Afternoon sun

A stormy morning with some rain and fabulous waves crashing over the rocks. Then the sun came out and by the afternoon everything was much calmer and brighter. 

This is Craster harbour with Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance. The harbour was built in 1906 by the Craster family to commemorate the loss of Captain John Craster in the Tibetan Campaign. Before that, fishermen had only the protection offered by the rocky spits of Muckle Carr and Little Carr as they brought their boats in. The harbour was built with the sturdy walls of the north and south piers you can see here. 

The strange construction at the end of the south pier was the foundation for three wooden storage towers. From the quarry up the hill, now the public car park, crushed whinstone was transported in buckets down to the harbour via an overhead ropeway system. The stone was emptied into the towers and stored until being shipped out to be used as road stone. 

The towers were demolished at the beginning of the Second World War as it was thought they might be a landmark for enemy navigation. 

The construction is now used by visitors to frame pictures of the Castle and some people love to stand in it when waves are high and splashing over the harbour walls. There are warnings not to do this. I wonder why!!