Suffolk river ferries: Harwich Harbour Ferry, Felixstowe - Harwich - Shotley

Loading from the beach at Felixstowe, June 2020

River ferries are a dying breed. A look at the excellent Ordnance Survey map archive on the National Library of Scotland website shows river ferry crossings all over the rivers of East Anglia, but in an age where cars are the most common form of transport, only a few remain for the benefit of walkers and cyclists. 

The foot ferry between Felixstowe, Harwich and Shotley was started in its current three-destination form by the Great Eastern Railway in 1912, with its services passing to the London and North Eastern Railway and eventually to British Rail. For much of the 20th century until 1996, the route was served by MV Brightlingsea, now on the National Historic Ships Register. The Harwich and Dovercourt history website gives lots of history on ferries around the rivers Stour and Orwell. 

Today, the Harwich Harbour Ferry is an ex-lifeboat from the former ocean liner Canberra. While it now lands onto the beach at Felixstowe instead of Brightlingsea's former protected berth in Felixstowe Dock (lost with the expansion of the Felixstowe container port in the 1990s) and now goes to a pontoon at Shotley Marina instead of the original historic Shotley Pier (derelict, but now being restored by volunteers), it's still making the same journey as its predecessors for over a century. My medieval-churches-cycling-project meant that I had to cycle through the Shotley peninsula, so what better excuse to cycle to the ferry loading point at Felixstowe Landguard Fort to give the harbour ferry a try. 

Reassuring to find out that the ferry is running, even if the beach landing is still a bit unexpected and there's nothing else to indicate that this is where the ferry leaves from. 

There's little to suggest that this bit of beach in front of the fort is the right place to wait for the ferry, especially if you're not aware of the unusual beach boarding arrangement, but there's a placard next to the Landguard Fort car park giving details of the ferry service marking the embarkation point. 

The ferry approaches from Harwich, next to the container port. 

The ferry soon approached from the distance, and landed in front of the beach. It lowers a set of boarding stairs onto the beach (top photo) and passengers board directly from the beach. The same narrow stairway is used for bikes as well, which involved some lifting and manoeuvering to get it through the stairs and then through the doorway into the cabin. The boat has an inside cabin where bikes are secured with elastic cords, while most passengers sit in the open area at the stern. 

Rounding the huge container ships at Felixstowe

After a 15 minute voyage around the giant container ships around the largest port in the country - through which around half of the UK's container freight flows - we arrived at Harwich Halfpenny Pier. Here, the boat loads from a proper pier as opposed to the beach landing at Felixstowe. 

A short stop at Harwich, looking from the stern seating area over the Felixstowe port cranes. 

After a few minutes at Harwich, we proceeded to cross the Stour over to the ferry's pontoon berth at Shotley Marina. 

At the dock at Shotley. Passengers disembark through the steps and handrails on the side of the boat onto the pontoon. 

The former MV Brightlingsea used the old pier at Shotley Gate, but that's now disused and so the ferry drops off passengers on a pontoon dock in front of the entrance to Shotley Marina. 

Leaving Shotley on the return journey back to Harwich and Felixstowe. 

The ferry cost £5.50 from Felixstowe to Shotley plus an extra £1 for a bike, booked online, but it does also sell tickets on boarding for slightly more. It's a very scenic way of getting across the water and a very useful walking/cycling link, with an unparalleled close-up view of one of the biggest ports in Europe.