The Wash Crossing

Tuesday 2nd July
It was with great excitement that we awoke to a gloriously sunny day and not a breath of wind. It was clear that the Wash crossing would go ahead as planned.
I had spent half the night lying awake thinking about the things that could go wrong and what I would do in such circumstances, but the excitement and adrenaline suppressed any tiredness.
We rose early and had our breakfast then readied ourselves for positioning outside the lock adjacent to the Grand Sluice that separates the Lincolnshire lowlands from the sea. The lock is unusual in that it operates in both directions.
 At low tide the lock holds back the river Witham and flow from the river is controlled by the giant sluice gates, this way the level of the river is maintained except in severe flood conditions. High tides bring a water level higher than that of the river so the sluice then prevents the tide from extending upstream.
Due to this arrangement passage through the lock can only be achieved when the water levels are equal, usually an hour or so either side of high tide. Passage has to be booked although on this occasion the pilot had already done this for us.

Awaiting departure at the Grand Sluice

There were four boats passing through, ourselves, Seren Rose, the two guys on the Broads cruiser who were going to France and a small boat heading to the Black Sluice, a short distance downstream.
We were all in place for 8.30 am ready for a 9.30 departure. Daryl, the pilot, arrived and gave us a briefing, stating that he would communicate with us via the radio, and advise along the way. My main concern was that we would be following the larger boat and that we may struggle to keep up but Daryl reassured me that there is no point in rushing as all timings were controlled by the tides.
With every one in place we were informed by the lock keeper that high water had passed and that the level was dropping. He commenced opening the upstream gates before finally opening the downstream pair and signalling that we could proceed via a green light. Seren Rose went first followed by us then the two other boats, we sailed straight through the lock and were quickly into the ebbing tide heading down the haven through the town.

The Haven, Boston

We made good progress as the tidal flow soon picked up taking us past the fishing boats that had recently moored up on the incoming tide.

Fishing boats moored in Boston

The channel widened as we approached the Wash, however we remained in the channel for sometime staying close to the north shore line.

Leaving the channel from Boston

The channel gradually began to relinquish its grip on the shore as we started to head more of a south easterly course heading out to the middle of the Wash, now following the buoys marking the channel.

Looking back towards Boston

We were now starting to feel at sea with the land around us fading into the distance. We started to feel the gentle swell of the sea and noticed a boat heading out at great speed, we learned later that this was a fisheries protection vessel.
The wash from this boat reached us shortly afterwards with several waves over three foot high, I quickly maneuvered the boat to  face these head on to minimise the rolling effect and thankfully got through to calmer waters.

A screenshot showing our route, the dark
line is the plotted route and the red arrow is our position.

Our course was now set southerly, crossing the deep waters of the middle Wash, here we waved goodbye to the adventurous chaps on the broads cruiser as they took a more easterly path out into the North Sea.
We could make out the village of Hunstanton on the south shoreline and sand banks to our right with seals sunning themselves in the lovely weather.
To my surprise the pilot took a more easterly turn heading across the channel that would take us into Kings Lynn, we found out later that this was to minimise the effect of the swell on Seren Rose. We eventually made a right turn into the channel then headed over to the sandbanks.
We ran the boat up onto the sand alongside Seren Rose, there was no need to use the anchor as the ebbing tide left us sat firmly on the sandbank.

Running up onto the sand

I got our ladders out and climbed down onto the sand carrying Scruff down with me. She enjoyed her time here running around exploring and digging with a whole new range of smells for her to experience, I did have to keep a close eye on her as there were a few Jelly fish around. We returned to the boat and ate a late lunch as it was around five hours since our departure.

Waiting for the tide
Photo by Cherryl Holliday

Strolling on the sands
Photo by Cherryl Holliday

After a couple of hours or so the tide turned and we could feel the boat starting to move, I started the engine and held the boat against the sand until Seren Rose also started to lift. I backed away to give the bigger boat room to maneuver off the sand, once a float again we headed off to see the large number of seals gathered on the north side of the channel, they were popping up all around us curious at the strange craft invading their territory.

The lovely Seren Rose

Distant seals

We spent almost hour with the seals before turning round and heading back into the channel to join the swift tidal flow taking us in towards the Great Ouse estuary and Kings Lynn.
The channel narrowed and we were joined by a couple of fishing boats that kindly past us with a minimum wash.

Kings Lynn

We were now in the mouth of the river and the pace quickened as the estuary narrowed, we shot past the wharfs of Kings Lynn before heading into the last 16 miles of the trip up to Denver Sluice, this part of the trip was the most challenging as we were now struggling to keep up with Seren Rose, Daryl, using his experience, was finding the fastest flow and we tried to follow, eventually we caught up. Daryl radioed us pointing out the few difficult stretches, the first being passage under a large bridge built on a bend, we were told that it is important to take the correct line here as the flow can push the boat into the bridge piers and it can be difficult to get off them, fortunately we got through ok. The next hazard was a sharp bend with a very shallow inside edge, we followed the pilot round and again following a bit of rolling in the flow, got through unscathed. This left the final approach to the lock at Denver, we were hoping this would be set ready to accept the large boat but it was still closed on our arrival.
The approach here is tricky, as there is a large sand bank on the approach, it is necessary to circumnavigate this before pulling up onto the lock landing. Seren Rose hit the landing head on before turning broadside onto the pontoon, unfortunately this left me little room to get round and the tide started to pull us round towards the mouth of the New Bedford river, this could have been a real problem as it would have been difficult to turn and stem the tide. Again fortunately I managed to recover the control and with great relief  crept up to the pontoon.

Entering Denver Lock

Seren Rose locked through first, followed by us. Luckily there was space on the moorings so we tied up and jumped onto dry land for the  first time in 11 hours.
That was it, another bucket list item fulfilled, and I have to say it was a great experience, we finished the day off with a celebratory drink, in the Jenyns Arms with Cherryl and Ian before retiring early to recover from the excitement of the day.

Safely moored on the river

We intend to explore the Great Ouse and some of its tributaries before returning back to Denver and a short tidal trip across to Salters Lode and the river Nene.
Useful contacts Wash pilot - Daryl - 07909 880071  - washguide@gmail.com
Ian on Seren Rose videoed the crossing we appear as a small dot in several places you can watch the video using the following link https://youtu.be/PO6N3zTkXkE
I took a short video in the deepest part of the crossing https://youtu.be/OCQ5_SXEIYo

Looking back out to the Wash