers. I shouldn't really but what the heck. Life's not really worth it if I can't have my little pleasures.
I'm back and have set up two more panoramas.
A closer look: You can see the cockle mounds more clearly here and the birds are Turnstones I am reliably informed,(from googling pictures).

Finally, here you can see some of the houses on the higher ground looking towards Southend-on-Sea.
Looking towards Southend.: Here's the view looking left towards the mouth of the estuary and Southend-on-Sea, an important day trip venue for East Enders during the fifties and sixties. East Enders is a slightly derogatory term for people who lived in the areas of the East End of London (of whom I am one, being born in the now defunct East End Maternity Hospital, Commercial Road).