This is from a few years ago I wanted to watch the cruise ships come in to Southampton. Of course I can watch them from Stokes bay, or Lee-on-the-Solent or I could get reasonably close to their course at Gilkicker, I just wanted to see them from a different angle.
Calshot is good because it is very near the Bramble bank, a huge sand bank in the middle of the Solent. Large ships have to take a proper dog leg course to avoid the hazard. Some ships don’t make it. 28 January 2015 the Hoegh Osaka, a car carrier became stuck on the bank. Strangely, although we went to see the ship several times I don’t have any photographs, which is frustrating.
Calshott Tower, in the picture, is one of the main observation stations for the National Coast watch Institute. A charity that, using volunteers, keeps a watch on coastal waters. There’s quite a long and intensive training course to become a part of nci. As usual, I would quite like to have done that.
I got my pictures, and I am very pleased with them. But, I’d quite like to have another go. But this time, I would go somewhere different, not quite so far; Warsash. I’ll need to identify when a good number of cruise ships are coming in, now that cruises have started again.
Bills Posts 