Postmarked Plymouth, dated 27 May 2009.
Custom House Quay, Falmouth
Falmouth is well known as the starting or finishing points for a number of round the world trips such as Sir Francis Chichester's and Ellen Macarthur's. The fictional children in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, a childhood favourite of mine, lived in Falmouth and learnt to sail in Falmouth Harbour.
Falmouth is on the River Fal and the Fal estuary combined with Carrick Roads is one of the deepest in the country. It allows large ocean-going vessels to moor, sheltered from the elements. One of the side effects of the recession has been that more and more vessels are being "mothballed" there, while waiting for things to improve. At the moment there is little demand for cars, white goods, and so on, to be transported, so ships are kept here with a skeleton crew at a reduced cost.
Although local residents and people on the increasingly popular cruises are not at all happy to have these container ships there, there is another side to the story. The local economy is benefiting from the increase in trade and the extra mooring fees charged. It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
Hello
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post.
So very sad about the economy ,
like you said it is an ill wind that blows no good.
Have a wonderful rest of the weekend.
Thank you for sharing this pretty post today .
Take care.
looks nice.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, look really nice.
ReplyDeleteMy Bangkok Through My Eyes!
The harbour's so picturesque!
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very pretty place, the old harbour. The new probably not so much. I'd heard about ships being laid up to ride out the recession but I hadn't realised where they were going.
ReplyDeleteWe visited Falmouth a few months ago, but I completely forgot the Swallows and Amazons connection. In my opinion, the best books in the series are "Winter Holiday" and "The Picts and the Martyrs".
ReplyDeleteHave you read "Coots in the North", the 13th book which was never completed?
@John, no I haven't read "Coots in the North", in fact I haven't read any of them for a very long time. I must see if I can get hold of some copies. I'm always slightly worried that it will spoil the magic that I remember from reading them when I was a child.
ReplyDeleteAh yes this photo reminds me of our trip to Folkestone...and I'll never forget walking out to witness all the colorful boats in the harbor now resting on wet sand....the tide was out and none of us had ever seen that before! TY~ Karen
ReplyDelete