Sailing on a Thames Barge

Scott and I travelled up to Ipswich, a town in Suffolk, north east of London on Sunday afternoon. We were early, but spent a couple of hours in a pub having a nice lunch and lots of Pimms with lemonade. I got quite happy on it actually. ;-) We wandered down to the quay where the barge was. There was no one around when we arrived, so we had a wander around, tried to get more Pimms in the pub but to no avail. Ayesha met us down near the barge. I phoned Alison to see where she was, as she was late. Her partner Phil gave me directions to find the key so we could put our stuff in a room and wander about the boat.

We were slowly joined by others. The only people we knew were Alison and Phil, and of course Ayesha. Most of the people who were on the trip were mates of Phil's. And seeing as though he is 35 years older than us (and 30 years older than Alison) most of the others were much older than us. But we all got along very well. The others were all lovely, and it was nice to be able to get to know new people. I have exchanged details with one lady, Rina, who I will probably keep in contact with.

We grabbed some dinner in a local pub, which was very nice. Huge meals, but lovely. Headed back to the barge, sat around on deck until well after dark then hit the hay. We stayed in Ipswich dock that night, and left early the next morning.

Monday morning we left Ipswich about 7.30am. Nothing happens quickly on a barge, which is fine for putting you in a holiday mood. Can't really tell you where we sailed to, as it was never really spellt out and I didn't really mind because I was happy and relaxed. We saw Harwich (pronounced Harridge), Felixstowe and Pin Mill. That's all I remember. The rivers are huge. About twice as wide as the Thames or the Brisbane River. But the Thames used to be a lot wider than it is now.

All in all I had a nice time. There were moments that frustrated/annoyed me, but they were really to do with a lack of communication on the part of Alison and Phil. They have done this many times before, you would think they knew how it works!! ;-) Ayesha too had a nice time. It was a good way to while away the time. I knitted (apparently a first for a Thames barge passenger) and read and chatted to people. There really isn't much else to do! This is the barge. Her name was Centaur. Built in 1895, to carry cargo etc. 85 foot long, 65 tons (without cargo or people).
The sail, looking up from the deck.
This is the view up and out of our cabin. Each cabin had a hatch, which allowed ventilation and also acted as a fire escape.
Sunset on Monday evening about 9.45pm. I am really impressed with the way this photo turned out. I loved the colours and the rigging of the barge on the left of the pic. I'm good!! ;-)
Scotty pulling the ropes which hold the main sail. This is then hooked to the metal ring which slides along the brown horizontal pole behind him. This acts as the boom, allowing the sail to swing to either side of the barge depending on winds etc.