Monday dawned grey and windy, with a good F5 blowing. It was a harsh introduction for Jon, requiring getting up at 5.30am in order to slip lines at 0645 so that we could catch all the good north flowing tide up the coast. Departure from Lowestoft involved slotting into the bridge opening and the steady stream of windfarm support vessels, and we were soon out into a very lumpy sea, and recording 28kts of wind as we exited the harbour. Very bouncy for a few minutes until we cleared the land and got into some deeper water, and the wind soon dropped to a good steady F5.

The navigation was simple...just follow the Norfolk coast and keep turning left, and then along the North Norfolk coast to Wells. Our tidal planning meant that we had a couple of hours of ‘bad tide’ from the north to begin with, but then picked up the north flowing stream for the rest of the trip, and it curves around the coast so is still pushing you along the north coast, when we would be travelling due east.

For the first part of the trip we had the wind directly behind us, which is fine in some respects, but is not the best direction for a good sail. As a result we did the first half, travelling in the murk and drizzle, with just the jib up, which is safer when dead downwind, and we could just ignore it and let it gybe itself it the wind shifted slightly. We used the engine when needed to keep a decent boat speed, and were soon helped by the tide turning in our favour.

There is not really much to report on the trip ; the coast is very flat, and the main excitement was dodging the hundreds of crab pots off Cromer...not a big surprise given that this is what it is famous for.  We also met up with another cruising yacht heading for Wells, but did not see many others out. By the time we got near Wells it was clear that the tide had helped us more than we had expected, and we were early, and had to kill just over an hour waiting for the tide to be high enough to allow us to get into this harbour.  This was without doubt the most tortuous entrance channel I have ever dealt with, although it was very well marked.  If you zoom in the map you may get an idea of the switchback route, and you will see from the pics that we had to get VERY close to the beach and estuary banks. We even got close to some very hardy swimmers off the beach, undeterred by the cold, rain and mist.

We were happy to see the harbour master come out to us in his launch to lead us in for the final half mile or so, and direct us to moor alongside the Albatross, an old Dutch sailing ship, now permanently moored to the quay as a bar and cafe. We were assured that there would be enough water here for us to stay afloat when the tide went out, and the tide certainly did race out at a great rate of knots. The harbour master was extremely helpful and friendly, and Wells was a delightful place....well worth a visit...or perhaps you may want to buy a beach hut for a modest £50k ?