Early Sept 2015 – Shotley, Harwich to Ipswich

30th August – Sunday

The lady in Shotley marina kindly added us to her newspaper collection on the way into work today, so we had our first Sunday Papers and magazines to read for many months.

We later went for a walk around Shotley Spit.  There is not a great deal to see and we ended up in the Bristol Arms for a pint of ‘Doom Bar’,  its nice to be in England.

The HMS Ganges museum is located at Shotley Marina so we took a look around.  It was the Royal Navy’s land based training school.  Many of you will remember John Noakes climbing the rigging of the on-shore mast along with dozens of cadets lining the rigging.  Many of the old scholars now run the museum.

We walked back to Fleur and Mick stopped in his tracks, shouting ‘That’s Full Circle’ and then ran down the pontoon to make his way to the next jetty.

Full Circle is also a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 35 owned by Jim and Lynn.  Mick has been communicating with Jim for the past 10 years since they both bought the same type of boat and met via a Sailing Forum.  Above is the moment of meeting.  To say they had a lot to talk about is an understatement and after the first hour Lynn and I retreated to our own pursuits and left them to it, with a promise to meet on our boat later.

They arrived with two other people Ian and Jo who were friends of theirs who had arrived on their boat Apogee.  We had a very jolly evening putting the world to rights.

The following day they were all leaving for Ipswich so we decided to tag along.

Sailors Info: Shotley Marina, Harwich.  Shotley is a welcome site to a weary sailor and is located across the river from the Port of Felixstowe.  The cost is £31 per night including electric.  The staff were very pleasant and obviously used to tired visitors.  On entering the lock you are given the berth details and map and an Electric socket adaptor which has to be used whilst on site, preventing people from stealing electricity.  The showers on the car park are reasonable, but there is no electric socket for dryers.  I did find a plug socket in the disabled toilet which served my purpose.  Stock up with supplies as there is no supermarket nearby.  The chandlers sells a small supply of necessities.  There is a farm shop next to the Bristol Arms, but this was closed on the Sunday we were there.  There is a well patronised pub on site called the Shipwreck which attracts weekend trade.  A water taxi to Harwich is available in summer,but at £3 each, each way we said we would visit later in the car.

31st August – Monday – To Ipswich

Shotley is a 24 hour access marina with a lock.  We timed our exit so that we would arrive at Ipswich when the lock was on freeflow (which means both gates are open and you can sail straight through).  We left at 11.00am through the narrow channel and around Shotley Spit towards the Port of Felixstowe.  We were dwarfed by the container ships.

We made our way up the River Orwell, passed Suffolk Yacht Harbour, Wolverston and Fox’s Boat Yard, all famous sailing destinations.  The river is very well buoyed and the moored yachts make interesting viewing. 

The Orwell bridge was a milestone for us both as we have driven over it on work trips many times, trying to sneak a peak at the yachts below.  So it was a real treat to finally sail under ourselves.

It seems much bigger from here.

Grey day but happy sailor.

Following ‘Full Circle’ through the lock at Ipswich.

Entering Ipswich Marina had a very good feeling about it, sometimes you just feel at home, and here we have stayed for 2 weeks now.

We all had a meal at ‘The Last Anchor’ which is the marina restaurant.  The day after the ladies went walking in town while the gents got mechanical.  We all went out for a last meal together at the ‘Zaika’ Indian Restaurant, a short walk away.  The food was excellent and the restaurant was very professionally managed.

 

Ian, Jo, Jim and Lynn left on Wednesday with small bears as a token of friendship and promises of future meetings to enjoy.

Over the next few days we relaxed into Ipswich, finding our way around, shopping, cleaning and generally making Fleur fully ship shape again.

6th September - Sunday

We met Jeremy and Tricia on their ship Tudora, passing a pleasant few hours talking about Holland and Denmark, its great to swop info. 

7th September – Monday

A momentous day.  My oldest school friend Greg married his partner Mark in Gretna Green and surprised us all.  The outpouring of love for them both on Facebook made us very happy.

Michael carried out a 900 hour service on the engine to celebrate.

9th September – Wednesday

Friends Rodney and his wife Sandra, who retired to the East Coast 5 years ago, paid us a visit today.  We had a lovely lunch in the Last Anchor and the weather was kind enough to lets us chew over old times in the cockpit of the boat, in the sunshine, for the rest of the afternoon, lovely.

10th September – Thursday

Jeremy and Tricia invited us for a walk to Christchurch Park.  It was a lovely day and the park is beautiful.  They were particularly keen to introduce us to ‘Mabel’  who is a bit of a local celebrity around here.  She is an Owl, who lives in a hollow of a tree in the park.  The behaviour is apparently very unusual as Owls tend to hide from view, but Mabel seems happy to be seen and is loved by the locals. 

You can just see her looking out in the centre of the picture.  Much better pictures are available by Googling ‘Mabel Ipswich Owl’!!!

The park also has a grand hall which we will investigate later.

Trevor and Lisa (Dignity II) returned from their holidays today and we had a good chat.  We met them in Padstow last year.  They are here preparing for their Baltic mission next year.

11th September – Friday

Our 3 day history trail started today.  The Ipswich Heritage days run from the 9th to the 13th so we had much to see.  Many of the beautiful buildings are open to the public at this yearly event.  Ipswich is blessed with a host of medieval and Tudor buildings, with it having been a safe harbour, trading and religious centre.

We went to Gippeswyke Hall which is a Tudor house which has been converted to a theatre via lottery funding.

The theatre gets good reviews and also performs outdoors at ‘Jimmy Farm’ too.  Lets just say its needs a good dose of organising.

12th September – Saturday

Ourselves and Tricia joined an organised walking tour starting at St Stephens, which is now the Tourist Office.  Our guide Mike Garland took us on a northerly route around town, pointing out some of the places we were able to visit and filling in the gaps on the towns history. 

‘Ancient House’ which is now a Lakeland shop which was refurbished by the council in the 80s and has been lovingly taken care of by Lakeland since they purchased it.  It is well worth a visit and holds some surprises, which I wont spoil.  Mike really brought this building to life for us.

Pykenham Gatehouse

He dropped us a St Margaret’s which has a unique painted roof inside.  We then went to the Freemasons Hall where Tricia left us to continue.

We continued around town visiting many different types of buildings.  Chapels, a private library, a gatehouse, an Admirals House, and old pubs.

We took a break in the library before our 2.00pm tour of the Town Hall, which Mike had strongly recommended.

The town hall was really the centre of operations in the past and held the offices, courts, fire and police departments.

The Mayors parlour holds this unique portrait of Queen Victoria, as she actually sat for it and it became the draft for a larger version now on display at Osbourne House.

In the parlour the town ‘Sergeant at Arms’ showed us the regalia and official sword and mace.  Then he asked for a volunteer, no one came forward so he asked a guy at the back of the room.  As he fitted the chain, he then told us that the only person allowed to wear this regalia is the Mayor and promptly introduced us to the Mayor, Glen Chisholm.

He was a really nice chap and was obviously enjoying his time in office.  He was wearing the chains to present the prizes to the winners of todays stage of the ‘Tour of Britain’ cycle race, due around 3.30pm.  We finally went into the Corn Exchange which is a venue for all types of performances.

We then made our way to the finish line and waited for the cyclists.

We managed by accident to be standing at the corner of the road the cyclists took after the race and managed to get a pretty good picture of Sir Bradley.

They pass so quickly at the end, we were lucky that they came by us.

We then stumbled across our last building of the day, the Unitarian Meeting House.  It was a very old, very simple and tranquil place.

13th September – Sunday

We enjoyed Mike’s tour so much yesterday we postponed the Sunday newspapers and went on his second tour, to the Waterfront area of town.  He was very knowledgeable and obviously enjoyed his work.

Isaacs Brewery timbered warehouse, still in use for weddings.

The Custom House, whose unique curved entrance meant that the harbour master could stand in the door way and be heard across the harbour.

The Wheatsheaf which is a contemporary of the ‘Ancient House’ but due to its lack of decoration is sadly overlooked.

Phew, what a weekend, some amazing buildings and a privilege to take a peek.