Another day in Arbroath

The forecast was for rough seas, so we decided to stay another day in Arbroath. Tomorrow looks the same, so Jan went home (a 45 minute bus ride) and we will ring him when we decide we can sail. The rest of us went once more for a coffee in town, and had an Arbroath Smokie lunch. In the afternoon Rob and I visited the Bell Tower museum. The building was originally constructed to house lighthouse crews for the Bell Rock lighthouse, and to signal to the lighthouse. If all was well the lighthouse would raise a ball on its tower, and the land station would do similar to its ball. In the event of the lighthouse not raising its ball a boat would be sent immediately to provide help. For on-duty lighthouse men whose wives gave birth, trousers or a dress would be flown from the land station to indicate the sex of the newborn! Rob and I could just about see the Bell Rock lightnouse - a small speck on the horizon; goodness knows how they managed to identify a pair of trousers! They must have had very good telescopes!

(P.S. How do lighthouse keepers communicate? Answer: Shine language! :-?)

The Bell Tower museum

The Bell Tower museum setting - note also the leading lights for the harbour, one on a tall mast to the right, and a lower one to the left.