Forth Small Harbours
June 22, 2021
22 Jun to 3 July 2021. The area of the Firth of Forth bridges is full of tiny drying harbours. No dedicated Harbour Masters, but I feel I cannot leave them out as they are all worth visiting - ideally with a boat that is happy to sit on the mud!
The recent history of this part of the Firth centres around the commodities of fish (now no longer), salt, coal and lime. The geography of course centres around three magnificent bridges which dominate the skyline.
First Limekilns - photo 3 - a pretty little harbour where we were hailed by the commodore of the Yacht Club and invited to stop and tie up.
Charlestown - photo 4 - which confusingly has a lot of distinctive Limekilns in a cliff above the drying harbour.
Blackness - photo 5 - where a member of my crew ( @iananderson7772 ) remembers helping build the jetty for the sailing club with his father. A pretty anchorage dominated by Blackness Castle built in 1453 - just 150 years after the Scots under Robert The Bruce had thrashed the English at nearby Bannockburn.
Port Edgar - now a thriving yacht marina was originally developed by the Royal Navy. In photo 7 you can see 35 WW1 Destroyers berthed here. We really did rule the waves in 1917 - the year King George's Fund for Sailors (now @seafarers_kgfs ) was set up.
Finally photo 8 shows pretty South Queensferry - literally the ferry of Queen Margaret of Scotland, designed to help pilgrims reach St Andrews. Now it lies in the shadow of three giant bridges - the most recent taking its name.
Close to all these harbours is the mysterious island (photo 9) of Inchmickery. Adorned with concrete pill boxes, it looks curiously like a WW1 battleship!
For the record, there are several other harbours in this area I did not manage to visit - Boness, Cramond, Dalgety Bay, Hawes Pier, Inchcolm, Inchkeith, Inverkeithing, North Queensferry, Pettycur and St Davids. Another time maybe?
The recent history of this part of the Firth centres around the commodities of fish (now no longer), salt, coal and lime. The geography of course centres around three magnificent bridges which dominate the skyline.
First Limekilns - photo 3 - a pretty little harbour where we were hailed by the commodore of the Yacht Club and invited to stop and tie up.
Charlestown - photo 4 - which confusingly has a lot of distinctive Limekilns in a cliff above the drying harbour.
Blackness - photo 5 - where a member of my crew ( @iananderson7772 ) remembers helping build the jetty for the sailing club with his father. A pretty anchorage dominated by Blackness Castle built in 1453 - just 150 years after the Scots under Robert The Bruce had thrashed the English at nearby Bannockburn.
Port Edgar - now a thriving yacht marina was originally developed by the Royal Navy. In photo 7 you can see 35 WW1 Destroyers berthed here. We really did rule the waves in 1917 - the year King George's Fund for Sailors (now @seafarers_kgfs ) was set up.
Finally photo 8 shows pretty South Queensferry - literally the ferry of Queen Margaret of Scotland, designed to help pilgrims reach St Andrews. Now it lies in the shadow of three giant bridges - the most recent taking its name.
Close to all these harbours is the mysterious island (photo 9) of Inchmickery. Adorned with concrete pill boxes, it looks curiously like a WW1 battleship!
For the record, there are several other harbours in this area I did not manage to visit - Boness, Cramond, Dalgety Bay, Hawes Pier, Inchcolm, Inchkeith, Inverkeithing, North Queensferry, Pettycur and St Davids. Another time maybe?