Taken at Staxigoe Harbour, near Wick, Caithness, Scotland on a beautiful day when the blue of the sky almost merged with the colour of the sea.

Staxigoe is from the Norse 'gja or geo' meaning inlet and 'stakkr' meaning stack or rock, thus inlet of the stack. It is an attractive and well cared for little harbour as can be seen by the weather vane and bench painted in jaunty blue and white.

Staxigoe dates back to at least 1878 when in featured in the first edition Ordnance Survey map. It was once the largest herring salting stations in Europe but went into decline with the construction of a larger port in Wick just a coupld of miles East of here.

Nowadays a set of steps lead down to this pretty harbour where there are just a couple of small boats, seen beyond the bench here. The massive 'stack' or rock of which the top is visible on the left of the picture has an old winch nearby and picnic tables painted in the same blue as in the shot.

The gentle slope out to the Noth Sea makes it a popular place for swimmers.

As a nod to the herring salting history of the place I have added a link from Vision Thing which is a song about a fishing community near Wick and is called 'Silver Darlings' (Herrings were of course known as silver darlings)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHXs1Wea_YQ



Please view large as this in in 16.9. Many thanks