January 18^th2001 - 9.30hrs

In a cottage by the River Deben

Bawdsey, Suffolk,England

51Deg 59.50’N 1Deg 23.90E

Baro 1021

Wind NW 2

Contrasting Places - Preveza, Greece. Bawdsey, England. Dundee, Scotland

Tirla waits ashore at Preveza, Greece. I stare out of the cottage window at the River Deben and the white frozen lawn! A short way up river is Ramsholt where our mooring is. We have revisited the Ramsholt Arms pub and, on the quay, talked again to George the Harbourmaster. He looks after some 200 yacht moorings all the year round. At the moment only a handfull of boats are still afloat. Recently there was a 50knt gale in this area and during a 9 mile walk along the river banks we found two missing dinghies washed off the “hard” of the next village up the river, Waldringfield. The boats were hidden in the reeds well above normal high water mark. George soon informed his opposite number at Waldringfield and the dingies will have been collected on the next tide.

The Deben, in Suffolk England, is a beautiful river with a wealth of amazing bird life. In the winter huge flocks of migratory wading birds, ducks and geese stop on the vast food rich mud flats and prepare for their journeys north to Scotland, Iceland, Scandinavia or Russia. The next estuary south is home to the massive container and passenger ports of Harwich and Felixstowe. From our window here we can see these leviathan vessels loaded to the skies with containers bound for the USA, Japan and the main European ports. We see the new 45 knot ferries to Holland that require a warning to go out on marine radio telling local boats she is coming and to keep clear of shallow areas due to the likely wave wash.