The Sea Wall
On the way down to the
Elie Harbor there's a section of roadway, about a hundred yards
long, that has a raised sea wall. The top of the wall on the
road side is about four feet above the ground and on the sea
side it's about sixteen feet above the rocks when the tide is
out. It's about six feet above the sea when the tide is at it's
highest. The top of the wall is about two feet in width.
One of Jems and my
daredevil escapades and that of the local boys was to hoist our
bikes on to the top of the sea wall at its upper end then
gingerly get on and carefully kick off. Gravity increased
our pedaling speed as while looking straight ahead and not
looking down we sped on down the narrow top of the wall till we
got to the lower end of the wall and the faster we went the more
stable we were. Right beside the lower end of the wall and
across the road from Admiralty Lane was a lamp post that could
be grabbed to assist in stopping and dismounting. Some of us got
so daring that we could pedal from the lower to the upper end of
the wall. Pedaling uphill at a much slower speed was wobbly and
getting off the bike and down from the wall at the upper end,
without a lamp post to assist, was considerably more difficult.
Another of
Alberto's photos.
The upper end
There's no doubt that what we did was highly
dangerous and the local adults were terrified that
we'd fall off and either be seriously injured or
drowned or even killed when we rode our bikes on top
of the wall. On spotting us doing our thing
someone would immediately call for Jimmy Wilson the
bobby to show up to rightfully impress on us the
folly of our ways.
When he did we were
long gone. Ha, ha.
Another sea wall that we rode our bikes on top of was the raised
sea wall that extends from the tip of the Elie harbor to the
jetty rocks. Why? Because it was there and boys are just that,
boys. Boys who occasionally have more bravado than brains.
While I have told of riding our bikes on top of the sea walls it
is dangerous and should not be done by anyone.
Elie Harbour raised sea wall
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