Brighton, Dover, Ramsgate

[PaulGooch]

Thinking of a possible move for a season, quite fancy Dover, but would consider other places in the area. Would like to stick to 150 miles, 2.5 hours driving time, to Wisbech.

Interested in any info about the area in general, the fishing, marina etc. We fancy a change of scenery from where we are at Shotley, Suffolk. Had planned to bring the boat back to The Wash for a season and have a re-think, but am now considering moving a bit further South for a year, then re-think. It's a 150 mile trip back to the Wash, or we could be in Dover in 50 miles.

Shotley mooring fees are £2488 for the year, paid until the end of this year. Brighton is about the same, Dover is slightly cheaper, as is Ramsgate. So nothing worth counting between any of the mooring fees.

Takes us 1.5 hours by car to get to Shotley, would be 2.5 hours ish for Brighton, Dover or Ramsgate. So maybe £20 more in fuel to get there. Might save a bit on fuel in the boat if the fishing is closer, seems to be a minimum of 30 miles round trip from Shotley, 100 or so for some.

The driving time is a killer for a day trip, so we'd only go for weekends. Be something like, drive down Friday evening, days fishing Saturday, Sunday clean the boat, potter around the marina, maybe some local sight seeing, drive home Sunday evening.

So, we'd like to somewhere with decent facilities, sensibly local fishing and pleasant local surroundings. We also like to do a bit of cruising, so we'll no doubt be visiting the Continent, with France being so close.

 

[David of Essex]

Welcome Back

 

[PlanB]

Have a think about Chatham Maritime as well, lots of people seem to go fishing from there, it's not so far to drive and the Dockyard, plus leisure and shopping facilities make for good entertainment.

 

[mainshiptom]

Faversham?....

You are welcome to visit or I can sort out a moorings
Can you sit o n mud?


Tom

 

[petie]

Dover?

Good people in Dover with excellent engineers etc. Marina staff very competent and helpful with free electricity and good car parking. Lots of fishy shops two minutes away and whilst I cannot speak personally about the fishing, many fishing charters go out on a daily basis so there must be fish about. Calais in sight for a quick dash across.

 

[bendyone]

Loads of fishing off the sandbanks off Calais, Why not look at keeping the boat in Calais if you only plan weekends the saving in mooring costs more than outweigh the ferry costs.

 

[PaulGooch]

Welcome Back

Thanks David.

 

[PaulGooch]

Have a think about Chatham Maritime as well, lots of people seem to go fishing from there, it's not so far to drive and the Dockyard, plus leisure and shopping facilities make for good entertainment.

You are welcome to visit or I can sort out a moorings
Can you sit o n mud?


Tom

Thanks guys, but we'd like to be a bit further South, Ramsgate at least. It's not much further by road the Chatham or Faversham, but gives a much different cruising/fishing area than we're used to.

 

[PaulGooch]

Good people in Dover with excellent engineers etc. Marina staff very competent and helpful with free electricity and good car parking. Lots of fishy shops two minutes away and whilst I cannot speak personally about the fishing, many fishing charters go out on a daily basis so there must be fish about. Calais in sight for a quick dash across.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[PaulGooch]

Loads of fishing off the sandbanks off Calais, Why not look at keeping the boat in Calais if you only plan weekends the saving in mooring costs more than outweigh the ferry costs.

Thanks, but I don't think we'd fancy the time it would take to get there. Driving time, plus the ferry would mean it would take us around 6 hours or so to get to the boat.

 

[David of Essex]

We were thinking of changing our berth for a season from Burnham on crouch to the Medway, both about the same distance. We are put off by the QE2 bridge, congestion can be a nightmare.
David

 

[SP2]

going south of the river...

We were thinking of changing our berth for a season from Burnham on crouch to the Medway, both about the same distance. We are put off by the QE2 bridge, congestion can be a nightmare.
David

Couldn't agree more. Like many I have to cross the Thames regularly (twice a week at least) and the crossing is awful and the widening of the M25 north (J31 - J27) will not solve the problem.

Friday nights are particularly bad and I know all the short cuts being an Essex Boy.

It used to be that the summer months were easier but not his year and not just because of the roadworks.

I would think very carefully about moving to a Kent or East Sussex marina. I love the East Coast but we would never want to keep the boat there because of the travelling.

 

[PaulGooch]

Hadn't thought about the bridge.

Generally speaking, (if we move) we'd be crossing about 7:00pm on a Friday and back home at about the same time on a Sunday evening. What's it like then ?

 

[SP2]

Hadn't thought about the bridge.

Generally speaking, (if we move) we'd be crossing about 7:00pm on a Friday and back home at about the same time on a Sunday evening. What's it like then ?

I pick up my kids from Brentwood around 6 on Friday nights. Ducking and diving my way through the back roads to get to Junction 31 if the M25 is backed up to J28 (a normal event on Friday nights) it still takes me around 80-90 minutes to do the trip to Tonbridge which in "normal" conditions is 40 minutes. J31 can get gridlocked, too.

It seems most Fridays going south the congestion on the 25 is back to J28 and traffic reports are that it is adding an hour to journey times.

I go back around 6 on a Sunday evening and do not normally encounter a problem. Can be a little slow if there has been a big meeting at Brands Hatch. Worse at 4-5 when Bluewater chucks out.

On your suggested bases, Ramsgate is an old haunt of ours and we like it but I gather the staff are not very helpful these days and the harbour is not well cared for. Dover is keen to attract people and Brighton is Brighton. We like Eastbourne but road links are slower than the ones you've suggested.

 

[AdeOlly]

Don't know much about Dover or Ramsgate, but Brighton marina just 25 minutes away and I kept my first boat there. Putting the M25 and Dartford crossing traffic to one side, Brighton traffic can be bad too at peak times and over sunny weekends. There are of course rat runs and shortcuts which you would have to learn, but the options diminish as you get close to the marina. To be fair, at the times you're suggesting traffic probably not too big an issue as long as you use the optimal route out of Brighton on Sundays, i.e. avoid going anywhere near the pier or city centre! The much bigger problem with Brighton is that it is very exposed to the prevailing SW winds. Absolutely no shelter whatsoever, and it doesn't take a lot of wind to make the sea lumpy. Eastbourne has much better shelter due to Beachy Head, and arguably the fishing is better off Eastbourne too, there are many reefs to explore. Downside is the locks, but they're big and not that big a problem with a bit of advance planning, and there is less to do shoreside than Brighton.