Pyefleet Creek

Trip Start May 06, 2008
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Trip End Sep 30, 2008


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Flag of United Kingdom  , England,
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Having made it as far as the Deben, we knew that barring accident, we should be able to get to Tollesbury as planned on Thursday. The only question now was, do we make it Thursday morning or late Thursday evening? High tide in the morning was around 10:45 and it would be a similar time in the evening, so as it was a new marina and approach and as the approach to Tollesbury is notoriously shallow, we opted for the morning tide. That meant that we had to find an anchorage nearby that we could leave at any state of the tide, in order to get to Tollesbury by 10:30 or 11:00 or so and a quick search of the pilot and charts led me to decide on Pyefleet Creek, a small channel off the river Colne to the North of Mersea Island and just west of Brightlingsea. It is possible to anchor here in complete isolation, giving the illusion that one is miles from anywhere. This sounded just the ticket so consequently, we were off and away from the Deben at 11:00, leaving at the middle of the ebb in order to catch some of the flood later in the day Approaching the Colne
Approaching the Colne
 . We couldn't leave any later as there would not be enough water over the bar - as it was, we only had 60cms under the keel for one 20 second period. Close enough!

Once out, with the wind blowing from the SW, we were able to sail and very enjoyable it was too!  However, the land curves around to the west as one goes south and in time, we were once again having to motor sail, arriving in Pyefleet Creek at 18:30, having covered 33 miles. Sailing in this part of the world is very different. The sea first of all, is shallow, at times we only had 2 metres under the keel. It is also very muddy due to the large number of rivers that flow into this area. As it is so shallow, you can be a long way from land and still have to use navigation buoys, buoys that mark slightly deeper and thus navigable, waters. We enjoyed the difference but we're still west coast people at heart.
 
Pyefleet creek was charming, with muddy banks on both sides and meadows beyond that. The air was full of bird song and despite the grey, lowering sky, it was great to be there, under anchor and secure. A nice anchorage.
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