Tayport

In the morning we walked around Arbroath. The town has a long history and is the site of a large ruined Abbey. It is also where the declaration of Arbroath was produced in 1320. I'm sorry to say I'd never heard of it before,  but this was part of the Scots struggle to rid themselves of English influence. It seems the Abbot was a friend of Robert the Bruce, the scottish king at the time. There is a recent statue  commemorating the declaration featuring the King and the Abbot. The

original document still exists in a museum.

We also learnt about the building of the Bell Rock lighthouse, completed in 1810. This is the oldest offshore lighthouse in the world, and was built on a rock 11 miles offshore. It represented a huge technical achievement at the time.

We left the harbour when the lock gates opened after lunch and had a pleasant sail down the coast and into the River Tay. There are formidable tidal streams in the river and we were worried that we might get swept along out of control. However we are now in the little harbour of Tayport, across the river from Dundee. Unusually, this is a harbour looked after by volunteers, and it seemed well looked after and we were made very welcome.

The picture shows a view of the harbour and across the River Tay to Dundee.