Wednesday 14 February 2007

Napoli beaching leads to Grizzly postponement

The Axe Valley Runners, website here, organise a truly mad race starting from Seaton and running along shingle beaches and up and down the switchback cliffs of East Devon, the whole event being about 20 miles in length. This annual jamboree is called 'The Grizzly' and has entrants from all over the place with even a contingent from that mountainous country Holland. Now I got caught up in the marathon boom some years ago but that was somewhat different, you won't find me competing in The Grizzly. I've walked some of those cliffs and know what they are like!

This year's event was due to take place next month but the presence of MSC Napoli off Branscombe has caused a postponement till September. Good luck to them!

Other Napoli news. The barges which have been sheltering at Portland are coming back on station to continue their work of unloading the remaining containers according to a radio report. Last weekend with strong winds and ten foot swell was a testing time for Napoli. There was a small loss of container material from the stricken ship such as a few bags of plastic pellets and some drums of what is believed to be brake fluid. And there had been some reports of small amounts of her cargo ashore on the beaches of Torbay last week but all in all the authorities are containing the situation. Certainly there has been criticism of beaching the Napoli off Branscombe but I think a magnificent job was done under very fraught circumstances.

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