Wednesday 13 July 2011

Docks and footpaths

Shepherded between steel fences
Docks and public footpaths don't often mix. The modern dock area has to be secure, not only to prevent theft, but also to prevent unauthorised access to ships for people wanting to make unauthorised entry or exit of the country. The idea of having a public footpath running straight through a dock is a bit awkward, but there is an answer in Albert dock in Hull that is a bit unusual.
The walkway above the warehouse

The first part of the footpath is what you might expect, herded between steel fences to ensure you don't stray into forbidden areas. The next part goes over the lock gates, again carefully fenced to prevent any access to the main part of the dock.

The view along the warehouse roof
Then a surprise as the footpath mounts a steep set of stairs leading to the roof of a warehouse and the path follows a steel walkway along the roof of the warehouse to a short bridge and set of stairs that lead to the footpath along the outside of the rest of the dock. The view out over the dock and the Humber is pretty good but the novelty alone is worth the short walk from the Hull Marina to take a look at the footpath over the roof of a warehouse. You can see the map here.

A rather quiet Albert dock
Albert dock is fairly quiet now, mostly doing small refits on ships, including some large sailing boats. The view over the dock was particularly quiet today, but often there is a ship or two being worked on in there. The reason we revisited was to complete the footpath through the docks because the last time we tried the lock gates were open to allow a large ship out that only just fitted and since the footpath uses the lock gates we couldn't get across.

3 comments:

Sam Wilson said...

That's great! Nice photos (and map, of course). I really like reading people's stories of where they go mapping...

Doug said...

Fascinating - a public footpath that goes over the top of a building - I wonder if this is a unique bit of problem solving or it happens elsewhere?

Unknown said...

Lee..was looking for Albert docks on Google your pictures took me back to a unforgettable day. me my sister and her boyfriend all in our mid teens hopped over the catwalk and ran up and down the curved roofs laughing our heads off .....he sadly fell through one of the skylights and dies later that day ....a very upsetting thing to witness im 44 now and have never seen them since ....just was thinking of him he was a lovely lad. X rip Andy jennison x