On Sunday it was sunny but there was a very chill wind, so these photos look like a summer's day but the temperature was about 6 or 7 degrees C.
This is the Trincomalee, dry-docked at Hartlepool Historic Quay. It's a grand day out.
For a few quid you get entry to the quayside and there are amazing reconstructions of the old shops and businesses that would have existed.
At one spot you can stand on a large circular photo and get a feeling of what it would have been like to be up in the crow's nest. Well not really, but you get a good idea of what the view would have been like.
The shops are filled with wonderfully life-like portrayals of the early seafaring days. The models are so real that I had to wait a few times to see whether they were going to move. The expressions on their faces are so true to the captions and there are some real characters roaming around in costume who like to come up behind you and speak loudly!!!
The ladies, of course, enjoyed a day of soft household delights such as sorting the linen and the children played with toy boats.
I suppose the man of the house was in some discomfort with his gout but his man-servant made sure he was well looked after.
The Trincomalee, built in Bombay and restored locally is available for a crawl around. You must have had to have been very short to be a seaman comfortably in those days. There was not a beam high enough for me to walk under and the doorways were only just above waist height.
Someone has gone to the trouble of filling all the nooks and crannies with surprisingly well modelled glimpses of the times when the ship was at sea. Even the meals on the mess tables have maggots and weavils in the appropriate rations.
The cannons are the main reason for the existence of these ships and below decks are the stores of armaments as well as food and surgeons quarters.
I was glad to get back on deck again without hitting my head or falling down the steep stairs.
The nearby paddle steamer provided a cafe for hot soup and a sandwich and was a welcome relief. After that we "did" the museum and played with all the electricity challenges they have set up for visiting school children and read all the historical anecdotes and avoided buying all the tantalising tat they have in the shop and came home. The sun had disappeared and we lit a log fire in the snug.
