Another windy day, at times it actually felt more windy than when Gareth came through. Exol Pride set off at 7am, it’ll be hard work going upstream, but easier than going downstream. Hope they got through the Don Doors before they were closed due to rising waters.

We kept ourselves occupied with a cooked breakfast then I got on with some form filling. The wind kept blowing, but the sun was out. Of course by the time I’d finished my task the heavens opened delaying our walk into town. The advantage of the wind was that the rain blew through quite quickly.

The docks were very choppy, we’d just missed a boat coming up Ocean Lock and we could just see it’s bow reversing through one of the swing bridges at the far end. If only we’d left half an hour earlier! Clinging onto our hats we walked our way around the docks, over the lock gates and around to look at the river. 

Ducking out from the wind we went to see what Goole Museum had to offer. In rooms above the library the museum is small, but interesting. An exhibition of African Stories in Hull and East Yorkshire gave stories from the slavery trade up to more modern times. Chaps who’d been lion tamers, those who served in the World Wars, families that settled in the area. A lot of words to read. At the far end of the room an artist had made masks, treating them all in a similar way with decorations and verdigris.

One room is filled with boat portraits. Reuben Chappell was a pier head artist painting portraits of the merchant ships coming to and fro from the docks around Britain. He was possibly the last such artist, but with over 12,000 paintings he was most probably the most prolific. He would sketch the ships as they docked, return to his studio where he had backgrounds already painted and add the ships. His customers could be leaving on the next tide, so he had to work quickly.

Photographs of the streets in days gone by are on wide window sills so you can compare the view to what it once was like. Models of ships fill a whole wall and then donations from the community fill other displays, a section of a hairdressers and a lads bedroom. 

Large hand tinted photographs of Goole, part of the Grayburn Collection cover the corridor and staircase walls.These caught our attention the most. Navigation House which once stood where Ocean Lock gates are now, tom puddings waiting to empty their coal into ships. 

An old map showed that where Goole Boathouse Marina is now used to be a Timber pond and standing where Viking Marina is was a Cock Boat Pond (a small rowing boat often pulled behind a larger ship or used to ferry goods from ship to shore) with an Alum works close by. Our current mooring got covered with railway sidings. Old Maps online has given me plenty more maps to look at of the area all very interesting

From 1892 to 1953 where you can see how things changed for them to build Ocean Lock in 1937.

We fought our way back to Oleanna into the headwind. By late evening it had started to calm down, but it’s due to come back again tomorrow.