Felixstowe Ferry to Bawdsey and back.
The River Deben enters the North Sea at Felixstowe Ferry. The ferry has 2 pubs, a few house and some river boats. On the water many more boats are moored. It is very pretty and has hardly changed since I first lived in Felixstowe 48 years ago. On many occasions played at the ferry, usually catching crabs off the jetty and now often run along the river bank and onto the sea-wall. The river has a lethal reputation. Only last year 2 people drowned here. I have never seen anyone swim here and yet the 400 yard swim across to Bawdsey always looked appealing. I asked my brother to accompany me, as he is a better swimmer. We started by speaking to the ferryboat- man. We had been warned that he was a bit grumpy and rather precious about the jetty. When I approached him the tide was running out at about 8 knots and looked threatening. I decided to cut the small talk and asked what he thought about swimming over to Bawdsey. He replied in broad suffolk, ‘used to swim across when I was a kid, low tide mind, not so far to swim’. I said I was planning a high tide swim. He looked at the river and said, ‘wouldn’t go just now’. He agreed to keep an eye-out for us if we let him know when we were crossing.
The next day the sun was shining. We sat on the shingle at the widest point of the estuary waiting for the tide to slacken. About 40 minutes before high-tide we dived in and swam straight across in less than 5 minutes. We stood on the bank and having earlier thought we might take the ferry back decided that it would be easier to plunged in and swim back. When we arrived back on the shingle a few walkers commented on not having seen anyone do that before. We felt very pleased at having conquered a myth.
3 comments:
I swam to Bawdsey with Sean. OK, I may be a slightly better (i.e. more blubbery?!) swimmer than Sean, but typically it was his drive that made it happen. I was all for delaying till tomorrow as I had to collect my son from school before the tide had fully slackened. But Sean was having none of that and in we went - manic/steady crawl all the way. Current took us about 100yds upstream but we landed on the shingle both sides, just. Then Joe and I did it again in August as well, with a small family audience, and a couple of fotos. If you're thinking of trying it yourself, make sure tide is slackish (just before high water) and any current is running inland. Also watch for water craft. We went straight across from Harbour Villas (nr the Victoria) - a bit longer but avoiding the crabbing lines and vessels moored near the jetties. Fish & chips at the Ferry Cafe afterwards could be good.
You can see the current running very fast at the mouth of the Deben at Felixstowe Ferry and the 'not suitable for bathing' signs are there for good reason as it also gets deep very quickly. However if you read the tide correctly it can be crossed quickly; so quickly it is almost an anti-climax. Like Sean says the river has almost mythical status as a dangerous stretch of water in our family so it was good to challenge it.
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