Port to pier

The idea of this journey was to traverse the length of the two distinct sections of Essex coast from Dovercourt beach, which is adjacent to Harwich dock, to Southend-on-Sea. The weather forecast gave a low four from the north west dropping to a three or less, from the west, building again to a four from the west on Monday afternoon. Low tide on the Saturday was at 1:30pm and further south 3:30pm on the Monday. The trip in this direction requires a flooding tide. The tides were really a little late in the day but it was a bank holiday weekend and it can’t always be perfect.

GPS Track


The original plan was to stay out of the tidal flow while crossing Pennyhole bay, but with a low force four tail wind it was not necessary and we positively shot across the bay against the still ebbing tide. Turning the corner at the Naze cliff the wind now on our beam had dropped to a force three. The Naze cliff is recorded as eroding at a rate of 1.5–2.5 mtr each year. The erosion and geology here makes this a favourite spot for fossil hunters


The Naze cliff

At some point just before Clacton pier Tim’s reconstructed hip was giving him pain and unfortunately he had to pull out of the remaining trip. I have to give Tim credit, he’s had a few knock backs lately but still keeps coming back, for more punishment. Aside from this, the tide now with us, a straight forward paddle followed to the lunch stop at Clacton. Following lunch the wind turned to the south west putting it very much on our bows. Only a force three but still making the paddling harder work. About four miles on from Clacton we met Angie and Lorraine who, as arranged, were waiting for us on the beach. Both wanted to join in on the trip but did not fancy the full distance. There was some debate about whether we should carry on in the head wind or stay put, it was forecast to drop. In the end we decided to paddle the extra mile or two around Colne point before making a decision. Travelling over the shallows at the point gave some deeper waves for a few minutes which was quite fun. Having rounded the corner, the wind showed no sign of abating and Lorraine was already ashore, so that’s where we stopped for the night.

View from the camp

A nicer spot it would be hard to find, soft level sand above the tide line with some Lyme grass to break the wind and a half mile of saltings between us and solid ground. Everyone having ate, drift wood was collected and a fire set below the spring high water line, out came the beer and wine and a good evening was had by all.

Collecting Kindling

In the morning Steve was hurting and made the decision to pull out and paddle home. Angie and Lorraine made the return trip to Clacton. There were now five of us remaining for the second leg of the journey. No one really fancied the idea of hanging around waiting for the tide to drop and as forecast, the head wind to build, which left a couple of options. Paddle the six miles across the estuary mouth, beach and wait for a while or take a more direct route to the mouth of the Crouch and make a judgement there whether to carry on to Southend or divert onto the Crouch.

As we left the beach the tide ebbing from the Colne and Blackwater estuaries carried us south. Although as we cleared the rivers influence we would loose this and the tide would be against us, it tipped the balance and we headed straight toward the Crouch. Effectivly a fifteen mile open crossing heading into an ebbing but slaking tide and a force three head wind. To make sensible headway quite a strong pace was set. It felt good to blow away some of the cobwebs and crack on. After two hours on the water we rafted up for a floating lunch break, see the kink in the GPS track. Matt wanted to stretch his legs, but declined the offer of going for a swim. As we approached Buxey sands we could see quite a few seals resting on the exposed bank. In the distance hovercraft, probably MOD, were making good progress, the ideal craft for this terrain. Buxey protrudes nearly nine miles out into the sea, going around was not an option. The chart shows a narrow and slightly deeper area, known as the Ray Sand Channel, only two miles out and that’s where we headed. The chart shows a drying height of 0.7, 0.8 Mtr and the almanac showed the lowest tide today at 1.2Mtr, 500mm of water, plenty for a sea kayak. Such are the vagaries of tides and mud banks we ran out of water. No choice other than to man haul the loaded boats, at the end of tow lines the four or five hundred Mtrs across the soft wet mud. Very reminiscent of Sir Ranulph Fiennes polar expeditions. I know that I have lost a lot of fitness over the last six months and had already easily won the competition for heaviest boat. I would not have wanted to haul much further.

Lots of mud

Without a long wait for the tide (and wind) to rise, we were not going to get over Maplin sands, and so headed for Essex marina some eight mile distant on the river Crouch. The Crouch is renowned as a centre for sailing and the home of gin palaces. Sure enough a flotilla of five boats passed at a rate of knots creating some interesting wake to rise over the shallows. At last the tide had turned in our favour as paddled past the repetitive shear sea walls that are the outer reaches of the Crouch estuary. With his lift waiting Graham pulled away from the rest of us. Reaching the marina we found the slip covered in deep soft mud and so pulled into one of the pontoons. Rog, Dave, Matt and myself literately crawled out of the boats taking a few moments to recover before standing.

Entering the Crouch

With the head wind we did not make our target. I will get around the Dengie peninsula to Southend one day. Still a very good weekend, at nineteen miles each day, mostly head wind, we had some pleasant paddling and an enjoyable camp on Sunday, and a good solid pump on Monday. Thanks to all those who made it so. Particular thanks to Rog for giving me a lift back to my car left at the end point in Southend.