On Sunday we did a little provisioning and got the boat ready for the next passage, 45NM from Lowestoft to Harwich. In the end we made such good time with a spring tide under us that we were able to make the River Deben FWB at HW-2, the ideal time to enter, and motor up to the Tide Mill marina, about 8 miles up river.
The Deben was on our list of places to visit but we didn’t think we would make the entrance in time from Lowestoft, and had planned to come back north from Harwich, so this was a bonus for us.
The entrance is complicated by outlying sandbanks ( or Knolls as they are known locally ) which are always moving. Fortunately we had very good visibility and an up to date entrance plan posted by the harbour master. Even with up to date information, the entrance was ‘exciting’ with lots of breaking water close to the north.
Breaking water north of the entrance channel.
Once past Felixstowe Ferry we followed the marked channel along foreboding sounding places such as ‘Troublesome Reach’ and eventually scraped over the cill at Tide Mill Marina at Woodbridge.
The Tide Mill, and marina ( Below ).
The marina cill at low water.
We stayed a couple of days at the Tide Mill, and whilst there we took the dinghy for a run up the river into areas not accessible in 'Norman James' . Passing under two (very) low bridges and into an area of gentle meanders and reed lined banks which was truly delightful.
Low bridge on the upper Deben.
Peaceful, reed lined river.
To top out the experience we also saw a kingfisher flashing away from us with the sunlight glowing on it’s plumage. The dinghy trip also tested out our new electric outboard which made the run much more pleasant with very little noise to disturb the wildlife, and after 1 3/4 hours still had 20% battery life left. Woodbridge itself was very attractive with lots of independent shops and easy access to a supermarket for provisioning.
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