It’s been a very hectic month and this has mostly been in part to the fact that I’ve just sold my house which I bought in March 2009. Regular readers and friends may remember that it needed a lot of work done to it and I even made a video to show how bad a state it was in:

It was a great first house for me but the time came to sell it as I want to buy somewhere with my fiancee and after many viewings someone decided to buy it for a bargain price. It’s quite a tricky time to sell a house with the few buyers around wanted to pay as little as possible. I’ve done fine though as I bought the house cheap and although I won’t be making much profit, I won’t be making any losses so I can’t complain.

I was a little sad today though as I said goodbye to he house for one last time, checked all the rooms to make sure I hadn’t left anything, and then I locked up and that was that. The end of an era.

I’ve got good memories of the place though and I thought it was fitting that I made another video to document the changes from when I first bought it:

The end.

photo credit: robef

I think it’s good to be proud of the area you live in, and although there’s a view that Ramsgate is a bit downtrodden nowadays, I still have hope for the place and when you cast your mind over the amazing history of the place then you will be proud of the place too. We’ve got a great history and I love knowing that I’ve had a (small) part in it.

I’m going to point you over to a great site called www.ramsgatehistory.com which has managed to archive a great deal of information including movies, photos, documents and also stories.

If you want to find out more then head on over to the site and you could spend hours going through all the information.

I haven’t been fishing for a couple of years, but when I found my self with a free day I thought I’d give it ago and had a walk down to Ramsgate harbour and fished off the Harbour Wall.

Sufficed to say I didn’t catch anything apart from sunburn and some crabs, which could be misconstrued for something altogether different if this were an 18-30s holiday. I never go fishing expecting to catch fish, and just use it for a bit of a time-out and an excuse for some fresh air.

It wasn’t just me who was failing though and apart from a few flatfish there was little being caught and so I accepted my fate, and headed home after a few hours. I think I’ll have to go elsewhere to catch any sizeable fish which casts my mind back a few years when I caught this Moray Eel on holiday in Gran Canaria.

There are several charter boats running fishing trips out of Ramsgate and that might have to be the next option if I’m ever to catch a fish again…

We of Thanet love our history, due partly to the fact that we have so much of it here and one of the sights that greet visitors entering Thanet is the Viking Ship Hugin which is found at Pegwell Bay. I’m sure most of you know the history but just to recap in 1949 the ‘Hugin’ sailed from Denmark to Thanet in celebration of the 1500th anniversary of the traditional landing of Hengist and Horsa at Ebbsfleet and the betrothal of Hengist’s daughter, Rowena, to King Vortigen of Kent.

We can go a lot more into that historical line but I’m more interested in 1949 rather that 449 and I’ve come across these great videos from British Pathe that show the Hugin arriving at Viking Bay (originally known as Main Sands until this event), the thousands who celebrated its arrival, and the presentation ceremony in 1950 by Prince Georg of Denmark with the ship on display at Pegwell Bay.

Just click on the photo and you’ll be taken to the relevant video.

VIKING SHIP ARRIVES

KENT GREETS VIKING INVADERS

THE VIKING SHIP ‘HUGIN’ AT RAMSGATE

It really is amazing having such a link into the past. Yes it’s a relic that’s only 60 years old but it signifies something a lot older and normally gets me spouting off about Vikings et al.

Tonight Euroferries were featured on BBC 1′s Inside Out programme in an investigation by Glenn Campbell under the title of ‘Will Euroferries start a new ferry service?‘

You will shortly be able to watch the programme on BBC iPlayer on this link.

I’m not sure of the viewing figures for the programme but I’m sure that quite a few people in the South-East watch it so it really could be seen as a good PR opportunity to set the record straight and let the public know what is happening, something the blogging community has been asking for the past year, but Euroferries declined to be filmed and instead released another press release (some of which contradicted what Thanet Council were saying.)

Glenn went down to their ‘offices’ at the Port of Ramsgate to find that there weren’t any, and then went to find Adrian Gillan (Director of Euroferries), but he wasn’t available either, so yet again it was left to the viewer to speculate and grow even more pessimistic about the chance of a cross channel ferry from Ramsgate to Boulogne.

This is from Auntymoo in the comments section:

Announcement was made today at 1pm. Norman Spirit to run out of Ramsgate and to be renamed Ostend Spirit. LD Lines in partnership with TEF, service to start approx 15th March !!! Whats next ? perhaps a fast craft to Boulogne or Ostend ??? – Auntymoo 8th Feb 2010 @ 2:29 pm

This has also been corroborated by Your Thanet via twitter and also by the Thanet Extra.

So Ramsgate does get a new passenger ferry, but not to Boulogne. I somehow have more confidence with this than with you know who. There will be two return crossings a day which will be 4 hours each way, and single tickets will cost £24 for a car and five passengers.

Useful Links:

• LD Lines
• Trans Europa Ferries
• The Noman Spirit

As I mentioned in this post Euroferries will be the subject of tonight’s Inside Out programme (7:30pm on BBC1 South-East or Sky 983) where Glenn Campbell asks whether Euroferries will ever start a new ferry service from Ramsgate. It should make good viewing.

Following the news a couple of weeks ago that Fred Olsen had decided not to lease the Bonanza Express to Euroferries it has left them without a vessel for their Ramsgate/Boulogne service which is still taking bookings for 1st March 2010.

There has been some chatter on the bfenthusiasts forum with regard to the old Speed One ferry now called Sea Leopard and you can follow the whereabouts of the Sea Leopard by using this handy link: http://www.shipais.com/showship.php?refresh=2&count=2&map=-1&mmsi=235007470

Of course this is all speculation, but now that we can’t talk about the Bonanza Express anymore it’s good to talk about something! If you want to know more about the Sea Leopard (including photos) then click here.

Don’t forget that on Monday 8th Feb Euroferries are featured on BBC1′s  ‘Inside Out’ programme at 7:30pm. For those of you not in the South-East region you can also see the programme on SKY channel 983.

Euroferries will be the subject of an ‘Inside Out’ report to be broadcast on BBC1 on Monday 8th February @ 7:30pm and it will have a contribution from local author Jane Wenham-Jones, who you will remember wrote the article ‘Ferry blog threat not exactly a PR triumph’ (online article here originally published 20/11/09).

Jane wrote this article after another delay to the proposed Ramsgate-Boulogne ferry service along with legal threats to local bloggers (myself and ECR) so if you haven’t read the article then I’d recommend it to you, and also make sure you tune in to ‘Inside Out’.

Useful Links

• BBC Inside Out
• This is Kent article
• janewenham-jones.com
• twitter.com/JaneWenhamJones

I’ve made a trip back into the Google library and today have for you sections from ‘A practical, guide to the watering and sea-bathing places, on the coasts of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire‘ published in 1846.

The three larger towns of Thanet are reviewed in detail and I had a smile when I read this passage:

Of the three watering places in the Isle of Thanet, Ramsgate is considered as the most fashionable, Margate as the most lively and bustling, Broadstairs as the most quiet and retired.

Things don’t change that much do they? (Apart from perhaps Margate but hopefully her glory days will return.)

The book provides a good read and I always enjoy reading about the history of the local area. The section starts with Margate (page 14), moves on to Ramsgate (page 18), and then finishes with Broadstairs (page 21). You can view the sections below in the embedded reader or you can view the whole book online here or you can download the complete book in Abobe PDF format (2.2MB).