Thanks to a good friend, I was able to get a return trip from Fingringhoe on the River Colne to the JJ Prior Wharf on Deptford Creek, with my video camera on Monday 13th April. I'd hoped that we'd have a little rock'n'roll, but in fact we had a really delightful trip in beautiful weather.
Even at 7am, it was coat-off weather, only clouding up as we rounded Shoeburyness. But the weather improved at we traveled upstream, and we had an very enjoyable passage through the barrier and upstream. Entering the creek under the new bridge, without it needing to be opened, the skipper turned the ship and went astern under the road bridge.
In a fascinating procedure only relevant to very tidal situations like this, the grab crane started unloading the forward hold to allow the ship to nose into the quay, and then moved on to the after hold to let the stern rise.
As always, my video camera and the GoPro were at the ready, and the first part of the video is now online on this site's video page.
Please find it by searching for "Mark Prior"