( Overview
/ Two Scilly Bullocks on a Boat
As we crossed the Thames Channel, the wind reduced, but was now on our nose, but as we skirted Gunfleet Sands, the winds abated even more, and the seas became calm.
Our first sighting of the Naze cliffs and tower.
Having become accustomed to deeper waters, and straightforward routes, we had to ‘retune’ to North Sea navigation; follow buoys carefully, and trust calculations about chart datum and tides. On first being in 3.5 metres of water we panicked a little, but then realised that shallow seas are the norm.
Felixstowe Port looked very close over the still waters. The Ever Ace is currently one of the world’s biggest container ships owned by Evergreen Marine, a Taiwanese shipping company.
The Port of Felixstowe is the UK’s largest container port, dealing with 48% of Britain’s containerised trade.
The Hanoverian Tower, more commonly known as the Naze Tower, is an 86 foot navigational tower built in 1720. It was a lookout in the Napoleonic and World Wars, but is now privately owned and run as a museum, art gallery and tearoom.
Making the most of the light airs, and strong incoming tides.
Following the buoys in was essential, as typically we arrived just after low water at springs, and even the twisting channel was only 1.9 metres.
This chart shows the channel into Hamford Water in 2015. The channel is maintained and changes slightly every year, mainly because sand and shingle, which has been used to shore up sea defences and create beaches elsewhere, is washed up here by tides and storms.
Without navigational buoys, making a passage at sea would be very difficult, even with electronic chart plotters. Amongst others Starboard (green) buoys and port (red) buoys mark the sides of a channel…
….cardinals (yellow and black) show where safe water is near a hazard, and safe water buoys (red and white) mark where to begin a passage in. Some buoys also have sounds; the clang of a bell in a cardinal and the whistle or ‘call’ of a safe water mark are quite eerie, especially in poor visibility.
The sight and sound of so many seabirds was wonderful.
In 1988 barges were sunk on Horsey Island to be used as a breakwater and prevent land erosion.
Such a contrast to the rough seas earlier. The calm before the storm?
Arthur Ransome’s eighth book in the Swallows and Amazons series ‘Secret Water’ is based around Hamford Water. Published in 1939, it starts a few days after ‘We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea’ ends.
Flint Island is Stone Point, and Swallow Island is Horsey Island. The Backwaters has changed very little in the intervening years apart from the development of the marina.
We last met Tui and her crew in Mallaig.
Avalon on the outside pontoon at Titchmarsh Marina - for a little while at least. Can’t believe we’re all ‘home’ together. Very strange coming through the Medusa Channel into Hamford Water and down the Twizzle after six years; it felt familiar and alien in equal measure.
Another long passage of over 100 nautical miles taking 14 hours, so very grateful for calm conditions to end the day….
…and also very grateful to Fi for a lift home.
Weary, but relieved circumnavigators.
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