20^th April 2014

So there I was sleeping in front of an old gunnery point quite content although a tad chilly when at around 2am I was awoken by the sound of voices and a smell I could only describe as burning gun powder. I unzipped the fly sheet and poked my head outside, the voices had stopped and the smell dispersed. To my surprise and confusion there was nobody there. I wondered if I had imagined it so I blew some air back into the matress wrapped myself up in the sleeping bag and went back to sleep. In the morning I got up, the sun shining but the wind was whipping round, I gazed out to sea and it looked a bit choppy. I really needed to make tracks today as I had already been in harwich too long already. I knew that high tide was just after three and that was to be the best possible time to cross. I had a leisurely breakfast before packing up and setting off for Felixstowe. On my way to get hoolley ready i stopped off and bought some rice and noodles with the money I had left and went and got a coffee in a local cafe to charge up my phone. I tried to make the coffee last as long as posible as I wasn't sure when I would get my next charge. Slowly the time passed as I watched the changing conditions of tge sea and the crossing I was to be making a little later. Eventually three o'clock arrived and I had to make the decision to stay another night or simply go for it. Luckily there was a break in the weather and the wind dropped and although it was still choppy in the harbour just outside the sea wall it was relatively calm and the crossing went reasonably well. Landing on the shingle beach at Felixstowe was a good feeling, to be honest getting back on land after any crossing is a good feeling! Now my priorities had to change I knew I would have another crossing the following day but for now I needed to forage as I had only one main meal and a desert from my rations and the next resupply wouldn't be for at least another five days.

The east coast of england is a lucky place to be if you need food. Along the shore you will find sea kale a member of the cabbage family. Simply boil the leaves or if you're lucky the stem and you have the basis for a healthy meal. I cut some leaves and attached them to my pack and headed of towards the next crossing a small river no wider than an average road.

This part of the coast is covered in shingle and is particularly hard on the tendons in your heals. Along the way I met a man walking his dog. He was interested in my pack and the challenge so I stopped and we chatted. He was quite knowledgeable about the local history and informed me about the radar station at Bawdsey and how it had been converted into a listening post for the cold war by nato. I had remembered searching for information about it when planning the trip but didn't realise it had been decommissioned during the late 90's.

It was about 6pm when I arrived and the current of the water was too great to paddle against and the tide was going out so I found I nice pitch set up camp and prepared my evening meal, sea kale and rice with a side salad of wilted nettles. I wish I had taken a photo to share but the battery on my phone had died and Was put on charge using a backup battery mark and nici had charged up for me in walton. I then got an early night listening to my ipod for a short while.