A change of plan this morning. We would have liked to have moved further down the coast to Eastbourne, but since strong winds are forecast over the next few days we decided to head back and go to Rochester in the Medway. We had a good run at sea into the Thames Estuary, but it was a bit choppy off Whitstable Bay as there was a large fetch for the SW breeze, but once in the lee of the Isle of Sheppey it was a lot smoother. We arrived at Rochester Crusing Club at high water, which made mooring up a lot easier as the tide can run very hard here.
Day 7&8. Rochester
The next few days were spent sight seeing, dog walking, shopping in neighbouring Stroud and relaxing in Rochester with a view to waiting until the strong winds abated. However, even Rochester has succumbed to the UK's homeless population, as there were loads of rough sleepers in shop doorways in the high street.
Time to move on today after three very enjoyable days in Rochester. We ran at displacement speed to Darnet Ness, from where we could plane out of The Medway into The Thames Estuary, heading to the Medway secondary channel. Sea conditions were quite calm, which due to the recent high winds had fortunately been blowing off the land...it would have been a different story had the wind been in the NE. We was against the flood all the way until we entered The Colne Estuary where we then got help from the tide. We arrived off the town moorings just before high water, where we had a short wait for the Harbour Master to escort us into our allocated berth in the East Marina. We have a very pleasant panoramic view across the harbour.
Day 10. Brightlingsea
We spent a lovely day at Brightlingsea, dog walking and looking around the chandler's looking at replacement brands for Moonshine's tender. We would like a slightly bigger version to our Narwhal 240 to accommodate 4 adults and 3 dogs whilst still allowing us stern access. The Narwhal has given us sterling service over the last 15 years, but has now nearly reached the end of its life.
We have loved Brightlingsea, being moored in the East Marina, watching the world go by and will be sorry to leave.
We left Brightlingsea as soon as there was enough water over the sill, and had a good fast but short run against the tide to Harwich, where we dropped off the plane and then went steady up The River Orwell. Once in Ipswich we came through the lock on the level and immediately took on fuel. Time to relax once again amongst the hustle and bustle of busy Ipswich.
Day 12. Ipswich
We have had fun exploring the vast marina and town that has some impressive historic buildings. We popped into the most prestigious Lakeland store that is known as Ancient House in the Buttermarket area which dates from the 15th century. Considering Natalie hates the Lakeland store, she rather enjoyed investigating it's quirky layout, and didn't bat an eyelid whilst I spent ages debating with myself whether I could justify a £20 spend on 16 large pegs to fit Moonshine's tubular rails for drying towels etc.
As ever we have loved it here, but time to move on once again back to Lowestoft, where hopefully we can purchase another 7" fan, as one of ours has just this minute packed up!
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