Missile Attack Ship

The river Deben must be one of Britain’s most beautiful rivers, from the shingle entrance at Bawdsey through the lovely Suffolk landscape up to the picturesque town of Woodbridge.

We have spent a lovely few days in the Deben spending two nights on a buoy at Ramsholt and another two in Tide Mill Marina at Woodbridge.

The Avon inflatable dinghy pays for itself every time we stop on a buoy as it gives us access to the shore. Almost every time it comes out there is a new iteration of the inflation-launch-recovery process but we seem to be settling on using the spinnaker boom up-haul as a crane to lift it from the forepeak ready inflation and from the water ready for stowing.

At Ramsholt we rowed ashore for a lovely walk taking in the church where George Jones is buried; I have recently been reading an account of George’s cruise to Holland and Germany in August of 1939, including his flight back to England as war was declared (Cruise of the Naromis). We also had a cycle ride to Bawdsey to look at the river entrance from the shore.

In Woodbridge we met up with crew member Joanne for a brief visit including a sail in the river, just dodging the showers; and a cracking curry at the Royal Bengal.

Although the river Deben through Woodbridge and surrounding area is beautiful, the river really gets interesting above Tide Mill Marina. Low water exposes all manner of abandoned vessels mainly dating from when steam power took over from sail; obsolete vessels were left in ‘mud berths’ where they have remained and decayed over the many decades.

The banks are lined with obscure working boatyards that are a million miles from the picturesque luxury (and cost) of Tide Mill. There are also many live aboard barges ranging from old concrete lighters with a static caravan craned onto the deck; beautifully converted wooden barges and Dutch tchalks through to converted motor torpedo boats!

An exciting addition this year is the Missile Attack ship HMS Vale which has been converted to a cafe serving excellent breakfasts which we sampled on Saturday morning.

With Joanne on her way home and a weather window on the horizon we beat our way back to the Orwell in conditions that were close to exciting; just below exciting for me but unfortunately just beyond exciting for Belinda. This will give us the increasing flexibility of setting off from a harbour that is not tide dependent.

Back at Pin Mill we have been making preparations for our crossing to Ostend while enjoying increasingly pleasant weather.

Today we have a special occasion as the skipper has a significant birthday that enables him to retire; my aunt has a birthday (a gentleman would never tell a ladies address but I can exclusively reveal that she is………….. old enough to know better) and Flamingo is also 25 today.

A row up to Pin Mill for a late lunch at the Butt & Oyster is planned for today, followed by an afternoon nap ready for an 0000hrs start to Ostend. If the weather and our luck hold our next post should be from mainland Europe; fingers crossed.