Tuesday 9 August
Skipper braved an unreliable outboard engine to go in search of a replacement cooking gas cylinder, while Mate set to for a little spring cleaning – overdue, as I do like to feel fresh inside and out. Soon we were ready to leave the Deben and cruise alongside Felixstowe beach, so I could see where my crew had cycled yesterday. It was good to stretch my sailing legs again, ready for more motor cruising as we made our way into another area of low-lying marshland, where you can follow creeks miles inland. At high water the land floods to resemble lakes: this is Walton Backwaters, named Secret Water by Arthur Ransome in his novel of the same name. As the Mate grew up with these stories, long before she set foot in a boat, she was delighted to find the real place as evocative and mysterious as it was portrayed by the author. Once again my anchor was dropped in a lovely private sheltered creek, with just the wild water birds for company.