Times change, however. Alex and David had a few days spare to sail with us after the August Bank Holiday and we thought we might venture into Southwold if the weather looked favourable. From there we would go the further 11 miles to Lowestoft and the perfect jumping off spot for a North Sea crossing to IJmuiden with Ben and Anne.
Since July I had been bothered by toothache. It was originally diagnosed by my dentist as a gum infection, then a severe gum infection with antibiotics, then an infection under a tooth which resulted in root canal treatment. The pain eased for a few days, then came back worse. On the Thursday before the Bank Holiday I saw my dentist for the umpteenth time and she told me the tooth had split vertically and would have to come out. Naively I hoped this would end the pain. It didn't, however, and by the holiday Monday I was still on a combination of ibuprofen and paracetamol four times a day, with a very swollen jaw. Nevertheless with a good forecast (sunshine, no wind) I was determined to head off to Southwold.
I had discovered from the East Coast Pilot that at neaps you can get into Southwold at low water slack, which was much better timing than HW as it was at 2pm, and also meant we could carry a fair tide all the way up the coast. I was in Southwold on the Friday (fetching and carrying a caravan to Maui Waui for Guy) and checked with the harbourmaster, who said we should be fine, with at least 20cm to spare....
So we left SYH at around 8am on Tuesday with hot sunshine and murky visibility for a long motor past the Deben, the Ore, Orfordness, Aldeburgh, Thorpeness, Sizewell and Dunwich. As Alex said, we have visited all of them by land but might struggle to get them in the right order! The new and very expensive Raymarine EV-1 autopilot behaved beautifully and the entrance to Southwold harbour was completely benign. We did at one point see just 0.3m under the keel in the river, but there was no current at all and we were directed to a very peaceful mooring on the south side of the river - completely hopeless for getting Sam off, as the pontoon and walkway made Heath Robinson constructions look firm and logical, but a lovely place to be apart from the mosquitoes.
We were very social during our stay - we entertained Guy, Kai, Ivy and Jenson to a barbecue on the Tuesday evening and David's brother for fish and chips on Wednesday. All in all a pretty successful visit, and we were even able to fill up with white diesel at the fuel berth on the Thursday morning as we left.
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