This is the very last week of this trip and its the final run down towards London. – then spend a couple of days concentrating on moving the boat around in small spaces, throwing things overboard and getting them back on board again, and generally getting ourselves ready for the last journey down to St Kats in London ready for lock in at 10.30 on Saturday morning
Well, here we are in Shotley (Harwich). Its been a long couple of days, and I will try to tell you about it in this blog.
I had the opportunity to take a shower and use the launderette in Hull, instead I spent the morning in Wethersoons trying to upload blogs since we left Leith, is this normal behaviour?
I have now put this right as we are comfortable in Hull, all my washing has been done, nice clean bedding, and I have had two, yes two, baths! I guess I was feeling guilty for prioritising my blog over my poor body for so long!
We have had a long trip, we are all tired, the boys are all fast asleep and I’m going to tell you about it before I go to sleep, so here goes!
I managed a little walk around Hull as I looked for the Wetherspoons, and felt impressed by the place. I was last here in 1983, it was obviously a thriving city in its time, but
in the early 80’s it was a city in the doldrums. Its good to see how improved it is
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Lovely old cobbled streets, can see the marks where the old metal wheels of the carts wore them down
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We slipped the lines at Hull Marina yesterday morning at noon, with John skippering this trip. Initially he planned to skipper just the first half of the trip, but he ended up skippering the whole lot and doing a lovely job!
John meticulously planned the trip, then stored all his notes in his folder. He ensured we navigated the Humber with fine detail. He tells me the name of his mirror dinghy is “Mr Fusspot” named by his children – well Varty kids – I can’t think why you chose that name?
I’m only joking, John is very organised and pays attention to detail, which is what I kept in mind as he contacted Humber Coastguard to let them know about our planned route to Harwich and informed them our boats name was “Round Bottom Experience” He quickly corrected himself, and I managed to spin away from him and conceal my smile as I wondered what Freud would say – maybe he was thinking of our own Hull??
It can be very scary using the VHF, contacting the coastguard, marina offices, VTS, but as we continue our journey around and meet some of these people, and hear the dialogues between frequent VHF users, you realise they are just normal people doing a normal job – it helps to keep this in mind as you pick up the receiver, put it to your mouth (yes John, your mouth to speak…!) and speak.
Chris has been a great skipper and manages to keep his cool as we guide the boat out of and into tiny spaces, like locks. He is an old salty sea dog, with tons of experience, not only of sailing, but of teaching novices like ourselves, but I often wonder if he is screaming underneath, if he is, he certainly doesnt seem to show it!
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We met yet more friendly harbour staff – here is Mark the lockkeeper who gives us a wave as we leave,
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and a quick chat to Chris as the lock did its work
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We had a beautiful sail down the Humber, with 15-20 knots of wind and the tide behind us, it wasnt long before we reached Spurn Head
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Sailing around Britain certainly educates you about industry and gives you an appreciation of the work others do. As a consumer normally residing in the Midlands, it is easy to take for granted that food arrives in supermarkets, there will be petrol in the pumps and if I fancy fish and chips on a Friday night, I can be assured to getting it. Sailing around our coast helps me understand how some of this happens.
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I have always dreaded the night sails on this trip, but have to admit they have often been the best times, this trip was no exception. We had strong winds for most of the journey, but unfortunately, this ended up on our nose once we came around the curve of North Norfolk and headed directly south, so the motor had to come on and the head sail put away.
I enjoy sailing at night though, looking at the lights, working out what the vessels passing by are and which buoys we are heading towards
This trip has certainly helped with pilotage – at one point a stretch around a wind farm) looked like something in Blackpool with lights of varying colours flashing along the way. John and I picked our way through it, looking for the next buoy and counting its flashes – and feeling satisfied as each one went by and we had recognised it correctly (thank goodness for that – we didnt want to be at the end of a turbine blade after all!)
Another great thing about a night sail is seeing the dawn!
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It always seems to be spectactular.
As I was photographing it this morning, I suddnely realised why this special mark said (2 buoys) on the chart – as suddenly another buoy appeared!
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The dawn even seemed to make Sizewell look pretty!
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Eventually, Felixstowe started to appear in the distance
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And we could see the industry around the area
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Fantastically busy place
On busy areas of shipping, they have something called a Traffic Separation Scheme” its a bit like a big motorway on the sea. We are just a teeny weeny yacht, and don’t count so we have to cross it as quickly as we can, taking care not to be mown down by the juggernauts as we go!
This is what I mean
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Once they had both passed, we headed across and breathed a sigh of relief!
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Mike helmed as John navigated, constantly asking Mike to “keep port” as he hugged the buoys!
Look out Mike – here is one heading towards you!
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John contacted Shotley Marina in Harwich to secure a berth and ask if we could enter the lock. After a little confusion when he managed to confirm we did indeed have a draught of 2.2 meters not 4.2!) we entered the lock
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Safely secured onto a pontoon, John was able to put down his skippers hat and relax, put the charts away
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Just time to pop to the “Shipwreck” for a couple of well earned pints, before collapsing into our cabins for a siesta, then up in readiness for Johns cooking this evening –
“Corned Beef Hashwich”
As I mentioned at the start of this blog – all the boys are sleeping as I write this. If you see any errors, I apologise now, for I should be asleep too and my fingers seem to be typing without connection to my brain right now (no change there I hear you say!)
Goodnight!
