Saturday 30th July

Weh hey.....

Got to Harlepool, big sea's coming out of Scarborough soon woke me up, brilliant lively crossing with puffin's, guillemot's and dolphin, sun came out as soon as I arrived in marina.

Malcom and Kate on Cirrus Cat joined me for the leg which made it all that bit more enjoyable.

I thought Harlepool would have been very industrial, however, its a lovely place surrounded by bars and resturants.

The locals are called 'Monkey Hangers' for reasons described below:-

According to local folklore, the term originates from an incident in which a monkey was hanged in Hartlepool. During the Napoleonic wars, a French ship of the type chasse marée was wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey, wearing a French uniform (allegedly)-(presumably to provide amusement for those on board the ship). On finding the monkey, some locals decided to hold an impromptu trial on the beach; since the monkey was unable to answer their questions, and many locals were unaware of what a Frenchman may look like, they concluded that the monkey was in fact a French spy. Just to make sure, the animal was thus sentenced to death and hanged from the mast of a fishing boat on the Headland.