On The Waterfront

The most striking feature of Dartmouth is the waterfront. This is especially so at night when the yellow lights of the Quayside compete with the deep blues of the estuary.

Indeed, walking along it is oddly reminiscent of a similar waterfront in the novel The Xandrian Quarters, although I didn't think that Dartmouth was in mind at the time it was written.

It is the town centre and its proximity to the water that is so striking. Notwithstanding its history, what there is today is a waterfront embankment of about a mile in length running from the higher ferry near Sandquay to the lower ferry just before Bayards Cove.

Much of this promenade is railed to protect the unwary from falling in the river but it is also a commercial jetty where crabbing vessels pull up alongside to unload in the early hours when the tide is right.

Indeed the waterfront at night has a wonderful look and feel to it.

Although it can prove to be a crowded space, especially during Regatta, both at the start of the day and at the end it can be an area of pleasant solitude. In the early morning there is the sound of the gulls (not as irritating as it might seem); the quiet hum of boats heading into and from the sea and the occasional "Morning" called out by other early risers (or dog walkers).

At night there is the sound of gulls (straining slightly on the irritation levels); the occasional cries of herons as they are disturbed from their fishing vigils on the pontoons; and, the slightly over friendly greetings for those late night walkers who are trying to walk off the effects of an evenings alcohol consumption.

There is just such a wonderful mix of natural and human generated light.