A Voyage On the Raybel

Click here to book tickets for The Gentle Author’s Tours Last summer, I joined the maiden voyage of the newly-restored Thames Sailing Barge Raybel. This summer you can enjoy a trip on the Raybel too. Click here to book tickets for Raybel For the past few years, Contributing Photographer Rachel Ferriman & I have been making regular trips down to the creek at Sittingbourne to follow the restoration of the hundred-year-old Thames sailing barge Raybel from rotting hulk to seaworthy vessel. So it was a highlight of last summer to be invited upon her maiden voyage from Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey. The day was clear but still when we departing the dock, so the engine was employed to take us out into the Medway where the sails were raised and we drifted across the wide estuary. Although there was no visible evidence on that serene summer afternoon, this was where the Dutch fleet attempted to destroy the English Navy with a surprise raid in 1667, leading to more than 600 casualties and…