Members of Brightlingsea Coastal Rowing Club carried out a special delivery of flour to St Osyth, completing a journey made entirely by water – and without an engine.
The flour was carried to Brightlingsea by the engineless Thames barge Blue Mermaid, which was visiting the town over the weekend of June 22&23. The barge had collected grain from Gravesend and taken it to the Woodbridge tide mill, where it was exchanged for flour destined for the Bread and Roses community bakery project, based on the barge May at St Osyth.
The rowing club’s gigs, Velocity and Vanduara, set off from Brightlingsea Hard and their row to the head of St Osyth Creek took around 45 minutes.
Blue Mermaid’s visit to Brightlingsea was part of a Heritage Lottery-funded tour of east coast ports. Demand for free tours of the barge, which can carry up to 110 tonnes of cargo, was so great that opening hours were extended, giving hundreds of people the chance to have a look around. The barge’s hold was also the venue for two showings of Wind, Tide and Oar, a film about engineless sailing.
For more information about Blue Mermaid, visit the Sea Change Sailing Trust’s website.
Blue Mermaid and the rowing gigs at Brightlingsea Hard
