The Wash
The exact dimensions of the largest boat that can travel on the waterway are not known. The maximum headroom is not known. The maximum draught is not known.
It has a junction with the River Nene (tidal section) at Boston Roads.
This route is intended as a guide only and is not to be used for navigation.
To leave the Ouse at the end of the training wall ( sometimes submerged ) near the Vinegar Middle Buoy, to go for the Nene it is necessary to travel through the buoyed channel for approx 7 miles towards Bar Flat until it is possible to enter the Wisbech channel again following the buoyed channel for a similar distance into the River Nene by Big Tom, or Crabs Hole. Travelling from the Nene to the Welland incurs a much longer journey. It is sensible to leave the Nene by the buoyed channel back towards Bar Flat and then on to Boston Roads Buoy. At Boston Roads Buoy turn West into the Freeman Channel ( about 10 miles from the river end ). Follow the buoys to Boston Deeps Lower Road. Then more buoys approx south west, through the channel between the sand banks until the Welland End Marker is found on the port bow. The Dolly Peg to Starboard with Tabs Head on a Concrete plinth between the two. Go to port of Tabs Head for the Welland, and to Starboard for the Witham. These journeys are not too daunting if you have local knowledge but even after 50 years boating around the area I must stress that any vessel attempting this should be well founded and have proper navigational gear. Also bear in mind that these waters with their sandbanks, swift tides and unusually changeable weather patterns need to be treated with the utmost respect and care. It should also be noted that there are no safe moorings below Kings Lynn, Sutton Bridge, Fosdyke Yacht Haven, and Boston. However on the Welland it is possible to tie up to a dredger at the Environmental Agency wharf, if it is there. Sensible Charts are The Wash Ports Admiralty Chart and The Wash Y9 by IMRAY.
This waterway is excluded by default from route planning with the following explanation: "not suitable for many inland waterway boats."
| River Witham - The Wash Junction Junction of the River Witham with The Wash |
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| Tabs Head Navigation beacon east of the River Witham mouth |
2¼ furlongs | 0 locks | |
| Black Buoy Navigation beacon north of Black Buoy Sandbank |
2 miles and 6¾ furlongs | 0 locks | |
| Roger Sand (near port buoy Charlie) This is the place to run aground and have a BBQ. |
4 miles and 6½ furlongs | 0 locks | |
| Boston Roads The fairway buoy and entrance channel to Boston. |
8 miles and 2½ furlongs | 0 locks | |
| Bulldog Navigation beacon north of the River Great Ouse mouth |
14 miles and 7¾ furlongs | 0 locks | |
| Great Ouse - The Wash Junction Junction of the Great Ouse with The Wash |
20 miles and 3¾ furlongs | 0 locks |
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Wikipedia has a page about The Wash
The Wash is a rectangular bay and estuary at the north-west corner of East Anglia on the East coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire, and both border the North Sea. One of the broadest estuaries in the United Kingdom, it is fed by the rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse. It is a 62,046-hectare (153,320-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is also a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a National Nature Reserve, a Ramsar site, a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area. It is in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and part of it is the Snettisham Royal Society for the Protection of Birds nature reserve.