Zen Again 162

 

Sospan Dau fires a fusillade of sharp stones, seawater and black silt, into the skies. A blustery north east breeze carries the plume swiftly along the shore. Where marshals stand, to prevent passing pedestrians from being peppered by pebbles. 

The dredger is a familiar sight on both shores of the North Sea. Maintaining navigable depths off Felixstowe docks as frequently as in the Nieuwpoort and Oostende approaches. At Sovereign harbour her role is reversed. Bolstering the sea defences ahead of winter storms.

Until the early nineties, there was no settlement along this stretch of coast. Save for a string of disused defensive Martello towers. The sea could be left to sculpt the shore at will. The coming of the Sovereign Harbour development, however, brought a need to stabilise the shifting shingle. 

With breakwaters clad in rock armour. Those jumbled boulders are in turn protected, from being undercut by the waves, by the pebble beach, which Sospan Dau is replenishing.

Within the breakwaters lies a tidal lagoon. To soak up the surge from the sea. Then come high concrete flood walls, pierced only by two locks. (Pictures taken at the top of today's big spring tide).

Once inside, the scale of the developers’ ambition is revealed. Starting with a series of interconnected harbour basins. Separated by lifting pedestrian bridges.

A home for the fishing fleet is included. 

The main money-spinner, one suspects, is the residential development. Which crowds densely around the manmade shoreside and extends some way inland.

Or, the sizeable and still expanding retail park. (A McDonalds, for example, has been built during Stargazer's summer cruise.) Which handily includes an Asda superstore.

All, perhaps, an acquired taste aesthetically. But efficiently run, tidally well placed and offering a combination of complete shelter with good shoreside facilities. Stargazer will be secure and her skipper well fed, whilst we wait for our weather window. (Picture from Sunday)