Faversham - which anchorage should I choose?

[stu9000]

Hi all

I am taking my family up the Swale to Faversham on Sunday.
Having spent some time reading around on this I still have a few questions and wondered if you might have some suggestions.

My boat is a bilge Keel Jag 27 drawing 1.2m
High tide is about 7pm so I was planning to creek crawl up from the Kingsferry bridge from 3pm ish.

There seem to be a number of possible places to moor for the night.

The Shipright Arms at the point where Faversham creek and Oare creek meet looks like it has some pontoons.
Are there visitor berths? Who might I call to find out about availability?

Up the Oare Creek Young Boats yard has some visitor berths I think. I will be giving them a call shortly.
I think they have a yacht club too. Hollowshore CC. Might be worth popping our heads in.

Up Faversham Creek the Iron Wharf quay looked good. The Town Quay and Standard Quay are probably further up than I need to go.

With young kids on board it is nice to be able to get ashore, even on a sunday when most non pub related stuff will be closed.
It will just be good to stretch our legs a bit and have a bit of a look around.

I have no problem drying out but it would be nice to have an hour or two either side of high tide.
Whether in the Oare or Faversham I assume it is easy enough to walk to wherever we might want to go so I have no strong feelings either way.

With current info I would probably have a sniff around at The Shipright Arms but the Iron Wharf quay seems the best bet.

What do you think?

Thanks

S

 

[Oscarpop]

Harry ferry anchorage.
We kept our boats on the swale for ten years and this was our favourite anchorage.
You can go ashore to the Harry ferry inn on the Isle of sheppey
Pull the tender up the slipway and the pub has a beautiful view, as well as food.

If you're there all weekend, the 3 Mariners in oare,my as an award winning chef and the food is the best pub food I've ever eaten.
Also Conyer creek. Our old marina.
Access 2 hours either side of hw. Lovely clubhouse and showers. Pub is 100m away and does amazing food and beer.
They don't take walk ins though, you have to book .

Also , it may be hop festival in faversham this weekend, or next. That's a blast.
Good luck, I miss our old stomping ground

 

[oldgit]

If you are prepared to take a chance on space Town Wharf at the top of the creek is ideal for your purposes.Handy for the centre of town a decent sold wall to lean against and solid bollards to attach to.Kids can jump off onto grassed area

Loads to do in Faversham as well.If you avoid any of the festivals and other events likely to attract boats you will almost certainly find you have the place to yourself.You are invited to pay the mooring fee to council office in the town but it is closed at weekends !
My preference is to go up as soon as I have water to float,gives me a good hour before high water if things do not go to plan can still exit on rising tide.This also has the advantage of you being able to see the gutway and to avoid the temptation to cut corners.

The sluice gates used to open automatically to flush out the creek,lack of money means this no longer wakes you up in the wee hours.
The way in and out.

Local organisation are trying to raise funds to get the lock gates working again.

 

[stu9000]

Faversham Hop Festival looks great, but I'm guessing that finding a berth would be a mare. It's on 5th sep so should not be an issue for my trip. Faversham has quite a lot going on it seems so is of interest.

Harty Ferry gets mentioned a fair bit. I was a bit luke warm but I like that you can get ashore at most states of tide. Based on your description I'm warming to it. It may be a good option if the kids are getting restless and I don't want to faff about in the creek.

I was looking at conyer too! It's a tad closer. The wife would be pleased to have showers and I'm on a bit of a boating promo mission at the mo so its on the list.

Maybe I'll stay in faversham on Sunday night, mooch around the town on Monday and sail over to conyer in the afternoon.

Thanks.

S

 

[stu9000]

I also like to bump my way up on a rising tide. It is the best way to get to know a river. The Jag is a tad bigger than my old caprice though so it will be interesting to see how she handles as a creek crawler.

Town wharf is above standard wharf isn't it?
It looks nice and flat for my twin keels and could be fun. I had assumed it would be full up but, as you point out, if I time it right I can have a look and head down to Iron wharf if need be.

Good tip about the sluice and thanks for the pics.

 

[DoubleEnder]

Shipwrights is a good pub, great beer and food at lunchtimes. The boatyard there is Testers. They have finger jetties but not sure about availability for visitors. Further up Oare is Youngboats who I think will have some space. And the pub there is Three Mariners which has fantastic food but do book.
In Faversham Creek you can probably go alongside Iron Wharf, worth a call first. There you can climb/walk ashore and go in to town, numerous pubs, a cinema, good chippy (Oscar). Standard Quay may be difficult but a little further up is the Town Quay as seen in the photos. I think that would work for you. You may have to raft but you are in a good spot there.
It's true we are trying to get the lock gates and swing bridge restored and re open the basin above. Which would transform the town, create a wonderful amenity, boost our shipwrights training centre and make Faversham the Dournanez of Kent.....

 

[stu9000]

Good luck with the development.
I know I have not been there yet but seems like a real gem to me.
I suspect we will be exploring the Swale in some detail.
And a good jumping off point for trips abroad too.

 

[oldgit]

If you have kids both sides of Harty Ferry offer nothing of interest and you will probably get covered in mud going ashore.Oare has precious little to keep the kids from going stir crazy as well.
Do try and get to Faversham if you can.
Conyer is also OK for the pub going adult with little else the occupy the younger humans.
Swale is fine for ancient old mariners looking for the smell of mud and the sound of seagulls and who find rotting wooden hulls a turn on but mind dullingly dull for everyone else still breathing under 75.

 

[GHA]

I also like to bump my way up on a rising tide. It is the best way to get to know a river. The Jag is a tad bigger than my old caprice though so it will be interesting to see how she handles as a creek crawler.
.

Google earth is handy to get up/down, luckily the images are near low water. I hit the putty twice coming down a few days ago. Big surface of water and somewhere below there's the deep bit snaking around, with some greens and reds sort of in the same neck of the woods

 

[Serin]

Shipwrights is a good pub, great beer and food at lunchtimes. The boatyard there is Testers. They have finger jetties but not sure about availability for visitors.

It's a while since I have been to Hollowshore, but last time we were there, Testers were quite happy to let us lie alongside one of their stagings. I don't think they are really set up for visitors, though (or weren't then) When we asked what we owed we were told "just put something behind the bar for the lads".

It's worth getting in touch with them, I think. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.