sailing Schooner sailing: Ipswich to London, September 2023 by Lucy4 September 202325 November 2023 Joining schooner Trinovante in Ipswich, ready for the voyage to London On the first morning my luck finally runs out and I have the fun of going into the chain locker to help arrange the anchor chain as it is winched in. Apparently it’s supposed to be possible to do this without getting muddy…. Sails up on a beautiful day! A lot of the particular fun on this trip is visiting places the Swallows visit in the Arthur Ransome book ‘We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea’. Here is the North Shelf Buoy where they anchored The river is full of small sailing boats And there are still some of the wonderful Thames barges around! Lucy enjoying herself at the tiller as always Today we have the light wind rig hoisted, just the jib, fishaker and one fishermans topsail Passing close to Southend Pier – but sadly not quite close enough for icecream on a hot afternoon John checking all is well aloft A beautiful sunset Finally after more than 10 years, a proper clove hitch! A cormorant diving The QE2 Bridge comes into view as we head up the Thames The Thames Barrier – always fun to hear the radio chatter of boats requesting permission to pass through Heading further up river, we pass under the Emirates Airline cable car And the familiar sight of the O2 And as we reach the end of our voyage, the unmistakable shape of Tower Bridge Reluctantly leaving as I have a train to catch (and only made it by seconds!) Farewell for now – but we’ll be back!