Next the Sea

We had a very long but sunny and pleasant day motor sailing in light winds from Bridlington to Wells-next-the-Sea which is on the north Norfolk coast south and east of The Wash. We were keen to leave Bridlington early and there was plenty of fishing boat activity at 3am so we were up and out. The harbour itself was lit up by flood lights but when we left the harbour entrance we realised that there was not actually any daylight yet. So, we had an interesting first half an hour relying heavily on the map on our tablet and keeping a sharp eye out to avoid getting tangled in any pot buoys. It is 8th July 2021.



The sun came up and eventually found its way through the clouds. Light winds were of some assistance but for most of the day in combination with the motor. We were soon out of sight of land and spent the next 15 hours mostly alone but passing two or three wind farms and sailing through a fleet of moored ships. We did pass one yacht that was heading northwards and gave them a wave. The possibility of simply turning round and heading back north did cross my mind. Maybe the ideal sailing round the UK trip should be over two seasons, leaving the boat in Oban for the winter? Or how about going along the channel and up the Irish Sea to the north-west of Scotland, then turning round and heading back the same way but staying in different harbours – a kind of bottom to top of the UK rather than this so predictable concept of going ‘round’ it?



Approaching Wells-next-the-Sea was interesting because it is a channel that cuts through a sandy shore. It was fun to follow the buoyed channel with row of quirky beach huts on the beach to one side. 


The harbour in Wells nts is lovely with a variety of boats and a nice feel to it.



In the harbour here at Wells-next-the-Sea we are asked to go alongside a yacht that is already alongside another yacht, a stack of three. This means that getting on to the pontoon is quite a gymnastic operation and it will be interesting at 5am tomorrow morning how slick we can be in escaping our mooring without waking everyone else up. The visiting sailors here know the Blackwater well and Mark feels is close to home turf. We plan our effort for tomorrow to reach Felixstowe, then maybe two more days to complete our circuit around the UK.

Comments

  1. Nina Fedorski9 July 2021 at 00:49

    Well done,lovely dawns,hope the weather is kind for your final days
    Come to RHS Bridgewater when you're back on dry land...it's fab!

    ReplyDelete

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