If you ever come to Galway you will notice
it is home to a lot of boats! Not all of them are on the water, or anchored near
piers. A lot of them are wrecked, crumbling gradually in the earth around them. Maybe it's more trouble than it is worth to get rid of them, so their owners just leave them. Out of sight out of mind. Quite of lot them end up lying in rest in fields, or near the shore like this old boat below.
I love to see these old boats. There is
such a sense of history about them and even a little beauty in their woody decay. If you walk up close to them, or sit down in rest in one you will feel an atmosphere around them in
the same way as a derelict house might seem to retain the atmosphere of its former
occupants, or is that just my imagination?
My favourite wrecked boat is this one, 'The Queen Of
Eddy.' A beautiful, red wreck that has been leaning up against a wall at my
local pier since I moved here. I moved here in September 2012 and until recently it was leaning up against the wall as you can see in the picture below.
Even when I walk at night I can see her, as she lies right below a light which casts her in a new role - as the highlight of the bay.
Recently as you may know, Galway has taken quite a battering in the storms and so, unfortunately has The Queen Of Eddy. I thought at one point she was going to end up back in the Atlantic but as you can see in these pictures, somehow she remained tethered to a huge rock and managed to stay on the shore. Thankfully, there she continue to reign until we see where the next storm takes her. I hope it doesn't take her far I would really miss The Queen Of Eddy!
