Avoch
September 19, 2020
19 Sep 20. HM 104. We now go back in time to a classic small victorian "Thomas Telford" designed harbour of Avoch - pronounced " 'Och ". And there we found a HM as delightfully quirky as the name of his harbour!
Gwynne Tanner has been HM of this historic tidal harbour for 20 years, and he kept the whole of Good Dog's crew very amused for an hour telling us his stories. Our first question had to be - why is Avoch pronounced 'Och? Because....wait for it..... it was the last place on earth that God made, and when he had finished he said " 'Och, that'll do!
When a HM keeps saying "You better not write that down", you know he has lead an interesting life, and this was very much the case with Gwynne. Born locally, he has fished all his life and for many years he took his lobster creel boat west through the Caledonian Canal to fish west of Oban on Loch Arline, before returning to Avoch (pronounced 'Och remember!) in the autumn. He told us some great stories of his time fishing in the Moray Firth, including a monster catch of herring that he took home and cured in secret before selling it "privately" at six times the market price. Don't ask why!
Reading the history of the harbour, Gwynne is typical of the type of skilled and hard men that sailed, traded and fished this part of Scotland for centuries. The village was first being used as a natural "beach" harbour in the 1720s, with Telford constructing the first stone walls in 1815. It has been run as a Trust harbour since 1903 and although the herring stock, known as "Silver Darlings", have long since disappeared, there are still a few boats that fish from here, catching whelks for the Korean market.
One of Gwynne's more unusual call-outs as a HM was from the RSPCA. "A Spaniel has drowned in your harbour - come and help". When he finally fished the animal out.....it turned out to be a dead otter.
Thank you Gwynne, not just for your bookful of stories, but also kindly driving to the local calor gas supplier to change our canister! We loved your harbour..... you can just see GD at anchor, circled in Photo 1.
Gwynne Tanner has been HM of this historic tidal harbour for 20 years, and he kept the whole of Good Dog's crew very amused for an hour telling us his stories. Our first question had to be - why is Avoch pronounced 'Och? Because....wait for it..... it was the last place on earth that God made, and when he had finished he said " 'Och, that'll do!
When a HM keeps saying "You better not write that down", you know he has lead an interesting life, and this was very much the case with Gwynne. Born locally, he has fished all his life and for many years he took his lobster creel boat west through the Caledonian Canal to fish west of Oban on Loch Arline, before returning to Avoch (pronounced 'Och remember!) in the autumn. He told us some great stories of his time fishing in the Moray Firth, including a monster catch of herring that he took home and cured in secret before selling it "privately" at six times the market price. Don't ask why!
Reading the history of the harbour, Gwynne is typical of the type of skilled and hard men that sailed, traded and fished this part of Scotland for centuries. The village was first being used as a natural "beach" harbour in the 1720s, with Telford constructing the first stone walls in 1815. It has been run as a Trust harbour since 1903 and although the herring stock, known as "Silver Darlings", have long since disappeared, there are still a few boats that fish from here, catching whelks for the Korean market.
One of Gwynne's more unusual call-outs as a HM was from the RSPCA. "A Spaniel has drowned in your harbour - come and help". When he finally fished the animal out.....it turned out to be a dead otter.
Thank you Gwynne, not just for your bookful of stories, but also kindly driving to the local calor gas supplier to change our canister! We loved your harbour..... you can just see GD at anchor, circled in Photo 1.