Big ships coming home ...

This week football may be coming home but the big ships are also heading home to Wearside.

World Cup fever may be hitting the city but we also expect the wave of Tall Ships excitement to build just as quickly.

Yesterday saw the first of many grand vessels taking their berth at Hudson Dock.

By teatime, five ships were in port and they were the Tuulelind from Estonia, Tara from Denmark, Wyvern from Norway, Dyrafjeld from Norway, and De Gallant from France.

They will be the first of 50 to grace the city in the days ahead, marking what will be a spectacular festival of maritime history, music, drama, colourful parades and a huge village of concession stands, stages and attractions to entertain an expected thousands upon thousands of visitors from all over the country and abroad too.

Already readers are anticipating the sight of so many grand vessels, saying they will serve as a poignant reminder of how mighty a shipbuilding centre and port Sunderland was for hundreds of years.

The ships arrived yesterday in underwhelming conditions on a sea and river shrouded in mist and drizzle but there’s better news on the weather front with warmer weather and sunshine set to return between now and the weekend.

Like the football, we expect the Tall Ships spectacular to heat up in the next couple of days – let’s enjoy it all while we can.