Yachting Monthly - April 2016

ANCHORAGES

T

he Isle of Sheppey is a strange

place. Its location right next to

Britain’s southeastern fi nancial

powerhouse is an anomaly, and

its disembodied presence on the

fringes of the North Kent marshes has

provided sites for three of

Her Majesty’s prisons, but

its brooding isolation is

also a great attraction for

cruising sailors.

Harty Ferry, situated

on the island’s underbelly

• actually another island
  itself, the Isle of Harty – is
  no more than a weedy causeway which
  leads to a lonely pub, the Ferry House
  Inn, whose former landlady once told me
  how a dog-lover spent the night in the
  saltmarsh grave that he had dug for his
  beloved Alsatian.
  ‘It was at the time of the Yorkshire
  Ripper and even though we were miles
  away we were spooked when we saw a
  man with a sack over his back walking out
  over the marsh at night,’ she told me, ‘so

Mariners, which has gone gastro, or the

Castle Inn where the ham is still served

alongside egg and chips.

All those who visit fall under Harty’s

haunting spell, but there are plans,

not yet abandoned, for another island:

‘Boris Island’, the fevered dream of a

replacement for Heathrow Airport.

Let us hope that Harty Ferry and its

environs remain the fl ypast of avocet

and not aircraft. W

Mud, sweat and

beers, Dick Durham

reflects on the charm

of Harty Ferry in The Swale,

inside Sheppey, North Kent

we called the Old Bill.’ Police arrived with

torches and searched the saltings. Under

a tarpaulin they found the man asleep

alongside the dead hound and an empty

bottle of whisky.

It would be a strange tale for anywhere,

but at eerie Harty Ferry it does not seem

peculiar. If you can handle the eeriness,

Harty Ferry is a sheltered anchorage in

any wind except for a stiff northeasterly.

If the breeze is in this quarter, then bring

up close to the Sheppey side of The Swale

because you’ll benefi t from the Horse Sand

breaking the swell. The holding on both

sides of The Swale in wet boulder clay is

magnifi cent, in a Low Water depth from

4m but never less than a metre, anywhere

between Fowley Spit and

Faversham Spit.

For those tempted to

take a run ashore to the

Shipwrights’ Arms at

Hollowshore, where two

creeks merge, be certain you

don’t leave the pub much

after half ebb, otherwise

you’ll be in for a spot of mudlarking.

The visitors’ moorings which once

existed near Faversham Spit have gone,

but this means there’s more swinging

room for anchoring.

Yacht and fi shing boat moorings run

along the south side of The Swale and

tenders from these craft use the causeway

on the south bank, which is marked with

tall, swaying withies.

There is a fresh water spring bubbling

away on this side of Harty Ferry, where

yachtsmen of yesteryear would fi ll their

jerrycans. And from here you can walk

around the sea wall to Oare village, where

there are two excellent pubs: the Three

Harty Ferry, The Swale

1,000m

The Swale

Faversham Fl.G.10s

Spit

Boatyard

Boatyard

TownQuay

Harty

Ferry

Harty

Shipwrights

Arms

2

2

4 4

0

1

1

5

3

4

Faversham Creek

Isle of Harty

Horse Sand

Oare Creek

Faversham

Ferry

House Inn

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6
6
5
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v
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Isle of
Sheppey
R. Thames
KENT
Southend-on-Sea
Harty Ramsgate
Ferry
0 10m
PHOTO: DICK DURHAM. CHART: MAXINE HEATH
‘All those who
visit fall under
Harty Ferry’s
haunting spell’
The anchorage off the Ferry
House Inn is sheltered
from any wind except a
stiff northeasterly
52 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com APRIL 2016