Salt Marsh and Mud is a compilation of interlinked stories about cruising around the Lower Thames, Swale and River Medway. The area has been very much overlooked, in the yachting literary world – often derided even — yet it is a fantastic local cruising area, full of history, wildlife and seemingly remote anchorages — far from the madding crowd.
The stories are about a skipper and his mate, reminiscing and bringing to life the often barren and empty marshland landscape: the history, often unseen but laying close to the surface, is entwined with what was seen as they went by. Old ports, often many miles up muddy creeks are visited. Dilapidated wharves are met, with ghosts of the past lingering on, some with new life oozing from them, they are often explored too, by the skipper, in a little lugsail dinghy. The stories range from the end of a December to the next December, seeing out a complete year afloat.
THE AUTHOR
Nick Ardley has spent much of his life afloat and his last book, The May Flower, A Barging Childhood, was a local bestseller in Maldon, Ipswich and Colchester. He lives in Essex.
248 x 172 mm | paperback | 224 pages | 90 illustrations
