Wells – next – the – Sea to Blakeney Sea Paddle & Return
Published: June 2009 | Written by: Alan Jary
Sunday 14th June 2009, six of us (my self, Paul Jary, Dave Cassell, John Ricketts, Bob Bertram, and Keith Poulson) paddled approximately twelve miles setting out from Wells Harbour to the head of Blakeney Point and returning. The plan was to try and paddle with the tide up to Blakeney with the Tide going slack at around 1130 and then changing direction and flowing with us on the return journey. It was a great day for it, the sun was shining, the weather forecast predicted the winds were variable with a force 2-3 breeze with stunning views of the North Norfolk Coast included.
We set out from Wells harbour and put in on the beach adjacent to Wells Lifeboat Station. We paddled against the flow (although it wasn’t too difficult) as the tide was coming in at Wells at around half past nine. As we paddled out to sea a variety of craft including larger sailing boats and some faster motor driven craft passed us. We ensured that we paddled within the navigable channel which was defined by port and starboard bouys keeping alert for other craft. At this point the Wells Lifeboat passed us on a Sunday morning exercise as well as their smaller more agile inshore rescue dinghy. We surfed out of the harbour on the wash of the lifeboats and other motor driven craft which passed us along the way.
Our next challenge was to manoeuvre our boats across the harbour entrance so that we could turn east wards towards Blakeney and avoid the waves were crashing against the exposed sand banks at the head of Wells harbour. We decided to head further out to sea so we could be in deeper water without the risk of being grounded on shallow sand if we went too close to the shoreline. At this point the tide was with us running down the coast to Blakeney Point and the town of Wells Next the Sea disappeared from immediate view as we progressed. It took us an hour and a half to get to Blakeney Point with the sea behaving quite lumpy and waves were crashing over our boats at times as we were quite exposed along the way. With this and the fact the breeze was a South Westerly it was a bit of a challenge keeping our boats on course, particularly for Bob whose Skeg became jammed although I managed to help him free it which made paddling a bit easier for him. Because I was pushing with my feet against my footrests and adjusting my rudder to try and maintain a steady course with a fair bit of force, my left hand foot rest broke away from the runner which didn’t make life any easier when trying to control the boat in these conditions.
We then landed on the head of Blakeney albeit with caution as their were signs up and a cordoned off section of the beach where Terns were nesting, however we established that we could in fact land there as long as we did not disturb the turns and had lunch and a cup of tea in the sun.
We got back onto the water after about twenty minutes and headed Westwards to paddle back to Wells. We did have a slight head wind against us and because we were fairly exposed the paddle back was slightly more challenging and although theoretically we were meant to have the tide with us by this point we were probably experiencing backwash off the many low lying sandbanks that dominate that section of coast, although we aimed to maintain a course of 280 degrees to try and avoid this we probably lost track and ended up paddling due west at around 250-260 degrees a bit too close to the shore.
Conditions were quite challenging. We spotted several curious young seals on the way back apparently due my Seal attracting aftershave, as the town of Wells Next the Sea drifted into view. We could also see the other Nelson’s Column in the grounds of Holkham Hall. So where was the harbour entrance? That was the next question. Eventually the harbour entrance bouy which marked the channel came into sight however it was a long swing out to sea to try and get into the exact point where we were supposed to navigate into the harbour. Initially we attempted to paddle towards it, but the tide was still against us, so we elected cut across into the more shallow area next to the beach through the surf and enter the harbour closer to the shore. The water was very shallow as we surfed on the waves at an angle to try and avoid grounding ourselves on the beach.
It was at this point where the surf overwhelmed Bob and he ended up capsizing, but standing up. Dave and Myself carried out a quick shallow water rescue before we pressed on into the Wells Harbour channel with the tide running out to sea. Eventually we landed back at Wells lifeboat station and by this time the beach was full of people out to enjoy the sun with the lifeboat men back at the station cleaning the lifeboat. It took us around 2 and half hours on the return journey.