The Fisher Fleet

The Fisher Fleet just after sunset with a bit of a tide to reflect the lights and ghostly almost invisible ducks quacking to themselves is an experience not to be missed. Sure it involves a wee bit of trespass on port authority land but no one will mind too much and even if  they do they can only politely advise you to leave.

Folk have been setting off from here to scour the Wash and North Sea for fish and such like for centuries, these days it's mainly shrimps that provide a living for dozens in King's Lynn.

The Fleet now lies strictly controlled with embankments between two docks and surrounded only by light industry. A painting from the 19th century shows a more rustic, even bucolic, place with folk having a nice family day out by the banks of the stream. I can't see that happening these days. I found a couple of other old paintings here.

Margot Juby took this

Just ignore this sign ...

MargotJuby  took this

And if you are a tad confused over the word fleet, here it means a creek not a collection of boats. In fact the Fisher Fleet is the mouth of the Gaywood river which flows with no great urgency for a few miles and empties into the Great Ouse here. So there you go, it's clear as mud ... There are other 'fleets' in and around Lynn, Millfleet and the Purfleet spring to mind.

A foreign country

I don't know what the protocol is with photoblogs regarding showing photos of photos; I did it before and no-one said anything so I'll try it again. So above we have the Princes dock as it was some time ago with trawlers parked up against Maurice Lipman's tailor shop (yes, that Lipman's dad). I have no idea who took it or when it was taken (1940s/50s early 60s even, someone will know)  and I do hope that lady crossed the road safely. The picture is on display in Zebedee's Yard as part of a memorial to lost trawler men, I'll show more tomorrow. Nowadays there's no road,  no trawlers and no tailor shop either. I think it's selling Apples (not the fruit). 

There were two other photographs on display so here they are to make the full set.

This is from what is now the Maritime Museum, that dinky little bridge in the distance is now Castle Street...

...and this is from the exit to the Albert Dock if I'm not mistaken.
(And I am mistaken; it's St Andrew's Dock!)

Any colour you like as long as it's orange

A veritable fleet of gas platform supply vessels was filling up the usually empty Albert Dock the other day. These belong to a company called Sealion Shipping and clearly they have a favourite colour and they're sticking to it. It's like a hi-vis jacket for boats.

The Gansey Girl

On the north pier sits this recently installed (October last year) statue, the Gansey Girl, depicting a young woman knitting a traditional jumper or gansey for her fisherman sweetheart. It's part of the maritime trail which is apparently ten years old; how time flies. The sculptor was Steve Carvill.

I have since found out that the little fishes on the base carry the names of fishing families from Bridlington and nearby. If I'd known I'd have taken a close up but if you zoom in on this picture you might just be able to make out some names.

The weekend in black and white is here.

A couple of cobles

Cobles were the clinker built shallow draught workhorses of the North-east coast's fishing industry. The larger one to the rear is the Three Brothers, the last coble to be built in Bridlington (1912) which used to lie slowly rotting in the harbour (see below) until recent restoration and rebuilding means that it is fit for purpose once again. In front of that in the red, white and blue is the much newer Whitby built Gratitude. Both these boats are the pride of the Bridlington Sailing Coble Preservation Society and if you want to know more I'd recommend going to their site.

Prior to restoration the Three Brothers was painted white and never seemed to move from this spot. This photo taken in April 2010.

Anchorman

Meanwhile, back in Bridlington, a new sculpture depicting a ruddy-faced chap in period costume carrying a grapnel anchor has appeared atop the Bridlington Harbour Commissioners' offices. Reading about the plans for this I find it was intended to be situated in gardens across the road; a quote from a local councillor in 2013  "I think tourists will see it and probably stand next to it for a photograph", he goes on, "People will delight in having their picture taken and if they spread the word when they go home perhaps it will encourage people to come here." Hmmm, well such were the plans; now it's just stuck out of reach on a plain old brick hut serving little or no purpose. 

The culprit, sorry, sculptor of this is one Ronald Falck.

Aschenbach to the future

A Victorian guide to Britain's railway, Bradshaw's Guide, talks of Hull being like Venice and people taking special trains from the Leeds and so on to view the sights of this spectacular city. Back then the city, or most of it at least, was surrounded on all sides by water, the Humber and a ring of docks. No-one would thnk that now, but when the sun goes down over the Marina and if you squint your eyes maybe that's a canal going off into the distance...

And speaking of Venice, Margot, entering into the city of culture spirit that runs excitedly throughout the town, thought that for 2017 the streets could be turned into canals, to which I added, it could celebrate the ten year anniversary of the 2007 floods ... but think gondolas on Ferensway, oh, oh, oh and a masquerade and some wild licentiousness to a soundtrack of Vivaldiish muzac... No? Oh well.... We could add cholera and phthisic young men as a sideshow if that is your thing. Aw come on  now ...

I was going going to make some comment on the anniversary of the city of culture award but things are becoming too absurd even for me. Let's just say that those supposedly in charge ("They will be our Barnum and Bailey, helping us to deliver some fantastic art and helping draw together everyone who wants to be part of 2017." ) are developing a "beautiful narrative" and leave the rest  your imagination. 

Weekend Reflections are over there.

Bridlington

Bridlington was pretty much the same as ever it is at the end of season, quiet, the odd tourist, a few seagulls waiting for scraps, the Yorkshire Belle moored up till next year and the fishing fleet tied up because the weather's been a bit iffy lately.

One side of Beverley Beck

Been a while since I've had a walk by Beverley beck. Hasn't changed much.

My plan to cross over at this bridge and come back on the other side was thwarted by Balfour Beatty's  security fencing, something to do with repairs to the bridge.

More weekend reflections here.

River Traffic

Swinderby

You can go weeks without seeing anything moving on the old river then you get two barges together. Maybe they like to travel in pairs ...

Humber Princess

Big Guns

Nowadays Bridlington will welcome any visitor who cares to call but at one time there was felt a need to keep out certain foreign invaders, the French, the Dutch, the Spanish just about everybody at one time or another even the Americans. The top gun, on the North pier, was found during excavations and restored in the 1977, the lower one was found by a passing gull who set up home there.

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

Making Ready

On what was possibly the greyest and dullest day ever known I took myself off to the seaside for an afternoon in Bridlington. The place was somewhat rundown and not quite awake, with lots of little painting jobs being carried out and pavements being power hosed by the Council in readiness for the forthcoming influx of tourists. No amount of painting however will cover up the demolition heap of what was once a broken down leisure centre and what will be a brand new £20 million (there must be money in the East Riding!) pleasure palace.

Dockside buildings

As the evening descends on the old dockside buildings the place looks almost attractive.

The Weekend in Black and White is upon us again, here.

And Weekend Reflections is here.

Big boy's toys

This weekend the P1 Powerboat championships take place on the Humber in what I've read is called the Grand Prix of the Sea. This year there's a bit of local interest after a group local businesses had a whip round and bought One Hull of a Boat [ 1 ]. Personally I take the Miss Brodie approach to fast boats :“For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.”

The Weekend in Black & White is here.

Postscript: Oh dear! The crew of One Hull of a Boat were taken to hospital after it flipped over and crashed. [1] Still thrills and spills are what this game is all about isn't it?

Marina Sunset

Past and present

Or more properly present and past. Above we have the entrance to Princes Quay shopping mall viewed across the Hull hole. Below how it used to be many years back, well before I came to Hull and before pedestrianisation. Yep, that's a ship parked up against a shop.

I don't know who took this photograph, I 'borrowed' it from a Facebook group and where it came from before then is anyone's guess. Isn't sharing awesome?

The crab business

To judge by the number of boats landing their catches the floor of the North Sea must be covered in crabs. In ten minutes I saw four boats landing their crates and this one was just coming into harbour. 

The main crab caught is the Brown Crab (Cancer Pagurus) the most commercially important species of crab in the U.K.

To catch 'em you'll need some bait, of course, some juicy looking salmon or trout heads will do nicely.

A few of these wouldn't come amiss

Load it up then you're ready to go.

Low Tide

At low tide the small boats rest on the mud of Bridlington's harbour. The tidemark on the harbour wall shows how high the water rises.

Keep Out!

This starburst security featutre adds to the attractions of Hull's marina; well it's better than a plain fence anyway.

True Grit

This year has been the second warmest on record and this month has been 1C above average. All of which means this place is pretty redundant for the moment. It's the Beverley grit depot for the council's highway department. Last year they nearly ran out of supplies in December. Still there's plenty of Winter left.