It had been a rough crossing and a fair bit of green was sluicing the bilges. In the quieter waters of the river we took long breaths and thought of supper.

With the startling contrast so often found in the Solent the wind died almost to a calm and a watery sun struggled bleakly through scudding clouds. It nearly became warm. A tin of beer apiece slid down very smoothly.

We were beating up Beaulieu River on a ‘typical’ English summer evening.

Thoughts of food wore broken by my companion who remarked that for my home mooring I enjoyed a heritage that any eastern potentate would give much to enjoy. P pondered how the E.P. would take to falling about in a small boat, cold and hungry, with wet pants from split oilskins and silently envied the sunshine and wealth and other delights that the Faithful enjoyed.

The last South Coast rally of 1968 was held at Bucklers Hard on this river, but due to the poor weather the attendance was rather exclusive. Many members were thus deprived of some wonderful unspoilt scenery and of seeing this historic village.

On entering the river, particularly at low water, one is greeted by the raucous cries of the wildfowl nesting on the banks, this area being a nature reserve for those birds.

After the birds, the Beaulieu River Sailing Club is passed on the port bank. Then Fiddlers Reach and along here, during the time before D-Day in the last war, parts of the Mulberry Harbour used in the Normandy landings were built.

Towards the end of this reach Sir Francis Chichester moored Gipsy Moth IV prior to sailing around the world. He has a permanent mooring here and is a frequent visitor.

The river bears west and Bucklers Hard appears on the port bow. Here is the Harbour Master’s Office, a good wide slip always available and a dinghy park.

Here also was once the Agamemnon Shipyard where in 1781 Henry Adams built H.M.S. Agamemnon, the 64-gun woodenwall that was Lord Nelson’s favourite ship. Over 70 naval men of war and merchant ships were built here between 1698 and 1822.

We tied to the small jetty alongside the slip, unloaded the ship’s gear into the car and then back to the moorings. Having moored safely and into the tender it was a hard row back against the wind, now freshening, and the tide, which had begun to set against us. My stomach worms bit deeper.