So I didnt get much sleep as it was our first night at anchor I was up every hour and a half checking that we hadnt moved......Caro said it was just like having a new baby at home............ We only dragged once and that was after the tide turned, hardly surprising really. Off nice and early so that we could follow the tide up to Battlesbridge as we turned into the Crouch we discovered it was Burnham week which means lots of Yotties doing there thing all over the river. Managed to dodge them and went on our way. Arrived at Battlesbridge to early, so the floating "pontoon" was not afloat, I use the word pontoon lightly it was a collection of oildrums and rotten wood.... We were invited to moor alongside the barge "Hazel May" by Peter and Sandy, when there was enough water we managed it but had it been a neap tide we wouldnt have............. Spent a delightful evening in their company, lots of stories told. Next day high tide was not until the afternoon so Caro had most of the day to shop in the antiques centres, which she did to great effect. Peter and I fixed the broken stantion and did what men do best which is sat and chatted.
We left with the tide and proceded back to the Roach as we knew there was another anchorage there that was sheltered from the NW as that was the wind for that night. Having called Heybridge we knew that they couldnt fit us in, so we were at a loss at to what to do the next day. Checked the forecast and it said force 4 gusting 5 so we had resigned ourselves to being at anchor for a couple of days in the Roach. Awoke bright and early this morning, that was my first mistake! The wind had dropped so I checked the forecast and it was down to force 3. There was still a couple of hours of the ebb left giving us enough tine to get past Whitaker beacon before the tide turned and we could catch the flood back to London. After taking a while to get the anchor up, I ended up driving over it to pull it out as that was the only way I could get it free, we set off. Passed a colony of seals on foulness sands and arrived at Whitaker spot on low tide, turned and headed for home. The GPS was showing an arrival time at Limehouse of 1800 this was as late as it could be as they shut then really it had to be about 1700 as high tide was 17.30. Carried on down towards Shoeburyness and the GPS was showing arrival of 17.30 The wind had picked up to force 4 and my second mistake was not aborting before Blacktail Spit so that we could have run straight for the Medway. Pressed on to Southend and at this point realised that we may well not make it to Limehouse so decided to make a dash for the Swale. Now the wind is from the NW and the tide is running up the estuary this makes for a very choppy sea. We had to run beam onto the wind to cross to Sheerness and for half an hour it was very rough with Parglena rolling a lot (note to self get bilge keels fitted). Having later looked at the IOSSC wind logs as we crossed it was 18mph gusting 22 which puts it right at the top end of Force 4 gusting 5........ We picked up a Bouy at Queenborough at 1400 and we are off up the Medway tomorrow for some sheltered boating, back to London Tuesday (weather permitting). -- Julian & Caro Tether Barge Parglena e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
