Pioneer

My sister came down from King’s Lynn yesterday and we went down to Walton so that she could see my exhibition at the Naze Tower. The weather couldn’t have been more different from last Saturday, and we had blue skies and far reaching views from the viewing platform at the top of the tower.

Looking north up the coast towards Harwich

Looking inland over the Walton Backwaters, the setting for Arthur Ransome’s book, ‘Secret Water’, in his ‘Swallows and Amazons’ series.

And while we were up on top of the tower, we were lucky enough to see ‘Pioneer’ sailing past. Pioneer is the last of the ‘Skillingers’, the large Essex First Class Smacks – Pioneer is 71ft in overall length. She was dug, as a wreck, out of the mud at West Mersea, and completely restored starting in 1998. Her fascinating story is told in the Jardine Press book ‘Pioneer: Last of the Skillingers’ which was published in 2004 and it is a really interesting read. She was originally built in 1864. What a magnificent sight she is today!

Pioneer

I’ve almost finished another little boat painting to be called ‘Blackwater Reflections’ – probably up on the website tomorrow.

Friday again! – where did this week go! Enjoy your weekend 🙂