#fishing

Day 71- 72. July 8-9. Helmsdale.

luffin2Leave a comment

Helmsdale was formed in the 1800’s as a new town to house the displaced crofters that had been evicted to make way for sheep farming. Many of these decided to emigrate rather than taking jobs an fishermen. Helmsdale is still a fishing port to this day although nothing on the scale that it was.

We are killing time a bit now, having rushed round the top, we are pre-booked into the Caledonian on the 16th July, still a week away and we only have about 40 miles to go. We’ll stay in Helmsdale another couple of days, before moving on to Inverness.

We have been for a few walks along the coast and up the river and searched for gold on the beaches. Helmsdale has in the past had a goldrush when a gold nugget was found in the river in 1868. No luck there!

The nearest lifeboat to Helmsdale is Wick over an hours rescue time away but the support here is strong with a great display outside the Harbour offices.

RNLI Display
The emigrants monument
Old and New harbour
The Far North Line
Good Salmon fishing here
Donate

The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin

Day 20, May 18th. Rest Day.

luffin21 Comment

Grimsby has always, in my mind, had an onomatopoeia ring to it. Is Grimsby Grim? Well maybe a little. Here in the fish dock area with it’s run down & decaying industrial buildings, and remnants of harbour machinery it’s all to easy to think that, but we never got as far as the main town so can’t make a true judgement. Not long after the second world war, it was the largest fishing port in the world, bar none. Then came the infamous Cod Wars of the 60’s and 70’s and Grimsbys fishing fleet collapsed, and with it most of the fishing infrastructure. This in turn lead to economic downturn thats probably still being felt today. There are still large fish processing plants here, but most of the fish now arrive by road and indeed in the fish docks area it still smells of fish all the time.

As this was such a great centre for fishing we went to the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre today. A fascinating place, one in which you get a true flavour & aroma of what it is like to be a fisherman in a fishing town.

“Ross Tiger”

This included a tour of the “Ross Tiger” the only remaining Side-winder Trawler from the original fleet. The tour quide, Bob Thornby, was an ex trawlerman-skipper and gave an excellent tour of the boat. Having listened to his talk, and his reminiscences, there’s no way you would have got me on one of those boats! “The most dangerous peacetime occupation in the world.” (Quote: Fishermans Mission)

Well it’s on to Scarborough tomorrow, our longest passage so far & it looks like another long day motoring.

Donate

The Wessex Kidney Patients Association is a charity that helps patients and their families deal with the upheaval caused by Kidney disease. If you enjoy reading our blog please consider giving to this cause . Many thanks Louise & Martin