Two small black fine line tattoos, an anchor on the left heel and a scallop shell on the right heel, shown on bare feet in flip-flops.

Anchor and shell tattoos on the heels

Fine line · Other · Black and grey · Photo

A close photograph of two bare feet in pink flip-flops, viewed from above with the toes at the top of the frame. A small black anchor sits on the left heel and a black scallop shell sits on the right heel, both drawn in thin, even linework with no shading. The ink is black on pale skin against a dark floor, and the composition centres the two tattoos between the feet.

Fine line Other Anchor Shell Scallop shell Feet Heel Bracelet

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Maud,

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The Roscoff boat was late out of Portsmouth again, so I am writing this in the crew mess on the back of a timetable, with a mug of tea going cold beside the salt cellar. Mr Ferrier says the anchor chain on the starboard side has been paying out wrong since spring, and I am to sit with the winch lads until someone signs the form. I do not mind. The water is flat enough to see the weed on the harbour wall, and the gulls are fat on the crusts from the morning shift.

You will laugh, but I went ashore at Roscoff with Grandad's shell in my pocket, the one he found on Looe beach the summer before he died. I meant to leave it on the quay for whoever came next, the way he always did, but a fisherman's wife on the steps told me the scallop was for pilgrims. They walk south with one tied to their coats so the road knows they are coming. I said I was no pilgrim. She said nobody is, until they have walked far enough.

So I bought a pair of cheap pink flip-flops from the kiosk, because my boots had worn through, and I walked the length of the town with the shell clenched in my fist. By the time I reached the ferry terminal the sun had dropped behind the cranes and the anchor on the mooring post had gone gold at the edges.

I am posting this at Plymouth, so you will have it before the wedding. Tell Dad the shell is safe. I have decided to keep it, and to carry on out to Santiago in the spring, if the chain is fixed and the purser lets me go.

Love, Jo