'Arklow Freedom' unloading at Sharpness dock

I was disappointed to wake up and find that the weather hadn't improved overnight. The rain was pelting down and didn't look as if that would change. I'd arranged with Camilla that I would pick her and her friend Cameron, who is visiting from Miami, to visit Sharpness docks this morning before Cameron flies home tomorrow.

Last year we had all gone on a trip to view a crop circle but at least it wasn't raining then. I had been checking online sources about activities in the port and had noticed that a small ship, 'Arklow Freedom'   was expected to enter the dock, through the gates at high tide. It was bringing a load of cement from Santander in northern Spain, from which we had flown home a week ago.

When we reached Sharpness after a thirty minute drive from Stroud, I drove straight to the new dock where we saw 'Arklow Freedom'  waiting in the basin for the water level to rise up in order to enter the dock proper. The tide was already dropping fast and I was able to explain the complexity of the tidal docking arrangements to Cameron and he could see the scale of the tidal range for himself, one of the biggest in the world.

I then drove around the edge of the newer tidal basin and we enjoyed seeing the mix of historical buildings and dockyard facilities as well as the adjacent old residential buildings for the dockers. The dock area generally is no longer as busy as in the early part of last century but there is still regular if smaller scale activities.

From there I took them on the same walk Helena and I had taken last week on the guided tour we'd had around the original dock at the mouth of the canal from Gloucester, and by then the rain had ceased for a while.

I drove back over the high level bridge, a swing bridge, built to allow tall masted boats to proceed northwards up the canal from the new dock. I stopped briefly to get a shot of 'Arklow Freedom' as I noticed that it had entered the main dock and was already beginning to unload its cargo into tall white storage containers on the quayside. It is the low slung green ship in the background. The ship just visible on the left has been impounded or 'detained' for two months, for some unknown reason. The boat on the right is expected to leave on the high tide in the next twenty-four hours.

I liked all the colours of this scene and the man standing on the lower swing bridge watching the scene, as well as the water lilies in the water. I should add that three large HGV lorries passed over that bridge whilst I stood taking a couple of pictures, so it isn't as quiet as it might look.