Heybridge Basin

We had heard of Heybridge Basin and thought we'd give it a whirl. You have to book in as there is limited mooring and you can only get in the lock at high tide. The lock keeper will tell you what time to arrive for your lock in.

It was only a hop, skip and a jump from Bradwell but we decided to stop en route at Osea Island, where we anchored and had lunch. On the way we passed by Radio Caroline, very cheesy I know but I did have Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline at full blast as we went by.

The route in to Heybridge Basin is one that has to be approached with care, you need to follow the withies in to make sure you are in the channel. There isn't a lot of water in this area.

The whole process of getting in the lock is quite straight forward. The lock keeper tells you what time to arrive and when you are in the area you radio in, he calls the boats in the order he wants. Experience lets him fill the lock exactly, in front of us was a huge catamaran and alongside was a slightly smaller yacht with the lovely Maggie. There are also people along side the lock taking the ropes. The only down side was me getting my chain caught on a rope, not sure how, I caught the chain but my gold anchor was lost to the depths. You are also told exactly where to moor.

Heybridge Basin is very pleasant, clean shower block. There was a lot of weed, John had to rescue a spaniel who mistook the weed for solid land and then could not get out again.

Un this picture you can see the withies and just make out the channel that we travelled up to enter the lock. As you can see a lot of mudbanks to run a ground on if you don't stick to the channel.

At Heybridge there were the most unusual garden ornaments! They certainly beat your standard garden gnomes.