On Saturday, after a bite of lunch, we walked along to Spittal beach, as there was a seaside fair on. It was much too busy to take photos, although I would love to have taken some shots of little tots riding on beautiful donkeys. After a potter round the stalls, and having walked the length of the promenade, we decided to walk back along the beach. Malcolm immediately started picking up driftwood, as he is busy making more trees, and has some other projects in the design stage. I wandered along behind him, picking up the occasional piece of seaglass, but mostly just enjoying the scenery (and keeping an eye on the waves as the tide was coming in, and I didn't want wet feet!)
there was a large ship sitting offshore - we guessed it was waiting for high tide
we were immediately proved right when the pilot boat appeared!
as we walked back home, we kept pace with the ship. It passed the lighthouse .......
........ and headed towards the pilot boat, which was indicating where to make the first turn
the pilot boat sailed on, showing the ship its route towards the next turn
but what was this coming round behind the ship?
it was the Lifeboat, coming back to the Lifeboat station
we quickened our pace to get to the dock before the ship. There are all sorts of warning signs at the dock about keeping out - but no-one pays any attention to them at the weekend, so we went in to have prime position to watch the ship squeeze into the dock
the first approach was misjudged and they had to back up and try again, aided by the pilot boat nudging them into line
but, I hear you cry, what about the swans, with a hulking great ship rapidly filling the dock? At first, they just moved into the corner
but eventually it occured to them that perhaps they ought to move
at that point we left the dock and headed into the flat, where we watched the rest of the proceedings from the window
the swans decided they wanted nothing to do with this huge interloper, and left the dock in a great huff!
we had an excellent morning out yesterday, but I'll save that for tomorrow, and fast forward to this morning, when suddenly there was a great deal of activity on the dock, as they started unloading the ship. First a large lorry arrived
followed by a smart little machine (I think I'll be putting one of them in my letter to Santa!)
the first hold was opened
and in no time at all the lorry was being loaded ....... no sooner had it been loaded and driven off, than another one arrived, but we couldn't stay to watch any longer, as we needed to get home
a very unusual photo to finish - as we were walking back on Saturday keeping an eye on the ship, we nearly walked into this newly-married couple's photos!
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