Tall ship crossing the railway

That's not something you get to say every day, but look, you can see the railway tracks moved out of the way across the canal. The schooner Flying Dutchman is appearing through the trees from the right.

In the first extra, she is approaching the lock gates just before the railway. In the second she is alongside, waiting for the sluices to open.

Quoting Wikipedia, "the legendary ghost ship, Flying Dutchman, appears during stormy nights, in the middle of the sea, sailing aimlessly because that is what it was condemned to do. It appears to travellers on the brink of their own shipwreck. It cannot touch land, the Flying Dutchman will never reach a port, like Sisyphus climbing the hill in Greek mythology.”  It’s not a bad opera either.

Oh let’s not be silly. This is a converted herring drifter, coming up for 120 years old, doing luxury cruises in Scottish waters with added whisky. Or, as one young lady dancing gently on the deck this afternoon put it , “we are a party ship”.

Sailing party ship she may be, but I can tell you she has a thumping great marine diesel engine too.

She is operated by the Frisian Sailing Company, so I won’t miss the chance to remind you how wonderful are Frisian horses. If you don’t know what they look like, watch the current Lloyds Bank TV advert. I used to have two of them. Beautiful things.