HARTLAND QUAY.

At the start of this blog I must apologise for its length, so sorry in advance.
A couple of weeks ago sue and I decided that as it was such a miserable, wet day that we would go for a drive in the car.We decided on driving down the North Devon coast perhaps heading into Cornwall. So at around 11.00 am we set off, down through Barnstaple on the Atlantic Highway. on route we stopped off at the shopping centre of Atlantic village, this is situated just off the A39 on the Clovelly rd, where we bought a few odds and ends and some food for sandwiches.From here we went into Westward Ho fishing tackle shop for a mooch, then a cuppa just along the sea front. Then on again through Bideford (on the old road) and a look at the deserted quayside, it was hardly likely to be anything else as it was persistently raining and blowing a gale, we viewed this from the comfort of the car.From here we carried on the same road passing the Clovelly turn on toward Bude.A few miles along this road we turned off right signposted Hartland and Hartland Point and Quay.we had a quick look at the town of Hartland then went on to the lighthouse. When we arrived we found it was quite a walk to the actual lighthouse itself and the wind was probably at around 45 to 50 MPH and pouring with rain. We sat for quite a while hoping the rain would ease but after 40 mins or so we were unable even to open the window for photo's so we'd had enough and drove off.The next stop was to be the Quay, where we had heard there was a Pub, shop and Museum these sounded great in that weather.We stopped off in the car park overlooking this wild barren Coastline and made our snacks and a cuppa from the flask. Below the first few pictures show how wild this coast around here really is. Its no wonder that in just over 250 years there have been over 150 shipwrecks and groundings in just 40 miles of coast. The latest of these was in 1982 when the "Joanna" a cargo boat carrying Wheat to Wales ran aground and eventually broke up, luckily with no loss of life. The remains of the "Joanna" can still be seen today on the waters edge at the bottom of the steep cliffs, although she has broken into two parts both are clearly visible. Below this picture was taken from the higher car park overlooking the headland and pieces of the hotel grounds.
PLEASE DO CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.
Looking toward Bude these rocks are small but razor sharp.
Below, this shot shows the heavy rain and mist, this combination has been the cause of over 70% of the wrecks.

Below, the rugged, wild coast line stretches up to 20 miles in either direction.
This cluster of rocks below you can climb down onto on nice calm days.

Below, You can see that any ship washed up on these shores would soon be holed and in trouble, breaking up very quickly.
Below, This is the Shipwreck museum. It is an absolute mine of information, with dates losses of shipping plus fabulous photo's and drawings. There was also a British world war two bomber that crash landed here in the bay.
A lot of the Artefact's in this Maritime Museum came from the hundreds of wrecks in the area.
Shame about the picture (below) as it shows the Quay back in the days when it really was a Quay and small safe haven for shipping. There was a Quay here back as far as 1321 and was finally washed away in the 1700 century.
Hartland point has been known to sailors for hundreds of years as "Sailors Grave", for obvious reasons. Below I'm afraid we were just too wet to take notes so although we have some nice pictures we have no ships names to accompany them.

The narrow channel around 10 miles wide between Lundy Island and the Hartland area Coast also explains why so much shipping has been lost here. I remember this picture is of a Vessel one of only a few that were towed safely away.If you enlarge this picture you can just about read what is written underneath the photo.
Below, A lot of shipping actually entered this narrow stretch of water to try to escape the vicious gales in the lee of Lundy, only to be washed ashore here.
Once past Lundy you have 3,000 miles of wild Atlantic for the winds to build themselves up in.
As you can see a lot of these vessels were quite large and modern and possibly had accurate navigation systems but they hadn't accounted for up to 100 MPH onshore winds.
Below, what looks like a large Trawler, here I presume they are still struggling to save her.
Loads of Lives were saved by brave local fishermen and lifeboat crews although there was quite a high loss of life amongst these men.
A lot of the local people along this coast also did quite well with the looting of a good many ships. A fair few were also caught and prosecuted, with heavy prison sentences passed. So to sum up a very enjoyable day was had despite the weather. I would recommend a day trip to this lovely part of the coast with plenty for all the family to do. The fishing here can be quite good with catches of mainly Wrasse, Bass and Mackerel.

Joke of the day.
THIS IS A GOOD BUT NAUGHTY ONE SO PLEASE BE WARNED.
Tesco's have installed medical machines, For £5 and a urine sample it can diagnose any condition, a man went with a sore elbow, the computer printout read " you have tennis elbow soak it in warm water and avoid heavy work for two weeks", impressed he wondered if he could fool the machine, he mixed tap water with dog s**t, urine samples from his daughter and wife and then pleasured himself into the mixture. when he placed it in the machine the printout read: 1.. your tapwater is too hard, use softener.
2.. your dog has ringworm, give it antibiotics.
3..your daughter is on cocaine, get her to rehab.
4.. your wife is expecting twins, not yours get a lawyer.
5.. and if you keep playing with yourself your elbow will never get better.

THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING AT TESCO'S
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