We took the Mule up the Blyth Estuary, Suffolk, approx 3.5m
This is a trip which to be quite frank is what set us off thinking about getting our own craft. Early in May we walked from Blythburgh back into Southwold along the river and saw a pair of open canoes drifting along (they had motors!) but it looked absolutely blissful.
I should at this stage explain that the Ram works on the Henham Estate for the tenant farmer, sheep & cows, and they graze the land that borders the estuary. There is a great feeling you get when out early on a Sunday morn in the truck or by quad checking out the animals down on the banks, no-one else has access (in theory), and its like treading where few have ever been, so to see this from the other side so to speak is something the Ram has always wanted to do.
I have done the trip once before in my fathers wayfarer so knew how important it is to stick to the channel which is well marked even when flooded at high tide. The estuary I believe is quite new and only appeared in its current form after the floods of ‘53 (correct me if I’m wrong). So stray out of the channel in an inflatable and you risk impaling the boat on the old shoring posts that lined the banks.
High tide was due at 5pm Thurs in the harbour so we hoped to have the flow on our side by setting out at 4 pm from the Bailey Bridge in Southwold Harbour, as advised by urchaidh, thank you, so as to avoid the current in the stretch from bridge to harbour mouth. Borrowing an unused (if he see this sorry & thank you) pontoon owned by a director of Adnams Brewery. High tide at the harbour was at 5pm so we hoped to have the flow on our side at this time.
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon but a bit of a breeze was heading down the channel and chopping up the surface which was quite fun but did make it tricky to take good pics. A short way up we rounded the first bend and met up with a kayak who told us to be careful. Argh we thought what have we got ourselves into, but what he meant was if you go carefully a bit further up you might get a seal pup swimming about you. Now I had heard there were seals up this stretch of the river but didn’t quite believe it. So off we went trying to spot the seal and pup, quite tricky as the sun was low and bright.
I know you all like pics of cows, and I did try but the bulls were not playing ball, so this will have to do.
He was absolutely delightful but very camera shy.
We just floated for 15/20 mins watching him/her ducking & diving.
Blythburgh church loomed up in the distance and about 1 hr 15 from put in we pulled the mule out of the water stashed it under the A12 road bridge and toddled off very happy to the White Hart Pub for a small snifter. For information this pub, about 200yrds down the road, serves good grub all day.
There was a pontoon but this has a locked gate and belongs to the Blyth River Navigational Authority who I guess I should to contact to see about rights of access on the other side of the bridge up to Wenhaston.
At this point we probably should have phoned a friend and called it a day as the sun was setting, but we wanted to see the seal again
and I figured that if we were out of the estuary, where you need to see the markers, and into the main channel to the harbour by dark then we’d be fine. Which we were, but admitted that with our lack of experience was possibly one of the stupidest things we have done since being a teenager. So many apologies to any emergency services workers who we may have had to call to rescue us. But to be honest we know the area well and I reckon could have made it to the road barring serious injury.
The water on the trip back was absolutely slack, the headwind we had hoped would help us home on the way up had dropped completely and the water was still as.
The experience of all the water birds coming into roost with the sun setting behind us was amazing, cormorants, herons catching their last meal, gulls, oyster catchers, curlews calling, turnstones, lapwings, of course what trip would be complete without the marsh harriers, and egrets they have really set up well in the last few years. The fish were just jumping all around, quite odd when close to us in the dark. I had took heart from others comments that night paddling was fun but I have to say it was quite freaky when you can barely see the banks (no moon whatsoever)and the river had filled to twice its size by now. I was quite pleased to see the bridge appearing out of the gloom.
What a trip!
– The Sheep, www.songofthepaddle.co.uk
