by Sally Hammond 

"Where's Hartlepool?" we asked when we saw it on the itinerary.

"Where's Hartlepool?" even English people asked when we told them we were going. Those that did know, just shook their heads and said nothing.

Here's what we learned before we went:

• Hartlepool is an industrial city and port in the Country of Durham in north-east England.
• It is an old area, founded in the 7th century by a saint.
• A port was developed here in the Middle Ages.
• It became a coal port in the 19th century.
• As a shipbuilding centre it was bombarded in World War I.
• Since WWII the area has become increasing depressed economically.

Hmmm! So why did we choose to visit such a working class city which you would think has no claim to being a tourist spot?

Well, that's where we (and most of the people we'd spoken to before going) were wrong.

You'll be hearing more about Hartlepool in the next few days. In 2006  the city won the bid to host The Tall Ships' Races from August 7-10, 2010. Currently it is welcoming the first of the 100 tall ships to compete in the race. They are coming from all over the world. Yesterday the Spanish vessel Hansa and the Latvian Spaniel arrived in Hartlepool Marina, and the Indonesian Class A ship, Dewaruci, is due to berth there soon.

Hartlepool was chosen by race organiser Sail Training International to be the finishing point for the race and will turn on a warm welcome for the ships, which will have sailed from Kristiansand in Norway on the second and final leg of the race.

One of the drawcards at Hartlepool for the more than a million visitors expected to attend during the period is the magnificent Hartlepool Maritime Experience. The quayside has been reborn. Now, restored period houses, with shops and cafes offer something for everyone and it is the ideal setting for the HMS Trincomalee, the oldest British warship still afloat.

Built in Bombay in 1817, this beautiful vessel was brought to Hartlepool in 1987 and fully restored. We took a tour of it with one of the very knowledgeable guides that are on hand to take visitors over it.

I always thought that sailors' language was pretty, well, salty - but he explained how many of our sayings derive from the seagoing era:

- to run a tight ship
- shipshape and Bristol fashion
- know when your number's up
- toe the line
- spend like a sailor
- black list
- the devil to pay
- and much more.

The museum also won our vote as one of the finest we've seen. It brings to life what it must have been like to sail on those early ships, and hearing their stories as we passed the displays gave us a new respect for these men who braved the seas in this area.

Can't get there in time? http://www.hartlepooltallships2010.com/ will keep you up with the latest happenings.

BTW:

• If you hear talk of 'monkeys' in connection with Hartlepool, it's due to a legend that during the Napoleonic Wars the local Hartlepudlians (Poolies) executed a monkey - the only survivor of a wrecked French warship . It's a myth, but you'll still see toy monkeys for sale, and that's why one of the local sports clubs - the Hartlepool Rovers -  uses a monkey as its logo.
• The comic strip, Andy Capp, is based in working class Hartlepool where the cloth-capped character fictionally lived at No. 37 Durham Street.