Ferries Across the Bay

Here is a video of the Catamaran leaving Torquay on it's way to Brixham with about 40 passengers. About 60 disembarked when it pulled in. It seems to be going fairly well regards to passenger numbers with everyone saying nice things about the trip as they left the boat. There have been stories going round that the boat ran over some dolphins out in the Bay but what was happening was the dolphins came out to play in front of the boat just as dolphins do. In the end the driver just pulled round them and left then playing happily with a half eaten herring the way all predators play with their food.

If you want a quieter, slower more traditional way to sail across the Bay there is still the Western Lady who will still be here when this month's trial ends.

When this ferry was first mentioned by Stagecoach they said they were going to spend £4 million getting two boats built in South Africa. Now it appears they are, if thousands and thousands of people do use the service in the next month, looking to hire or buy a boat locally to use. A slight change of plan.

The Falkirk Wheel

The day after the wedding in Glasgow we were going to visit the newly wed's house in Falkirk and on the way a visit was planed to see the Falkirk Wheel. Now I had never heard of this engineering marvel but I decided to wait until we got there to find out what exactly The Falkirk Wheel was. Well this is it.

In case you still aren't sure it is a high tech canal lock that replaces about 7 or 8 old style locks to join one canal to an other. Once a boat sails in either or both locks the whole thing turns anticlockwise and one moves up and the other moves down. It is so well balanced that it can move hundreds of boats a day for less than £10.00 worth of electricity. It is a pity there aren't two canals in Torbay with a height difference of 65 metres, something like this would be a far better attraction that the balloon and it doesn't need to worry about the wind speed getting above 10 mph. The visitors centre next to it wasn't built or planned when the Wheel was built in 2002, opened by the Queen, but so many people turned up to watch it working the centre went up in double quick time. Boat trips run twice an hour and tend to be fairly full but they do travel a lot slower than Torbays own Catamaran. The swan is happy because there are no notices saying 'Don't feed the swans'.

Glasgow

On Friday I went up to Glasgow for a family wedding, one of my nephews. It's a long way from Torquay to Glasgow so I made use of Flybe from Exeter to Glasgow 1 hour 30 mins compared with 15 hours by National Express. Smooth flight up, on time but wall to wall cloud covered the whole of England and that part of Scotland we flew over.

This crane stood right outside the hotel where we all stayed. The wedding went really well, the groom turned up, the photo shoot didn't get rained off and the reception and speeches that followed were most enjoyable. One very good part was I got to see a cousin I haven't seen for over 40 years and she hadn't changed a bit.

We all went for a meal in the centre of Glasgow and let me tell you, city centre Glasgow on a Friday night is, compared to Torquay, frantic.

Be back in the Bay in a day or two. I'm having a couple of days in Manchester where my brothers live and one of my sisters is over visiting from Australia. I will hopefully have a trip on the borrowed catamaran when I get back and let you all know how wonderful it is.

Fire Station Tower Comes Down

Last weekend Sheffield pulled down two extremely big cooling towers that had stood by the M1 Motorway for the last 30 years. Millions of motorist had driven past the spot and it must now look a little empty.

Not to be out done Torquay pulled down the practice tower at the Fire Station. It had been there since 1978 but the concrete was cracking up. They will be replaced by a smaller steel structure.

Driving up the Newton Rd won't be the same again.

Torquay to Brixham in 15 Minutes

The boat arrived in Brixham yesterday and the service starts for a one month trial run on Friday. Fifteen minutes from dock to dock compared with 40 minutes by a number 12. Add £2.00 to the price of the ticket and you get bus travel around the Bay as well. So for £6.00 you can travel one way to Brixham and get the bus back to Torquay which isn't bad compared with £4.50 for a Torbay Dayrider. And 15 minutes isn't really long enough to get sea sick, well not too much anyway.
Not much route learning to do here, just leave the harbour and head a few degrees east of south and don't run into anything.

The boat is in Brixham now, it arrived yesterday.