Book heads down the wrong river
LESS THAN ILLUMINATING...the Groyne, an ancient sector light.
IT’S high rushing streams, and low measured estuaries help to make Britain what it is.
We are a country of water, our landscape – and often our communities – defined by rivers.
A celebration of them, then, and a guide to their attractions is to be welcomed.
What a shame, then, that while the premise of Rivers of Britain is good – to create a guide to what you might see and hear along 70 of the UK’s best known mainland rivers – it ditches any quality of poetry for a plethora of facts, some of them badly mastered.
At least in respect of the Tyne – but at least it’s included, the only river along a huge stretch of the east coast, between the Forth in Scotland northwards and Hull to the south, to be so.
No Wear among the other industrial rivers, such as the Tyne, Medway and Clyde? Odd.
Compiled by the editor of Canoeist magazine, the book takes each river, from the Kyle of Sutherland to the north, down to Carrick Roads, almost on the tip of Cornwall, and looks at their history, flora and fauna, attractions and practical aspects of navigation.
The photography is colourful and lavish, and the Tyne is the bonny lass we know well, dressed in her Sunday best.
Here, the journey down river begins at Wylam, the birthplace of railway pioneer George Stephenson, and meanders down through Newburn, Blaydon, Newcastle, Gateshead, Jarrow, Hebburn, Wallsend and, finally, to Tynemouth and South Shields.
But in a description of the approach to South Shields ferry landing, what do you make of this:
It is, we are told, “below what was the world’s largest ship repair yard, redeveloped as housing, the docks forming basement parking below 11-storey tower blocks.”
Eh?
And of the two breakwaters, the South Pier isn’t “the longer at 1.6km”.
And as for the description of the Groyne, seen here, I’m not sure that we would think of it as an “ancient sector light.”
So in all, this book is well intentioned but, by gum, it’s a rum ‘un ...
* Rivers of Britain, by Stuart Fisher, is published in paperback by Adlard Coles Nautical, price £25.
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Weather for Jarrow
Thursday 17 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
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Light rain
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There are 2 comments to this article
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magoonigal
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 07:33 PMWhilst the description of the River may not be correct and it would not be correct to comment on something I have not seen, the description of the Herd Groyne Light is correct. This type of marker is known as a Sector Light. For example when viewed from the Sea the top part of the Light is white whilst the bottom part is split into a Red and Green Section. With the Lights correctly lined up for entering the Port the ship will see a white light with a green light below indicating they are on course for the deep water channel. However if they see a white light with a red one below they are to far South. When coming Down River the Groyne also has a fixed white light. The Groyne was constructed in 1882 so its 'Old' rather than Ancient and it replaced the High and Low Lights on the North Shields side.
Cobbler
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 07:43 PMNot sure about the rest, but Smith's Dock ,at North Shields, was the largest ship-repair yard in the World
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