Blackness Castle is often referred to as ‘the ship that never sailed’.

Last week and a bit of this week, we had summer. It was nice and I hope we have another one next year too.

The main part of the summer took place from Friday 1^st July to Monday 4^th July. Each one of these days was start to finish heat and sunshine.

Rather than waste the opportunity my wife and I packed a picnic yes, a real one in a wicker basket with cold meat and tomato bread rolls, potato crisps, thermos flasks of tea and lashing of soft drinks. We put a couple of folding chairs into the back of the car, collected my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and headed a mere 5 miles from home to the little village of Blackness.

Now don’t get me wrong, if our town had a decent beach we would have stayed here, we are after all on the same coast line, but it doesn’t have a beach, so we had to travel a little further.

Blackness is a small village. It has a small population. It has a school with a very small number of pupils. It has post office and an inn for the weary traveller to rest their head, but it also has a rather nice beach. It also has a very friendly feel about it.

When we arrived, we had two options about where to park. We chose the usual one (we have been here several times before). This particular place is close to the low wall that borders the narrow grass and sand, nor far from the stone jetty. The sand isn’t brilliant, but it gives you the chance to enjoy the cool, salty waters of the River Forth.

When the tide is low, the humps of the salt marches become visible. Harbour milkwort and sea arrow grass cover a lot of this area. Across the rocks, there is a green tinge to the mud flats. This is known as eelgrass. It looks green and it’s slimy, like an eel.

We unloaded the car, admired the view and began walking the five-minute journey (my mother-in-law and sister-in-law do not sprint under any circumstances) to one of the nicest examples of 15^th, 16^th and 17^th century architecture in this area. The castle juts out into the River Forth, like the prow of a ship on a base of basalt rock. Blackness Castle is often referred to as ‘the ship that never sailed’. The ‘nose’ or ‘ness’  of the basalt rock also gave it it’s name.

We headed towards a large expanse of grass area where wooden tables are set out for the public to enjoy a sit down and a meal. We opened our wicker basket, removed the cold meat and tomato bread rolls and began to eat. The potato crisps were passed around, and the thermos flasks of tea and lashing of soft drinks were consumed. After this, we sat in the sun listening to nature and other families going about their business.

We sat for a few hours. I wandered about and took some photos as my mother-in-law, sister-in-law wife and wife rested in the heat and then the shade. Rather than take up space the used the folding chairs.

As the day began to cool, we decided it was time to pack up and go. We knew that if the weather stayed like this we would return. During that weekend, we also watched the Blackness Boat Club small boat regatta where barbequed sausages, burgers, and bottles of beer were the order of the day.

The weather has not been that great since then, but when the weather improves, we shall return.