I took these photos of smacks and bawleys in the wonderful Aldous Heritage Smack Dock at Brightlingsea during a trip this weekend. Read all about it at the Colne Smack Preservation Society website.
I’m still nursing a rib I bruised during a brief F7 we met crossing Colne Bar on Saturday afternoon, but I always enjoy visiting the town, not least for its fish and chips and pubs, and the convenient facilities offered by the sailing club.
The final photo is of Brightlingsea’s Cinque Ports Wreck House, built to store goods from craft wrecked on the nearby coast.
PS – I was amused to be sent a couple of quotes from Archie White, who wrote about this coast.
‘From the white Colne Fishery buoy and the inner Bench Head lighted buoy, the channel is clearly marked and should present no difficulty. Not so Brightlingsea where the narrow channel causes the tide to run much harder than in the river’.
Apparently, going too far in to the harbour is like ‘Thrusting one’s head into a bag of ferrets on a dark night… ‘ and it’s ‘… best to anchor at the first opportunity and have done with it, rowing in in the dinghy later to sample the delights of the town.’
Yup… I can confirm that with a long wait for the busy harbour master on this occasion, Brightlingsea does have a narrow and tricky channel if your job is to remain ‘on station’… I’m reminded that a picnic anchor or a mud weight might be a quite useful addition to our collection of gubbins…
