148. Low tide in the harbour

No bobbing about for these boats just now!

147. Dreary day

I went for a walk in the drizzle this morning. 
Not a particularly nice day weather wise, but there are still crabs and lobsters to be caught so the boats are out as usual.

146. My favourite rock

This is the view from my favourite rock. 
I go and sit here sometimes for total peace and quiet, so I'm not giving away its exact location!

145. Flower Show

Some pics of yesterday's Flower Show held in the Village Hall. 
An amazing display of perfect flowers and vegetables, delicious looking baking and preserves and lots of super crafts. 

144. Hill Cottage

Isn't this cottage just picture perfect?

143. Overhanging greenery

Many moons ago I posted a picture of this wall with gorgeous purple flowers growing on it.  Now it's covered in the overhanging foliage from a plant in the garden on the other side.  Love it!

142. Starglazing

This is the home of Hilary Firth's Starglazing.  Come along during the North East Open Studios next month to see what's behind the black doors!

141. Giant Rosebay Willowherb

I took several photos of these plants on the old railway line yesterday, but it was difficult to take one that truly shows the size of these giants.  So, although Ewan won't thank me for this, here's all 6' 1" of him surrounded by a sea of purple and green. 

140. Inside the lobster shed

I've been meaning to post these photos ever since I took them at the Fish Festival.  This was the first time I'd ever been inside McBay's lobster shed down at the harbour. 

Murray McBay & Co is a hugely successful Johnshaven company, exporting live seafood around the world.  You can read more about them on their website. 

The building will be open to the public again on Doors Open Days on September 17th, which fortunately coincides with the North East Open Studios week - lots of reasons to come and visit!

139. Waird's Park buildings

Here are the buildings at Waird's Park.  On the left is the toilet and shower block for the camping and caravan site.  To the right is the reception area, changing rooms and meeting room facilities. 

The caravan site is a community venture, so all profits go into providing super facilities for the village.  For a place of its size, we really do have amazing facilities, including all weather courts/pitches - all thanks to Waird's Park.

138. Over the fields

Here's a photo I took yesterday evening, looking down towards the village from the A92. 

137. Seaweed

It's funny how some parts of the beach are totally covered in seaweed, other parts have a tiny amount, and vast stretches of rock are completely seaweed-free.  I'm sure there's a logical explanation.

136. Patchwork Shed

This wee shed that has obviously been patched up over the years.
I'd love to paint each patch in a different colour and then paint stitch lines on top to 'sew' them together!

135. Puddles

Something in this puddle caught my eye. 

There's green slimy stuff on the mud and it was covered in hundreds of tiny air bubbles.  Never seen that before!

134. Thistledown

I took this photo of some thistledown...

...and then looked behind me and saw that it was everywhere!!

133. Painted stones

Whilst out for a walk this morning I spotted these painted stones on a wall.  I think they may have been done during the Fish Festival but I'm not entirely sure. 

It's a gloriously hot and sunny day here today :)

132. Contrasts

The pile of rusty anchors I photographed last week were moved for the Fish Festival - now they are next to Richard's shiny new boat.
I love the colours in this picture, with the sun shining on the boat and the freshly painted Lifeboat House behind.

131. Back to normal

Peace and quiet returns.  This is how the harbour looked in the sunshine this morning.

130. The Fish Festival

This is one of those occasions when one photo just isn't enough.

For one day every year, Johnshaven is transformed from a sleepy fishing village to a hive of activity with crowds of about 4000 people descending on us for the Fish Festival.

Any profits from the event, currently in its 15th year, go towards community projects.  Recent beneficiaries include the Little Nippers toddler group, Johnshaven Guides and the Bowling Club.

There are people everywhere!

The highlight for me - my daughter's band, Standby, performed (brilliantly) for an hour. 

The Newtonhill Pipe Band on the pier.

 Crowds gathering for the raft race.

The Stealth Bomber and the Johnner Bomber take to the water.

And they're off!

129. Getting ready

Huge events like tomorrow's Johnshaven Fish Festival don't just happen - months of planning go into ensuring that the day is a big success.
 
The team of hardworking volunteers behind the event have recently been out in the evenings, sweeping the harbour area, unblocking drains and cutting grass.

Today they were putting up the stalls ready for tomorrow.

128. White cottage

This freshly painted cottage on the sea front looks lovely in the evening sunshine. 

Anyone in Johnshaven just now will know that this wasn't taken today or yesterday, but on a day when the skies were blue - seems like a distant memory, but it was only last week!

127. Anchors

A collection of rusty old anchors down at the harbour.  It would just take a tin of Hammerite and some careful positioning to transform these into an excellent feature.

126. Frustratingly inviting path

How inviting is this path?  It just begs to be walked along, but it leads to Lathallan School and is therefore on private property.  I have walked along it once (legitimately), as I was on the way home from the Lathallan Highland Games a couple of years ago - I still felt a bit naughty though!

125. Spot the caravans!

This is a view of the caravan site from down on the beach with the tide far out.
Apologies for the sloping horizon - the sun was bright and it was hard to see the screen properly!!

124. Boat building progress

Richard's boat has had a coat of lovely shiny red paint.  The funny looking grey bit to the right is a system for pulling lobster creels smoothly onboard.

If you want to compare with the last photo of the boat, there's a link here - photo no 23. 

123. Something's missing

The portacabin has disappeared from the school playground.  Where has it gone...?

...into that skip at the back!  The playground will seem really huge once the base has disappeared.



122. The Old Homeguard

This house is where the Homeguard (Dad's Army) were onced based. 
It is now Alison's house with a cracking sea view and lots of brightly coloured handpainted bits and pieces all around.

121. Greenery

One reason I try to go for frequent walks is to see some trees. 
Down near the harbour where we live and work, there are colourful plants in pots but there's not a blade of grass or tree in sight, yet a five minute walk away there's all this gorgeous greenery.

120. Determined gull

It's a yukky, foggy day here today.  When I put my sign out at the harbour this morning I spotted a seagull holding a large shell in its beak.  It was bashing it on the tarmac but it wouldn't break.  It took off into the air, circled the harbour a couple of times then dropped the shell from a great height. 

It's the left gull on this photo - the other one was following it closely, hoping to get a share of the spoils.

The gull picked up what was left of the shell and ran away with it to enjoy breakfast alone!