We slept soundly, setting our alarm for dawn (5am). Ramsgate to Tollesbury was to be one of our longer passages and also the shallowest so much planning had taken place prior to proceeding across this tricky stretch of water.
Fake smiles at dawn
Many thanks to Roger Gasper and his truly excellent book appropriately titled 'Crossing the Thames Estuary'. We studied it intently and gained an understanding of the shifting sands. We elected to follow a fairly direct route heading roughly north west through Fisherman's Gat, a narrow channel through the sandbanks clearly marked by red and green buoys. The 'Gat' offers sufficient depth for those craft drawing around 10 metres so fairly sizeable craft sometimes make use of it. We met just three yachts travelling south in convoy.
Fisherman's Gat
Red to the left, green to the right Black Deep is essentially a 'motorway' for ships crossing the northern end of Fisherman's Gat and is considerably deeper averaging around 20 metres. This channel is plied by container ships heading for Tilbury docks. We scoured the horizon in both directions before 'crossing the road' and spotted a tiny object on the north east horizon. Experienced had taught us that such objects, no matter how seemingly innocuous, were ignored at one's peril. Our caution was vindicated as the 'tiny object' rapidly turned into a giant container ship heading our way at high speed. We elected to hold our course and we crossed its bulbous bow with several hundred yards to spare. These ships are truly impressive, creating vast bow waves as they plough through the water. If in doubt, aim for the stern!
Turbine trees
We switched on our radio to listen to the royal wedding. It seemed strange to be at sea as Harry and Meghan made their vows at Windsor Castle. We spotted a solitary dolphin surfacing briefly but saw little else other than than the enormity of the London Array offshore wind-farm; a vast forest of turbines. DD negotiated the 'South West Sunk' shallows and also the equally shallow 'Swin Spitway' where depths can fall away to just a couple of metres. A thin strip of yellow sand at Jaywick etched the northern shore of the Thames Estuary.
Tollesbury Fleet
We headed further west towards Bradwell Power Station, a concrete castle on the south shore of the Blackwater, and savoured the final moments of our voyage which had started so unpromisingly on a misty Falmouth morning 37 days earlier.
Tollesbury Marina
The flood tide carried Distant Drummer into Tollesbury Fleet, a narrow channel bordering the Wick Marshes RSPB reserve. Several small yachts, racing dinghies and powerboats dodged past us as the channel narrowed still further into the marina entrance. Nicola had to bring DD to a halt more than once to allow small sailing dinghies to squeeze past us. At 2.30pm on Saturday 19th May Distant Drummer settled alongside E11, a small wooden pontoon in the centre of Tollesbury marina. Nicola and Robin and Distant Drummer had arrived at their new home; until we decide to set sail again.
Mud initiation ceremony
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