Friday 5 August
A warm and calm day for a potter upriver, following the channel carefully. Of course we found the ideal anchorage just around the bend, where we would have been better sheltered earlier in the week, but we all survived the test, and can put it down to experience.
The scenery was classic Constable country, with pretty cattle grazing right at the water’s edge…is that how they make salt beef?
Even carefully following the withies supposedly marking the channel, I still touched bottom just above Iken, so we called it a day and turned back while the crew enjoyed an alfresco lunch. Mate put on her helpful hat again by calling the head boatman at Aldeburgh YC to organise rescue for two young boys we passed standing on the upturned hull of their dinghy. They had capsized with the spinnaker up and the boat had turned turtle and got her mast stuck in the mud. They looked a bit sheepish but otherwise unscathed, and the safety boat was soon with them.
We pulled into the Yacht Club pontoon where they welcomed us as “the largest boat we’ve ever had alongside here” and kindly helped us take on water, while the Mate chatted with one of the members about cruising in Norway, which I believe is in the plans for sometime in the future. We also gained local knowledge about leaving the river (on the seaward side, with some flood running to lift me off if I get stuck!) We nestled in the anchorage in Abraham’s Bosum near the bottom of the Ore, but didn’t spot any avocet, which are supposed to live there.