It’s funny how one can sail the Atlantic, around the Caribbean, through the Pacific – even across the English channel to France and the Netherlands, to Portugal and Spain, and completely forget that some of the prettiest sailing territory is around the Essex and Suffolk coast. Our quick 12 mile trip from Felixstowe Ferry down the River Deben took us briefly into open waters and then back up the River Orwell. The countryside here truly is poetic: river banks are adorned by marsh, reed and waders, whilst the river itself offers a great level of tranquillity that only an east Anglian coastal river could offer in the middle of summer.