Amble up the Hamble

I joined the HBBR - UK Home Built Boat Rally on Saturday for their "Amble up the Hamble". Setting off from Swanwick Hard, we rowed upriver past the moored yachts which characterise the lower Hamble.

Well most of us rowed, but it was good to have a support boat standing by. I was really taken with this Selway Fisher design "Penny" - I'm thinking she would make a really nice yacht tender.

And one of us had wind assistance

What contrast between the lower and upper Hamble, the upper Hamble features wooded shores which come right down to the water's edge. Here the fleet is making our way up to the Horse and Jockey pub, we were a bit early on the tide, so in the narrow confines of the last stretch we carried the flood, rowing seldom and grounding often.

Arriving well before high water, made getting ashore a sometimes tricky and sometimes muddy experience. Having gone to all that trouble, the pub was closed!

Undaunted by the pub with no beer, we rowed up the alternative creek which took us to Botley where the well stocked Co-op provided sandwiches and refreshments.