Harbour fix-ups ...

It's a quiet time of the year down at the harbour, with not so many boats going out every night. But that gives the fixer-uppers an opportunity to get ahead. There's been a lot of activity mending nets, painting hulls and doing refits.

Early morning at Sant Feliu de Guíxols harbour

On our early-morning ramblings the WonderDog and I came across this scene: a little boat floated alongside a trawler so that they could paint the hull.

Early morning at Sant Feliu de Guíxols harbour

It looked precarious, but the chap on the rowing boat was working away happily without a care in the world, as his little craft listed to left and to right, and bobbed up and down with his movements.

Early morning at Sant Feliu de Guíxols harbour

The day-time highs here are in the mid to high teens, which is positively balmy for those of us who hail from northern climes. The locals, however, think it's freezing and are wrapped up with multiple layers, scarves and woolly hats. This chap was working hard, with lots of physical exertion and yet he too was muffled up as though he were moving through sub-zero temperatures. 

I'm drawn to all the activity at the boat yard. Perhaps in a previous life I was a shipwright. It fascinates me how these craft are built and maintained. The workmen probably think I'm a weirdo given how long I stand watching them work, but then there's something really satisfying about watching skilled craftsmen wield their trade. 

I'm always amazed by how much of these boats sits below the waterline. Stand beside them, and you'll realise that they're several stories high. 

The chap in the foreground was busy with a pressure washer taking off flaking paint and barnacles. There's a chap on a cherry-picker crane in the background who's demolishing the old boat house. We arrived to the drama of a closed road and a big boat house minus its roof. Bad weather and sagging roof beams had taken their toll, and the authorities decided to dismantle the building before the next storm beat them to it. It's a painstaking business, with small, polite bites of masonry coming down as safely as possible on a busy main junction into town.

I love the perfect soft light that we get here on a good morning. Photographers talk about the golden hour, and this is where you can find it on a sunny day. It has magical properties; it scarcely casts a shadow, making it perfect for landscape photography. In my world everything always looks better in that special golden light.
 

All the best for now, and may all your ramblings be happy ones,

Bonny xox