On one of my frequent trips up and down this coast I scuttled down to the Walton Backwaters for a few days
It was a jolly nice trip to one of the UK's classic sailing spots.
Incidentally I have been re-reading the Ransome books....... I might have been wrong when I spoke of him in the past.
In the meantime here are a few stills from the first part of the trip
By the way, this is only part 1. I will make part 2 if...it is worth doing
350 views - average $1 per view - bloody excellent.
Can I just say I’m a returning subscriber; & I’m much enjoying the Deben video’s. Hope you can do a Part 2 of the Backwaters – the one’s from the first trip were great as well.
Thanks D. I am loving your trip to the Backwaters and the run up and down the lower Stour stirred some memories too. Thankyou for posting this, cheque in the post to help a bit. P.
Did see you – we were on the outside pontoon at Titchmarsh when you went by (& gave us a wave).
Great to hear you’re revisiting your thoughts on Ransome. I enjoy them as much today as I did 40 years ago when I first started reading them!
Incidentally the Coastwatch record your sail number/boat name so that if you went missing they would know you were at a certain point at a certain time and it would help the SAR narrow down where you might be – nothing more than that.
Great vid. Thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to part 2. I have very many happy memories from my childhood of those waters. Tap on the way.
Cheers
JB
You seemed to be. Look forward to the 3 storey gin palace comments (although they are really nice people, as all are on the outer pontoons).
I can see why the watercolorists feel in love with the East Anglian skies and waterscapes. Lovely shades of blue, grays and tans….
Watching on Youtube, the contemporaneous commentary is fine, but the studio voice-over about Felixstowe (22:30 and later the containerport and Harwich) has a muted-volume playback. The background music is correct-volume, but the commentary is barely audible. Farther up the Stour the problem disappears…
The sound really is OK on my big telly but Ted B. is right, the v/o is lower in level in the parts he indicates but when you’ve got the volume cranked up like me it doesn’t matter as I heard every word. Others’ mileage might vary I suppose so I appreciate the effort to make the film even better. I shall have to watch it again now ;-)
“Let’s pretend stuff” ……. Bearing in mind that Ransome was a children’s author writing books for 1930’s children and the fact that all 12 of his childrens’ books have been continuously in print since he wrote them in the 1930s/40s….. he must have judged his market well. His intimate knowledge of The Lakes, The Broads and The East Coast rivers together with his extensive sailing and cruising experience all contribute to the readability of these stories. P.
Those TacTic boxes are sold in England as well, then? Saw of them pass in the beginning of the film. I have a small assortment of them. With plastic locks, though. Yours seems to have metal ones..
I was also surprised to see how quiet the Deben, the Stour and the Walton Backwater were in mid-summer. Want to go there even more, now..
Really great, Dylan. SWMBO says we are going back to live in England so I hope to be close enough to Suffolk/Essex to sail there again. Might be the Ouze though, certainly can’t afford your neck o’ the Woodbridge area. Anyway, I have friends who sail out of Maldon and Shotley so might get a sail or two if I can wield a deck brush. Maybe see you around one day, who knows?
Thanks again,
Dave
Glad to see you doing something from that part of your Coast again Dylan. I just zapped you a big $2. Actually it took about 2 minutes for the paypal page to load. I used to live in a digital backwater but then the people voted in a government that has spent billions on making it a digital mud puddle where I often can’t watch a youtube clip in 144k without major buffering… So I haven’t actually watched this film yet. Is there a download button I missed somewhere as thats the only way I will get to see it at the moment (spend a day downloading it). Otherwise, I guess I can just rip it from youtube in HD if need be.
No worries D, I will rip it overnight then, cheers,
Lovely film, Dylan. My wife and I watched it. We love the way you give us a taste of the coast, boats, buildings and people, along the way.
Looking forward to your final Scotland pieces. Thanks, Tom
Managed to download it. Thanks for sharing a very peaceful and relaxing sailing :-) very nice. Where is part 2?
Enjoyed that mate. I wouldn’t worry about comparing East Anglia with the West of Scotland, both look fantastic. Although I get the benefits of living in Scotland I do miss the calmness and big skies you get in Southern England, even the bathing huts (wipes tear from eye) I’ve just been eating onions honestly..
It is now late October and last night I spent at anchor beyond Kirby Creek amongst the seals towards Quay Lane. In my view there is nowhere in the world so peaceful and remote whilst being so close to the hustle and bustle of a major city. Don’t tell where it actually is, we’ll have crowds on our doorstep.
Beautiful film Dylan, but I take issue with you; my daughters went to RHS and they can sail pretty well! Yes, they take girls now and even day pupils – whatever next!
One more thing, I believe you are becoming a bit of a curmudgeon. I don’t water ski, I don’t jet ski and I don’t use a mobo, but these people have to go somewhere and if it happens to be a roped off area at the bottom of the Deben which they use only during summer months and then only after they have got up and had a hearty breakfast then, so what? Let them play, we’ve got the rest of the river and most of the North Sea to play with. The only time I really grumble is when a thoughtless mobo goes past at speed when I am trying to get off the tender on to the mother boat. It sometimes hurts…
Cheers
G
What a fantastic video, I absolutely loved it !!
I have crossed the Deben bar a few times including in the dark of night (created a gps track to follow).
Never sailed across always chickened out and put the engine on lol
Also the rest of your video, brilliant, such great work and I can only imagine the effort involved in creating such a great video. Have to confess out of sheer selfish indulgence I would have loved to have ended with you tucked up with a glass of wine and immersed with your reflections of the day. Well done superb video. thank you so very much !!! very reminiscent of your your earlier works, 100% pure quality xx
Hi Dylan
With regard to Ransome, you have to read his biography. It makes so much sense of his children’s books and how he came to write them. He was an amazing bloke who suffered from very poor eyesight and a few other limiting factors during the First World War. Didn’t stop him from being a great foreign correspondent for the Daily News in Russia where he witnessed the uprising of March 1917 in St Petersburg. He was also a spy for the forerunner of MI5, befriending Lenin and Trotsky. He had a nightmare of a first marriage, the second wasn’t too great either, so he forgot facts and let himself slip into the fantasies of sailing for children. It was Swallows and Amazons which first fired my sailing ambitions, set in the Lake District. Now I am lucky enough to sail in his Secret Waters. His books are still great, if a little simplistic, but they tell of a time of innocence and joy. I for one am a fan. Glad you are slightly changing your mind.
Cheers
G
All I can say then is come down to Hamford Water, or even better, up Kirby Creek beyond Honeypot Island towards Kirby Quay, drop the hook, light the candles and settle back with a glass of good whisky and read ‘Secret Water’. Pure magic!
PS never mind the glass – make that a bottle. Everything will seem wonderful…