Down by The Riverside...

Thanking you all so much for stopping by yesterday on the occasion of my  2500 blip!  It took me two days for us all to get together ... so I've let another day to enjoy all my fuss, and now I'm catchingup!.

Himself and me were mooching around at the harbour by the life boat station.  

We were reminiscing about the guarded nature of the harbour these days, compared to how it was.  The Sunday's I spent on the harbour wall, watching the wild sea, while fishermen lined up on the pier on the opposite side.   Wandering around the berths and sitting on the bollards which used to be where the boats tied up.  

Remembering the Navy exercises which could bring in 8 or 9 little Navy Boats, and a land based battalion on the quay side.   Or the Pleasure cruisers coming in and sitting alongside. 

Or the Roll on Roll off which brought the Irish straight into the town. 

The harbour was modified for the roll on roll off; a new roll on roll off pier was built on the outside wall to accommodate the larger size of the PO ferries   - and now they are gone. 

Luckily we still have an inner basin full of fishing boats, and what we believe to be a working Fish Market. (We're never up THAT early in the morning to see) but now, the bulk of the harbour appears to have been taken over by the wood mill.  Not sure if it's one or two, but the quays side is full of newly chopped timber; what used to be where Fish market was is full of treated wood.  Both sides of the road down to the harboud are full of treated and shaped wood.  Its nice to see so much industry still alive. 

This shot though, is a sad testament to the the shipbuilding which used to be housed in the Wood Mill areas.  The Dry dock, now flooded, and empty and probably not dry for a long while.