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Published: June 20th 2008
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This weekend was supposed to be Kirstyn’s weekend of crazy things she’s never done (now she’s 30 and getting old) but the Adrenaline Gods had other ideas.
We did the usual trick and took off straight after work, first stop, the Tacky-a-rama of Blackpool. The main reason, the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Europe is there, and Kirst has never been on any roller coaster! (I was shocked too when I found this out). By the time we got there by 8pm, it was last ride and our plans had been destroyed. We had to settle for the run down boulevard of dodginess, and the Blackpool tower, all topped off with the worst ever fish and chips!
Bloated and in pain, both physically and emotionally, we left on our way to the other side of Britain. We decided to stop off near York, with the plan of visiting the city the next day. We awoke to find the comforting site of a pool of diesel under the van, set back no. 2, a leaking fuel tank. We soldiered on anyway, diesel’s not that flammable right, to the beautiful city of York.
We spent the
morning exploring the ancient Walled city of York complete with its very own and impressive Minster Abbey. We walked the city wall and explored the narrow cobbled streets and the ‘Shambles’ complete with Tudor houses dating back to the 15th century. There also just happened to be the annual sword festival complete with a parade through the town streets.
After a lovely drive through the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, we arrived at our campsite near the quaint village of Goathland. It was time to kick back with a few drinks and enjoy the afternoon in preparation for tomorrow’s big event.
We had to get an early start on Sunday morning to drive to the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough where Kirst was to take her leap. Middlesbrough provided an impressive backdrop, kinda like Mt Isa I guess, being an industrial port and all. The bridge itself is pretty impressive, but today was not to be. With all the favourable weather that Britian has to offer (yes, that’s sarcasm), we managed to get a day of gale force winds which prevented the jump from going ahead. The relief on Kirstyn’s face was immense. Jason was somewhat
more disappointed that his wife would not be jumping off a bridge.
We left the beautiful surrounds of Middlesbrough somewhat dejected and drove down the coastal tourist drive on our way back down to Whitby. We stopped off at Saltsend Beach and had a cooked breakfast in the van overlooking the white waters of the beach. We went down to the beach for a bit and to have a look back up the cliffs at the water driven tram that ferries people up and down to the beach. Other stops included Robin Hoods bay before a steep ascent on the way to Whitby.
Our previous stay in Whitby was a lot different, and involved snow and a lot less people. The place was teaming with tourists and the weather was much kinder. Whitby is the place where Captain Cook learnt his trade and the ships of the first fleet were built and left harbour from here. A gorgeous little seaside town, we enjoyed the afternoon wandering about. We continued our driving day down as far as Scarborough, which was also full of bank holiday visitors, before finishing off the loop back round to our
campsite.
On the Monday we set off reasonably early to continue down the coast to Bempton Cliffs, home of the largest nesting Sea Bird colony in the UK. The main attraction was the cute little Puffins.
We drove through Hull on the way home which was in a frenzy awaiting the arrival of it’s successful football team which had just won a promotion to the Premier league, the first time ever in its hundred odd history. We had a brief look at the Humber bridge, formerly the longest single span suspension bridge in the world, before making the journey home. At 1.4km long they had to allow for the curvature of the Earth, the top of the two pylons are apparently 36mm further apart than the bases. Now there’s a piece of useless trivia!
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