Tollesbury, Colchester and Summary

26th August – Friday – Campervan trip to Tollesbury

We are meeting sailing friends, Lynn, Jim, Jo and Ian.  One campervan, One Motorhome meet at Ian and Jo’s boat in Tollesbury Marina, which now has a camp site.  Tollesbury is a village in Essex, at the mouth of the River Blackwater, 12 miles South of Colchester. 

Daisy, new to us this year, the first time we have popped the top and slept in her.

Man cooking.  A 3 Cobb Cooker event.  Outside Jim and Lynn’s luxury vehicle.

Three sailors putting the world to rights over a drink and a warm cooker.

We had a great couple of days with friends and family dropping by.  Finished off with a good meal at the marina Restaurant.

It is very difficult to take a full picture here, the site is spread out and the land is very flat, etched by water channels.

The old sail lofts at Tollesbury which are now businesses and a café.

View over the marina towards Bradwell.

Sailors/Camper Info

The marina office has a small shop for essentials.  There are two cafes and a restaurant and a covered swimming pool on site.

The facilities are modern with a hairdryer.

£34 a night for the camper is about the same as the cost for a boat. 

28th August – Sunday

Bacon butties with Ian and Jo aboard ‘Sun and Air’ before their departure.  It has been lovely to see everyone.  Till next time.

We visited Tiptree Jam Factory (home of Williams and Sons and Thursday Cottage brands) after breakfast.  There is a very tempting shop, a lovely café and museum.

On the way back we went to look at Heybridge Basin and Maldon, but it being a Bank Holiday Sunday it was heaving, and no parking to be found.  Maldon is a beautiful historic old town and worth a return visit.

31st August – Wednesday

We took the van to Orwell Country Park, at the other side of the Orwell Bridge.  There is a good circular walk which takes in the shoreline of the Orwell River.

Orwell Bridge in the background.

The Ancient Oak.

1st September – Thursday – Colchester

A Grand Day Out to Colchester, Britain’s first city and the first capital of Roman Britain.  It is only half and hour from Ipswich.

Colchester Castle is the biggest Norman Keep in Europe. 

We were not expecting the modern steel structure inside the castle which forms the museum, set on two floors, with old prison beneath.   The museum is chocked full of Roman artefacts and modern projected and interactive displays.

The Mercury Bronze approx. 2 feet tall, billed as one of the finest statues in Roman Britain.

The famous Colchester Vase from AD175.

Something I did not expect was such fine glass.

Spooky and down right scary projections in the prison cells.

£11.25 per person.  No café on site, but plenty in town.

We then went to the Georgian Hollytree's Museum nearby.  It houses the tourist info centre, and a clock and toy collection.

High Street.  There are also lots of lanes, buildings from every generation, modern shopping and independent shops and cafes.

Last but not least we went to the Roman Circus Visitor Centre.

Not a circus as we know it, but a Roman Chariot Race arena.  Only discovered in 2014 it is one of 70 across the Roman empire and the only one yet to be found in Britain.

The photo above shows where the circus would have been on todays landscape.

Above is a clever way to explain how big the starting gates for the races would have been.

Enclosed are the trenches dug out by the ‘Time Team’ during their visit.

Above Mick is a representation of the tiered seating to give an idea of proportion.

We were hooked into the Visitor Centre by an eager volunteer, who took £3 each, but gave us an excellent explanation of the site.  Above is a volunteer made model of the arena which was 448m long and could seat 5,000 spectators.  Built after Boudica’s rebellion of 61AD and used for 150 years.

With our heads full of history we found the beautiful Tymperley’s café.  One of many half timber buildings in town. 

What an interesting day.  There are other museums in town too, all free to enter.  It would be easy to spend a few days here.

And that brings our summer tour to a close. 

A surprise 6 week trip to Holland

438 Nautical Miles, 16 Ports visited

Lots of Grand Days Out

Some great weather, hot, hot, hot at times

A Campervan trip

Great meet ups with friends old and new

The good yacht Fleur has done us proud. 

Having the van in Ipswich has widened our area of exploration.

It has been a pretty chilled summer and we have seen some very interesting places.  The south east, Suffolk and Essex have shared some great locations with us and we have had time to explore.

Thanks for reading, we love sharing our travels with you.

Bury St Edmunds, Ickworth and Brightlingsea – Mid August 2022

th August – Tuesday – Bury St Edmunds

We drove to Bury St Edmunds for a minibreak for our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

We stayed at The Angel Hotel, which is very central so we could walk everywhere.

We went for a wander and came across The Nutshell which is Britain’s Smallest pub, but it has plenty of outdoor seating.

Right across the road is this impressive building, The Corn Exchange, which is now a Wetherspoons.

It is as impressive inside.

There are many quality shops and cute old streets to walk around too.

On the first night we went to the Giggling Squid, Thai Restaurant, which we now know is a southern chain restaurant, hurray, next…..

10th August 2022 – Our 10th Wedding Anniversary

It was a scorcher of a day so nothing more strenuous than sauntering around from shady place to shady place.

The rose garden in the grounds of the St Edmundsbury Cathedral, relatively new built in 1831.  A church has stood here since the 11th century, with many reincarnations.  The Millennium Tower was completed in 2005.

Inside the Millennium Tower.

There is a good café at the back of the church for shade and refreshment.

Next we visited the church of St Mary, just along the street.  Notable for the unique hammer beam ‘Angel Roof’ which is lined with dozens of Angel carvings, which are all different.  The church is also the final resting place of Mary Tudor, Queen of France.  Henry VIII favourite sister, after whom the ‘Mary Rose’ was named. 

We finished the day with a lovely meal in the hotel.

Margarita Time.

11th August – Thursday – To Ickworth House

As it was close by we visited Ickworth House on the way back to the boat.

It is a neoclassical building set in parkland.  The residence of the Marquess of Bristol until it was passed to the National Trust in 1998.

Built between 1795 and 1829, originally the estate of the Hervey family, later Marquess of Bristol.  The East Wing is now run as a hotel.

The house was intended to be a gallery and many fine works still remain.

Including this portrait of the owners son, painted on tin, so that it would not perish at sea.

We managed to walk to the chapel in the sunshine, but did not walk around the extensive grounds, which are currently suffering from the heat, as we were.  Another excellent National Trust café helped.

Three very hot days followed.  It was 31 degrees inside the boat.

15th August – Monday – To Harwich and Dovercourt.

Stir crazy after the hot weather we needed a day out.  We had seen lots of beach huts near Harwich when we were returning from Titchmarsh, so went to investigate.

Half Penny Pier is the place in Harwich for Fish and Chips and Ice Cream.  It is also an overnight stopping place with a small harbour for passing sailors.  But beware it is very rocky.

LV18 is the last remaining example of a manned light vessel in British Waters and is moored at Harwich.  It was the boat used in the film ‘The Boat That Rocks’.  It is open to visitors.

We then went for a walk on the promenade at Dovercourt along the bay.  Many more beach huts.

16th August - Tuesday

Ipswich Harbour hosts much larger vessels than us, and this is one example.

The ship is REVERSING through the lock.  The pontoons are floated away to make extra space.  These are usually timber ships, which we also saw in Troon.

18th August – Thursday – To Brightlingsea

Back to sailing after a little break.

Showers were in the forecast, but we were ready for a change.  This large black cloud, played Rain Shower Roulette with us as we sailed down the River Orwell and won, about half way down.  Mick, at the helm, was drenched.  But it was a warm day and he soon dried off.

We set off at 10.15 in a lock rotation with 3 other boats.  Arriving at 5.00pm after 31.7 miles.  We thought one seasick pill would be enough, but after the shallow rock and roll past Clacton, the consensus was, that two pills would have been better.

We were met in the shallow channel by the harbourmaster and much to our surprise were allocated a marina berth, so no water taxi’s, hurray.  Most of the moorings at Brightlingsea are on pontoons in the river Colne.  

We had two recommendations for ‘Winkies’ Eat In Chippy on New Street.  A 10 minute walk into town from the marina.  They serve draft beer too.

Later we met Adrian, of ‘Colne Rose’ who with Jane helped us with the information to get to Holland earlier in the year, at the Colne Yacht Club on the harbourside.  One of three sailing clubs in town.

The harbourside is busy and lots of people are taxied ashore, catch ferries, go crabbing, take trips on boats.

Boats are also launched by Tractor from trailers.  Always a good watch.

Brightlingsea is an ancient Cinque Port.  The notable harbour buildings from the left are the Harbourmasters office in the background, The Hard Shelter and the imposing Anchor Hotel, which was converted to flats in 2000.

Fleur nestled along the linear pontoon in the marina.  Tide was out here.

19th August – Friday

Our friend Sandra walked to the harbour to meet us.  We had a very pleasant lunch in the Yachtsman's Arms, Sandra and I had crab.

Then we walked around the coast path, passed the beach huts and had an ice cream.  Then walked back into town to say Bye Bye.  Until next time Sandra XXX

20th August - Saturday

We took in the highlights of Brightlingsea.  Or ‘Planet Brightlingsea’ as I call it, as they have one of everything, Butcher, Baker, Bargain shop, cafes and restaurants, pubs, chippy’s, Lido, Museum, Coop, Spar and Tesco.  You never have to leave.

The town square, or triangle, is a 10 minute walk from the harbour.

Heading from town on Station Road is the new purpose built museum.  It is free to enter with donation.  It is small but perfectly formed, with modern interactive displays and loads of interesting local information, from oyster catching to ship building.

A history of the Americas Cup attempts is projected onto the sail.  Also ‘talking heads’ of fishermen and their tales.

Heading back to the beach we pass the Lido, celebrating 90 years this summer.  It was badly damaged by a tidal surge in 2020 and reopened after the pandemic in June 2021.  It is well used and has a lovely café, open to all.

Back at the beach we find Bateman’s Tower.  A folly built in 1883 by John Bateman for his daughter to recuperate from consumption.  It was used by the Royal Observer Corps in WWII.  It is now used by the Colne Yacht Club and others as a race box to start and finish races. 

Low water from the Beach Huts, showing the channel into harbour.  Many boats have run aground here on the sand.  If a sailor gets it really wrong, at the wrong time, it can be a two week stay.

The ‘Leading Lines’ above, need to be lined up to make sure the boat is in the channel.

Later we met Adrian for dinner and then to the marina bar.  Lovely evening. 

21st August – Sunday – Brightlingsea to Ipswich

The tide marker in the marina at low water.  The sand is clearly visible.

The tide marker at 7.15am just before we left at High Water showing 3 metres, above the Sill at the entrance to the marina.

Clacton from the sea.  We had one of our longest day sails in the while, on the way home, very peaceful and some good tunes on the radio.  Easy Like Sunday Morning.

Felixstowe Docks, eerily quiet on the first day of the strike.  We sailed passed in the silence.

We arrived back at 14.30 to the sound of the funfair on the harbourside.

Sailors Info

We have now stayed on the pontoons and in the marina.  The marina is quite tight but very useful if you have people to see. 

Water taxi fares £1.50 each way per person or 10 tokens for £11, 1 token per trip.

video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spl3zzQNRZ0

The approach to the harbour is tricky and the You Tube video by the Harbour Commisioners above is helpful.

£28 per night on the pontoon or in the marina.

Good new facilities in the harbour flats building.  Plug socket near the washing machine.  Where I left my hairdryer grrrr.

Tesco, Spar, Coop and independent shops in town.  Minimart at the harbour.  Lots of Restaurants and Pubs.  Winkies eat in chippy 5 stars.

A great place to idle away a few sunny days and meet old friends.