Ramsgate to Harwich

Mira's Web Diary
Gordon and Catherine
Wed 23 Jul 2014 19:53

51:57.60N 01:16.66E Monday and it’s time to tackle the Thames Estuary.  Sunday evening we dither and decide to get up and get another forecast on Monday morning, so at 0400 it’s IPAD time and we decide to stay in bed as the forecast is not ideal, a northerly with fog patches.  We lie in bed wide awake and at 0500 there’s a clear sky and no wind so we decide to go anyway.  It’s a motoring job because the wind is light and from the wrong direction but we’re keen to get this passage completed while it’s neaps and the tidal streams are light.  There’s much less shipping than we were expecting which is just as well as the engine warning buzzer suddenly sounds half way across.  Luckily we’re in Black Deep, one of the main channels but there’s a nasty shoal on our port side.  We quickly put some sail up and I try to maintain steerage while Gordon looks at the engine.  The generator belt has broken, which sounds very bad news to me but Gordon digs in a locker, produces a spare and quickly has it fitted – always travel with an engineer!  That’s the only eventful bit of the journey and we enter Harwich harbour, pass in front of Felixstowe container port and enter the Stour, then through the lock and into Shotley marina.  It’s a calm, quiet oasis with birdsong and greenery and the Thames Estuary is ticked off our list.