Whitehaven ( 2 )

While we were at Whitehaven on this second visit, we had a large spring tide. Walking out onto the harbour walls, the outer harbour was effectively an expanse of sand, and mud, with a trickle of water leading from the lock to the sea. The outer lock gates are built level with the inner harbour parapet walls, some 9m above the cill.

This photo doesn't really show how deep the lock really looks, but you can see how small the floating pontoon looks. At high water the level in the lock is a good meter higher than the inner harbour.

The original outer harbour wall dates back to the early 18th century, as evidenced by the date on the sundial ( 1730 ). The walls are made of the local red sandstone, and are heavily erroded in places. The inner harbour walls were added in the 19th century, with several 'tongues' protruding into the harbour being named after the main products landed there ( e.g. sugar tongue & lime tongue ).

The sun came out and highlighted the wave sculpture, and observation platform, this was built for the millenium celebrations, as part of the regeneration of the harbour.

This is 'NJ' in her berth, right next to the exit ramp - very convenient for the facilities !

We had two enjoyable stays in Whitehaven, but the weather is starting to feel quite autumnal, and we have decided to call it a day for this years cruising. With the tides as they are at the moment, we are faced with a fairly tedious passage back to Piel Island with foul tide for most of the day, and then on to Fleetwood to lay up for the winter.

By the time we get back to Fleetwood we will have travelled some 1850NM since setting out from Hartlepool in April, and although it has been a fairly dreadful summer from a weather point of view, it has been a fantastic experience which neither of us would have missed for the world ! We can now look forward to visiting the Irish coast next spring, and then moving up to the West coast of Scotland, and the Hebrides - Happy Days !!