Before you begin reading this post about Rye Harbour you should really turn your speakers on and play this YouTube video. The sound effects played will accompany these images nicely. The sound of the wind whistling through yacht masts, the lines rattling against the metal work, the slap of waves against hulls create the atmosphere. It’s easy to forget that it is the background noise that adds to the feeling of a place.

Rye Harbour feels isolated, although it is just a short distance from Rye itself. Here though is the hub of activity in the harbour. The yacht club launches from here, as does the lifeboat and fishing boats. They all head down the straight channel of the River Rother into Rye Bay. A short distance up river is Rye Wharf, which takes deliveries from ships of up to 84 meters long. The wharf takes deliveries of stone from France and Wales and talc from China and the Netherlands. Milling wheat is exported.

A harbour wouldn’t be complete without an abandoned boat. I wonder if these are deliberately left to add to the scenery, or are they too expensive to remove? Perhaps as no one has ownership everyone else just leaves it be. This boat has been here for years, another factor that adds to the atmosphere at Rye Harbour.

As always these photos can be viewed larger size by clicking on them. You’ll be taken to either my Panoramio or Flickr page.