A lazy start in a peaceful river setting. Could happily stay! Has a bit of a “ wind in the willows “ feel. Anyway we are supposed to be slowly making our way west. This week definitely feels like a holiday! we dropped our mooring, making a note of the number as it’s a good one for friends to look out for. Past Buckler’s hard where Nelsons ships were built out of the great oaks that grow here. It’s still breezy down river…. we were definitely more sheltered round the bend up there. Once out into the Solent we started tacking towards our next destination on the Isle of Wight. I made a few phone calls to marinas to book for the next few days. Angelique really goes well even up wind just on A bit of the head sail, and as long as the wind is strong enough we get good boat speed. So we were doing 5-6 knots in 15-20 knots of wind, upwind! We got to the entrance just after high water which is fine. This estuary is odd in that the HW has what’s called a stand for two hours… so The level of water at HW is then maintained for roughly 2 hours and then sluices out quickly. Very odd . But quite useful. Not having been before we decided to pick up a big white bouy mooring…. no 9 . They are all in a line in the right hand channel of the estuary. Immediately we were attached, the jolly HM arrived in his launch to have a chat and take our money. This whole place is owned by the National Trust and is full of birds and hides on the shore. Being members however, doesn’t get you any money off! If it had been calm it would have been lovely to get the dinghy off and mooch about with a pair if binoculars, but it’s windy so we were happy to sit and observe from the cockpit. As the waters receded, muddy and shingle banks are revealed. We were always floating even though the depth Gauge said 1.8 at one time. Presumably moving through light sludge. Bird life the most abundant we’ve seen since leaving the North. Flocks of black headed gulls ( indisputably) , egrets, oystercatchers, ducks, and we saw our first curlew…. very exciting! We watched boats come and go. We saw a boat hook floating by from one but managed to hail the HM who fished it out and returned it. It was like ours so good to know they float! I made flapjack and watched Wimbledon. J cooked sausages for tea. A lovely afternoon and evening. Apart from managing to completely delete the blog I’d written for the 27th… somehow hitting the wrong thing after making some changes 😡. Livid. Ah well.
What I’ve learned today…… Isle of Wight/ Solent tidal curves are weird and work on LW not HW so they are upside down 🤔
Sue x
Wild place 
Maybe today ….
Oyster catcher! 
Angelique 