Day 104 - Wick - July 22nd

A relaxing day in Wick. 

On the face of it a rather sad town - not surprising when you realise that at one time, Wick used to be one of the busiest fishing harbours in the world.
The photographs in the museum show the harbour in the 19th Century literally crammed with herring boats and the town busy with all the activities that would have supported the harbour and those that benefitted from it. 

Not so today!
Massive overfishing and competition from other harbours with better transport links has meant that Wick stopped needing all those thousands of workers and the businesses that flourished because of them. 

So what did we do with our day?

We had a relaxed breakfast at the very busy Wickers World cafe on the harbour looking out at Windfarm support vessels.

We visited the Wick Heritage Centre staffed by enthusiastic volunteers. The Johnston Collection of historic photographs is really good.
Nearby we found the steps,
inspiration for Lowry's painting The Black Steps.
We visited Pulteney Town, the new town designed by Thomas Telford to accommodate the burgeoning population of Wick in the early 19th Century.
We went for a distillery tour and whisky tasting at The Old Pulteney distillery and
we found Ebenezer Place - 
the shortest street in Britain. 

We had supper at The Mackay Hotel and talked to Murray the manager about, amongst other things, the hotel's tradition of buying prize winning cattle.

Having spent the day here, I've grown to quite like it.

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