Scarborough lies on the East coast of England and is undoubtedly one of my very favourite places in the world and it was here I took a stroll around the harbour under a cornflower blue sky whilst the temperature hovered around freezing.
That lanky shadow in the middle of the panorama is one's good self!
There's been a harbour in Scarborough (try saying that after a cheeky couple of shandies!) since @pusen's Viking ancestors first arrived on these shores around 1200 years ago, the south bay is a beautiful, naturally crescent shaped bay with a sandy shore that gently rises from the ocean to the land and the harbour is tucked into the corner where the cliffs majestically rise up to the castle, where there has been some form of fortified settlement since Anglo-Saxon times.
The castle sits atop the cliffs looking down on the harbour. The Eastern breakwater protecting the vessels from the rolling North Sea swells.
When I was a child, the harbour entertained freighters which could barely fit along the main wharf, bringing mainly timber and grain into the UK and a couple of cranes sat along the dock side. These are long gone but the harbour still hosts a reasonable fishing fleet, the majority of which rely on shellfish, crabs and lobsters to earn a living but there are also a few deep-sea trawlers landing all manner of fish. The fishing fleet has actually expanded in the last ten years, still not to the levels of the pre-common market heydays but buoyed by Brexit (according to a couple of trawlermen I chatted to) is enjoying a resurgence, helping an ailing local economy, hit hard by covid, to recover.
So firstly strolling along the road that runs along the length of the harbour, stalls sell locally caught sea-food to be eaten from a tray drizzled in vinegar!
Can any non-UK Hivers explain the 'Molly Malone' reference?
A wooden cabinet houses clocks and barometers and a list of tide heights and times that is updated and checked daily.
It's a Tardis! This police box has been here as long as I've been coming here, and that's 50 plus years. Once a ubiquitous sight in the UK, I can't think of another place where there is one still standing.
The southerly side of the harbour is devoted to fish, with the these Victorian offices that once housed the harbours administration and harbour master, now being used for public toilets and cafes and a couple of art studios.
Grimes. A good old Yorkshire name but still not work going on after the holidays judging by the number of lobster pots stacked up!
Despite the local council and Trawlerman Limited insisting that nothing is stacked against that wall, no one seemed to care!
Many fishing boats were tied up at the quayside, many were either visiting from other ports or perhaps have moved their operations to Scarborough. The names are all unique (Zaranathax?!!- sounds like a treatment for piles!) but their official identifying marks are the letter-number you can see. The letter stands for its home port so in this picture we can see vessels registered in (E)Exeter, (FY) Filey and (WH) Whitby.
A full list of port codes can be found here
Finally! A Scarborough boat, SH94, Ocean Spray.
The tide was very low which enabled you to see the huge wooden beams that hold up the quay.
This is one of the larger local deep-sea trawlers surrounded by her fishing paraphernalia.
With a couple of crew members fixing the nets. No modern techniques or gear here, just a shuttle and twine! I did ask them if I could take the photo and chatted with them for 10 minutes. Originally from Uganda, they had both come to the UK seeking work and had been working on the ship for 10 years. Bless him, he hated the cold! Very nice guys indeed.
Sat on the end of Vincents Pier stands the lighthouse. Still in use today, it has been guiding and protecting shipping since it was built in 1804. The tower was rebuilt in 1931 after it was damaged by German cruisers when Scarborough came under bombardment by a German fleet at the beginning of the first world war in 1914.
The lighthouse is also home to Scarborough sailing club as another huge use of the harbour these days is leisure with a multitude of sailing vessels and yachts of all shapes and sizes moored and to the jetty and floating moorings.
A fairly recent addition to the harbour since the demise of freight operations has been a small marina with its floating pontoons. They rise and fall with the tide which means ropes and lines don't need constant adjustment as the tides rise and fall.
Also moored to the Vincent pier are three ships belonging to the 'Sea Grown' project.
The Sea Grown project developing wild sea farming of seaweed as well as shellfish using natural circular methods, 4km off the coast of Scarborough.
For more details of this eco-friendly and sustainable project, go here. You can actually take of a tour of the MV Southern Star and be shown their methods and labs on the ship, but it sadly wasn't open.
This Lifting bridge is named the Captain Sydney Smith Bridge after a former deputy Harbour Master and decorated Navel officer from World War 2. It was opened in 2000 and was a major part of Scarborough's millenium celebrations.
Scarborough's wartime history is also remembered by this huge gun.
The plaque reads:
1914 Vickers 13 PDR Gun. Raised by Scarborough Sub Aqua Club and local fisherman in 1982 from a depth of 100 feet from the wreck of the SS Hornsand, sunk by torpedo 23 September 1917, 2.5 miles SE of this location. Airlifted into position by helicopter of 'D' flight 22 Squadron Royal Air Force, 2nd June 1984.
There is of course lots of angling from the piers...
Although in all my time coming here, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen anything get caught, and then only tiddlers!
It seems the harbour is teeming with wildlife at this time of year, in particular, birds!
Not just common or garden seagulls, but these...err...little brown birds!
...and down by the water, the twitchers were out in force with their long lenses and camouflaged cameras to take pictures of some very rare harbour visitors, Guillemots.
This is the little fella they'd all come to photograph. He was very tame and I just walked up to him to take this snap from about 3 feet away, while the professionals shouted at me to get out of the way!
Seriously, carrying your camera gear around in a grandma's shopping trolley. Worse than trainspotters!
All these small leisure boats and no one seems to take care of them...
...especially this one which was totally trashed. I'd love to know who owned it.
Finally, a little art work...
It seems Scarborough was once famous for the sport of 'Tunny' (North Atlantic Bluefin Tuna) fishing with huge specimens being pulled out of the sea with the British record of 852lbs and over 7 feet long caught just off the coast here in Scarborough in 1949. Sadly due to over fishing, its very rare to see one in these waters now but as a tribute, a sculpture was commissioned and created by Ray Lonsdale and erected in 2010.
Sad to see it unceremoniously surrounded by chairs and tables from the cafe but rather an impressive piece of art.
That's it! My #wednesdaywalk tour of Scarborough Harbour. I hope you've enjoyed it and thanks for reading. If you have further question, please feel free to ask in comments.
Further Reading
A history of Scarborough Harbour
The History of Scarborough Castle
All photos were taken by me on Tuesday 4/1/2022 and no filters or post processing was done bar a little cropping. The location is of course pinned to the wonderful @pinmapple
BONUS FOR @livinguktaiwan
