Belgium to Ramsgate

[MK101]

Hi all, a quick request for advice please. We are planning a trip from Netherlands (where we live) to London. Current idea is to head down the Dutch coast to one of the Belgian ports - most likely Nieuwpoort - and then head across to Ramsgate, before making our way round to Medway/Thames. My idea for the crossing (tides seem to suit this currently) is to leave Nieuwpoort and head down the channel past Dunkirk, before aiming to follow the very clear advice in North Sea Passage Pilot for a Dunkirk-Ramsgate crossing. If anyone has any suggestions for a more direct route, do please let me know! Thanks in advance. (Note - we could of course stop in Dunkirk as well, but for a number of reasons that's not top of my list of options.)

PS should any of you be planning a trip through the Markermeer this year, please be aware that the weed situation is quite advanced this year. I highly recommend looking at Waterplanten.nu - which gives a pretty accurate picture of where to avoid. Our boat is based in Hoorn, so we use it a lot.

 

[johnalison]

Good luck with the trip. I don’t have charts to hand but your course will largely be determined by the need to cross the shipping lanes at the right angle. This will probably mean that you will want to use a west-going tide of up to three knots to help you on your way while steering a legal course and I imagine that somewhere around Dunkirk would be about right.

 

[Cantata]

All sounds good, I’ve often done exactly that.
Do you have the latest North Sea Passage Pilot, by Garth Cooper? The old version is very out of date.

 

[MK101]

All sounds good, I’ve often done exactly that.
Do you have the latest North Sea Passage Pilot, by Garth Cooper? The old version is very out of date.

Many thanks. Reassuring. Yes - latest edition being used. Also of the ECP of course...

 

[westhinder]

What you suggest is good, but there is an alternative, shorter route through the sandbanks. From Nieuwpoort it goes north of the mussel farm, via the red can Binnen Ratel and the north cardinal Dy3 to the edge of the traffic lane between Ruyttingen W and Ruyttingen NW. After crossing the TSS you can go north of the Goodwins to Ramsgate.
Two downsides: this route is not recommended in rough weather and you cross the TSS closer to the Hinder roundabout, which can make it harder to judge the traffic. But in good weather it is perfectly feasible, I have done it numerous times

 

[MK101]

What you suggest is good, but there is an alternative, shorter route through the sandbanks. From Nieuwpoort it goes north of the mussel farm, via the red can Binnen Ratel and the north cardinal Dy3 to the edge of the traffic lane between Ruyttingen W and Ruyttingen NW. After crossing the TSS you can go north of the Goodwins to Ramsgate.
Two downsides: this route is not recommended in rough weather and you cross the TSS closer to the Hinder roundabout, which can make it harder to judge the traffic. But in good weather it is perfectly feasible, I have done it numerous times

Very many thanks. I'll take a look!

 

[PeterWright]

Hi MK,

Both your route and Westhinder's are excellent if coming from the southern Netherlands ports. From more northern ports, I would choose Ijmuiden - Harwich, then Harwich - Gravesend then Gravesend - London. Be prepared for the high berthing prices in London - I guess they just reflect the high property prices and high hotel prices, but always come as a shock to me.

Peter.

 

[johnalison]

Hi MK,

Both your route and Westhinder's are excellent if coming from the southern Netherlands ports. From more northern ports, I would choose Ijmuiden - Harwich, then Harwich - Gravesend then Gravesend - London. Be prepared for the high berthing prices in London - I guess they just reflect the high property prices and high hotel prices, but always come as a shock to me.

Peter.

In later years we preferred Ijmuiden-Lowestoft-Harwich or vice versa, which we could do in day-sails, also Blankenberg-Harwich, though this would not be useful if headed for London.

 

[oldgit]

If at anytime your plans involve going up the Thames to perhaps St Kats, London VTS welcomes any visitor who has aquainted themselves with the various rules and safety regulations involved in using the tidal Thames .
On a recent visit to St Kats we listened to the VTS constantly and urgently trying to contact a boat wandering all over the river and apparently being totally unaware that there is a procedure for transiting the Barrier.
For stopovers on the Medway can recommend Queenborough for its boaty based conveniences or MDL Chatham if you have your "significant other" or children aboard.
Neither are cheap, nor is St Kats, however an absolute bargain for the ability to moor in the centre of L.ondon.

 

[MK101]

Thanks all for the info and advice. We'll take our time heading down the Dutch coast, Ijmuiden to Scheveningen (we live nearby) and ultimately to Vlissingen and then on to Belgium and across. But if time and weather allows then after London we're heading up towards Harwich/Lowestoft and then back across. We're tooled up with all the details for coming up to London - Queenborough is certainly on the plan, and I'm across the VTS requirements I think (courtesy of a lot of browsing, including here!). We'll moor in South Dock (in hand) because we used to live there, so there's really no other option!

 

[oldgit]

The Uber cats are ideal for getting out of South Dock
Prices in SD are fast catching up with the two other London marinas.and ,no longer that much cheaper than anywhere else, SD are also going to not accept casual visitors in the near future.
Limehouse seem to be going down this path as well

 

[bluerm166]

Having settled on Ramsgate/Nieuwpoort as my solo default crossing route (in settled weather) and entry to Schengen when heading for the Netherlands I was again frustrated by an inability to complete and lodge the Belgian online Pleasure Craft declaration i.e. Pleasure Craft Declaration . Whatever I do I get stuck when diverting to the crew list from which I cannot return to and complete and submit the main form.
After difficulty last year I took the precaution of completing the form on my PC up to the point of filling in the dates and submitting ,and saved this form for possible completion by pen and submission on board via tablet when en route in Ramsgate.I used the email address kindly provided in another thread by Daydream Believer.This in desperation aand anticipation that the tablet would not be successful with the digital version.
Of course it was not, but the form that I prefilled on PC plus penned in dates was happily accepted as a gesture of goodwill by the amiable politie in the wigwam building at Nieuwpoort,and a stamp was received.
I was also surprised to be given copies of the 'Controlformulier Schengen Plezierhavens Belgie' which can be filled in by hand,on arrival, but which no-one else had previously offered during my travails.

My difficulty in lodging digitally ( apart from the fact that you cannot save your work at any stage) has been with 10'' Samsung tablet : SM T 510 Android 11 using Firefox or Chrome browser
On leaving Nieuwpoort an officer told me from Ostende on the phone that if solo,making an entry as skipper on the crew list was probably causing the issue,despite the crew list form offering this description and demanding to be filled in..
I had already tried every which-way but did so again and it made no difference.
Happily the handfilled form was readily accepted on departure and all my forms and passport were stamped out.None of the forms/copies were retained.

I would be grateful if the many other successful entrants to Schengen in Belgium on this forum would let me know :
What device and browser did you use to complete and lodge the digital form successfully ? If an Android device,what version of OS is it using ?
Did you use the same source of digital form as above,or did you find it somewhere else ?
If solo how did you handle the crew list?

Thanks in anticipation.

It would be timely after the minimal and painless interaction with our own borderforce involved in crossing to and returning from the continent to express appreciation of whoever devised the UK form.

 

[bluerm166]

Please note ITEM # 12 has been duplicated on a post on Scuttlebut and well answered there.Thanks anyway.

 

[MK101]

A brief update to say thanks for all the advice. In the end we basically took Westhinder’s suggestion and it all worked well. We stopped at Gravesend on the way to London - many thanks to the GSC for the use of a mooring up and down.

Then Harwich, Southwold and a short hop to Lowestoft before back to Ijmuiden - somewhat uncomfortable but was fine. All a first for us, so a great feeling of achievement.

Now back in our berth in Hoorn.