Short sail today only 10 miles to the river Orwell which has Harwich on one side and Felixstowe on the other. We diligently followed the prescribed routes into the harbour only to find all the local boards cutting the corner. The Marina here is entered by a lock but we only went up 6 inches (15 cms). Minor in comparison to the Caledonian canal. Excellent meal in the Marina restaurant and Tim presented the bar with our RBYC burgee. Very friendly people including t...

This east coast is full of shifting sandbanks with many shallows. Javelin with her deep keel finds this a challenge. We left Lowestoft yesterday morning and picked up strong tides which swept up south at 9 knots entering the river Deben close to high water. Rigged up the spinnaker but the wind died before we could hoist! We managed to find a mooring buoy on which we spent the night, much better than anchoring with 5 knot currents. For the first time on the trip w...

Up bright and early again to catch the last bridge opening for 8 hours at 7:25. It was a beautiful sunny morning with almost no clouds. After leaving Whitby harbour we were able to put up all the sails and broad reached with speeds up to 9 knots. Were able to make more than 5knots over the ground despite strong adverse tide. Tim decided to get his fishing gear out despite the rest of us pointing out the fish would need to very fast to catch us and the boat. In t...

It rained for a 13th day out of the last 14 but only a shower! The wind and sea state have died completely and so we needed to motor most of the day. Last night had dinner in the Royal Northumberland yacht club. Left Blyth at 8am and arrived at Whitby at 16:30. Very different landscape today as we came past Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesborough. The industry stood out compared to the fishing industry and old ports of SE Scotland. Saw huge number of dolphins i...

Weather has improved, it only feels like autumn and not winter! We sailed this afternoon to Blyth with the new crew in a slight sea and wind on the beam. All the sails were hoisted and we made up to 8 knots getting to Blyth in under 3 hours. Dinner in the royal Northumberland Yacht club. This was the cheapest meal to date with main course all under £5. The club is in an old barge very similar to the Mary Mouse in Portsmouth. Tomorrow hoping to go to Whitby.