River Alde (Shingle Street) Access

[snapper]

Hoping for some quick help here for tomorrow, 10th November.

3 of us are heading down to fish the Alde as the sea is probably going to be too choppy for anchoring so we figure it'll be less exposed and we've decided to go here. Now, I've launched at Aldeburgh by the Martello Tower before but we're limited a bit for time and I'm wondering where else we can park and launch close to the river on that stretch as we'd like to fish closer to the river mouth just north of Shingle Street and paddling the distance down and back is going to eat into our time too much. The other option is orford itself...any ideas? All help gratefully received, it's been a long time since I've been there.

Thanks in advance

Mark

[tg]

Hi snapper,

Big car park (pay) and cafe, with easy access to the water at Orford Quay. Probably no further to drive than A. from your way.Generally I drive onto the quay, unload and then go park. There is a path back to the beach. I deliberatly launch from the beach next to the ramp so as not to incur a launch fee. Not sure (I haven't checked) what the tidal flow is tomorrow but I'd definitly advise checking tidal flow against HW. Shingle St can get squirly and often has breaking waves. The sand bars move about too but in my experience there is a usable channel at the South end of the Ness. No landing on Havergate Island (RSPB) but I've landed and camped on the Southern tip of the Ness.


Beach at Orford Quay.



Looking up the Ore/Alde from the bar.



Looking seaward along the Ness.(lighthouse in the distance)



Edit;

Another option is to drive down to Bawdsey/Felixstowe Ferry at the mouth of the R.Deben. I'm not sure about parking here as I usually launch from the FF side. Then paddle North to Shingle St. 2 or 3 miles as I recall.

Tim

[snapper]

Cheers Tim, excellent info, thanks!

On a side note I'll be dusting off the Necky shortly in preperation for those unfishable days so this winter I've decided I MUST hook up with you.

[tg]

snapper,

Red van? White stripes?

[nigelhatton]

TG

You need to make one more post before it becomes mid night, dont end on 666

[snapper]

Nah, yellow van, yellow kayaks (apart from the new green RRRapido!)

[tg]

snapper,

Oh well. I went up to the Ore and plugged away against the tide myself for a few hours around lunchtime. On the way back from Orford got flashed by said van. Guessed it might be a kayaker without a boat on the roof, I do it all the time. Hence my assumption. Better check the car tomorrow then..

Saw this Moonrise...



..and Sunset...



at the same time on the way home and thought how good it would have looked from the water.

Tim

[snapper]

Well in the end it was nothing like expected up here so we launched at sea and filled the freezer again. A bit of swell but come the afternoon when we headed back in the sea was beautiful: