Landguard

We walked around Landguard Point this morning, which forms the northern entrance to Harwich Haven and adjoins the big Felixstowe container terminal. The weather was appropriate for this bleak landscape, with bitingly cold showers coming in on a northwesterly which was gusting to near gale force.

The area is a strange mixture of modern dock facilities, huge container parks, industrial units, history - the buildings in this view are Landguard Fort which goes back to the Napoleonic wars while pill boxes, tank traps and bunkers dating from World War II are scattered around the site - and a bird observatory which is housed in some of the disused bunkers to the right of this picture, and which is ideally located on major bird migration routes.

As we walked along the sea wall the daily Stena Line service from Harwich to the Hook of Holland passed us, moving gingerly in strong cross-winds. She brought back happy memories of the beginning of our Jamaican adventure in 1973, when we took this service to join our ship, the Amersfoort, in Amsterdam en route to Kingston.

The tide was low so we were able to walk to the point along the shingle beach, and then turned northeast to follow the beach towards Felixstowe town. By this time it was raining heavily and the wind was blowing sand across the beach which, while unpleasant, ensured that we had the whole beach to ourselves except for one couple exercising their greyhound.