Maldon

D

davidfox

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 Jan 2004
Messages
1,346
Location
East of England
Visit site
We are going to pop down to the Blackwater next week and i am afraid to say that in the 12+ years sailing on the East Coast from the Orwell we have never been further up than Osea island. i would like some advice on what we can do on a 12.8m vessel drawing 1.9m (sensible please) with 3 kids and fold up bikes. We will be going in to West Mersea and Brightlingsea later in the week, its just Maldon way that i am unfamiliar with.

Thanks in advance.

David
 
It gets a bit buttock clenching around the corner past Heybridge lock, but not too bad from there up. Gladys draws 1.5 and I've been up to Fullbridge without any dramas apart from the aforementioned corner... Haven't stayed as it always looks crowded
 
You can't lie afloat beyond the top of Osea Island but go up on the tide and you can easily lock into the Basin for a night. Travel up the canal by dinghy to reprovision or up the canal path. Two pubs by the lock, Tiptree tea room by CRS marina just outside the lock - do nice breakfasts judging by the smell and tea and jam and scones and things. Pretty popular so it msut be good. Up to Maldon and you will have to take the ground. Despite wintering at Heybridge for 29 years, I'm not really an expert on where to stop there.

You can lie afloat just inside Lawling Creek which can be magic. Watched baby seal playing in the moonlight there one year. Bradwell is worth a stop - Green Man plus cycle to St Peters on the wall, probably the oldest church in England built on the site of a Roman Fort which was part of the Saxon shore.
 
Another vote for Bradwell, the old village centre is nice and the sea walk round the peninsula is great. St Peter's isn't England's oldest church by a long chalk, but it is our oldest Cathedral, built by St Cedd as described above.
 
tillergirl said:
You can't lie afloat beyond the top of Osea Island but go up on the tide and you can easily lock into the Basin for a night. Travel up the canal by dinghy to reprovision or up the canal path. Two pubs by the lock, Tiptree tea room by CRS marina just outside the lock - do nice breakfasts judging by the smell and tea and jam and scones and things. Pretty popular so it msut be good. Up to Maldon and you will have to take the ground. Despite wintering at Heybridge for 29 years, I'm not really an expert on where to stop there.

You can lie afloat just inside Lawling Creek which can be magic. Watched baby seal playing in the moonlight there one year. Bradwell is worth a stop - Green Man plus cycle to St Peters on the wall, probably the oldest church in England built on the site of a Roman Fort which was part of the Saxon shore.
Click to expand...


Thanks for that i have been to Bradwell a couple of times, but with a smaller boat will i get in reasonably easyily?
 
The town quay is a possible.. But check tides..

The pontoon at the Hythe is probably not possible with your draft.... You sink into very deep mud... However you will need to be on the top of a spring

Noddys yard and the Marinestore boatyards have berths that you may get into... Give them a ring..

On all account DO NOT tie up against the outside of the barges... They slip sideways as they settle.. Whereas your keel have dug in.. Big trouble. If you do get into Maldon walk up the hill to the Blue Boar..
 
The Lazy Kipper said:
Another vote for Bradwell, the old village centre is nice and the sea walk round the peninsula is great. St Peter's isn't England's oldest church by a long chalk, but it is our oldest Cathedral, built by St Cedd as described above.
Click to expand...

It is actually the second oldest known church - the oldest is St Martins in Canterbury (AD597, St Peters was built in AD654)

However, whilst St Martins has been extensively remodelled and modernised over the centuries, St Peters is probably as close as it is possible to get to how early stone Saxon churches would have looked
 
Hiya

If you follow the tide up (say 2 hours before HW) you will be fine, you may get v shallow at times but it is v soft mud!!
If you put plenty of fenders out and ask nicely they normally let you raft on to a barge.
Just leave with the tide to make sure you don't end up there overnight (on your side).
We have done it many many many times and it is a fab sail from Bradwell.
Once you get back past heybridge you are fine.

We draw 5ft - and have touched now and then (often 3 hours before HW) picking our way up the channel.

Hope this helps

Ian
 
Brigantia said:
It is actually the second oldest known church - the oldest is St Martins in Canterbury (AD597, St Peters was built in AD654)

However, whilst St Martins has been extensively remodelled and modernised over the centuries, St Peters is probably as close as it is possible to get to how early stone Saxon churches would have looked
Click to expand...

Sorry, you're right on the oldest part, i thought there were a number of older ones. St Peter's is very different now to how it was when Cedd built it, it's lost most if the chancel and it was remodelled to turn it into a storage barn. It's a lovely spot, amazing to think of the chap coracling down the coast from Northumbria! Hope to see it again at half term when we 'do' the Blackwater.
 
David - I draw 1.7m and Bradwell access is 3 hours either side. The shallow bit is between the middle two red cans - see Crossingthethamesestuary website for a chart download. If you get up the creek then there is plenty of water into the marina. Plenty in an east coast sort of way. They have dug out a new pontoon since you were there last - F pontoon down the far end. there are some berths for bigger boats down there so they'll fit you in easily.

If you brave it to Maldon do not be tempted to raft up on a Thames barge - they slide outwards when they dry and will push you over.
 
Last edited:
MoodySabre said:
If you get up the creek then there is plenty of water into the marina. Plenty in an east coast sort of way. .
Click to expand...

Last weekend we spent half an hour navigating a tricky creek and at the end I said "no problem darling, there was never less than 0.9 under the keel, quite deep really". We felt proper East Coast.
 
Spent 3 weeks in North and south Brittany a couple of years ago and In some places it was so deep the sounder didn't register I remember coming back up channel and getting quite a fright when I noticed that there was ONLY 20m under me!
 
My friend from the West Coast of Scotland gets very jittery when the echo sounder shows about 5 metres - I say when it says 1 we are aground!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top