Sunday 4th December – Bike *** – to Felixstowe Ferry – Sunny

With the forecast wall to wall sunshine and a easterly breeze it looked good for a bit of windsurfing:) It was a bit on the chilly side for an open sea session so Bradfield looked the best bet but with high water not to after lunch I was in no hurry. I checked the weather on the laptop in bed at 8 and the wind was blowing 18 kts so it was looking promising. I suggested to Mag we bike to the Ferry in the sun so I could check the conditions. We wrapped up warm and headed down to the prom and onto The Dip where four early bird kitesurfers were enjoying the flatwater in the River Deben. I was beginning to regret not getting up early and try the Felixstowe speed strip but the low water was really too early! We continued to the Ferry and along the Deben path to the style to see if we could spot Mag and David Coles who was thinking of coming to Bradfield. We didn’t see them but passed them on the golf course road as they were taking their dog for a walk. We turned up Gulpher Road to woods at The Grove, through the town and home. A nice way to start the day a bracing 8-mile bike ride and not too bad into the head wind.

Windsurf *** - Bradfield

After the early morning bike ride I checked the laptop while eating my porridge and had a message from local sailor Jason Powel that he was heading down to The Stour, which is good news as I need a hand to get into my winter wetsuit! I left Felixstowe at 10.30 and had a nice 24-mile ride to the really bad bumpy lane down to the river. I was first to arrive and was checking the wind as Jason arrived, after a chat I decided to rig the 8.5 and take out the big Xantos. I have never sailed here with the wind in the East before and it was good, not quite strong enough but I spent nearly two hours out on the water in the lovely sunshine with the only thing getting cold was my hands and feet! The biggest down side was that it was wind with tide so you had to beat both ways to stay in the same place, I had a few broad runs down the swells but couldn’t get above 22kts and sailing back to the van was interesting with the low sun in your face making seeing where you were going hard!

So a nice couple of hours out with Jason, the highlights – being met by a wren when I first arrived, then a pair of buzzards over the trees on the Suffolk side and a robin on my boom as I packed up:) I got back to Felixstowe at 3:30 as the sun was setting over Harwich I unhitched the trailer and took Mag down to the viewing point to watch the lovely sunset. There were several people there taking pics as the ships were coming and going and I took a few nice shots too.

Home for a well-deserved cuppa and cake lighting the fire, so very toasty, a top day and things are looking OK for the coming week as things are hopefully warming up:)