Classic, vintage , hot-rods and a sting in the tail

 Last weekend we were back on the road and also back in Yorkshire. We booked the Bridlington campsite earlier in the year when we found out that the Race the Waves event was going ahead this June.

Now that we have slightly more free time, occasionally travelling on a Thursday enables us snatch three nights away rather than just two so we had Friday free to shop (thrift/charity shops for DVDs to watch in the van when the weather turns) and visit an old fashioned ice cream parlour that we had spotted on-line.

Back on the campsite this was the view from the window. There were three of the vintage trucks, two bikes, two vintage airsteam caravans and two very large RV's all camped together having travelled for the event for the first time.

Saturday morning we headed down to the south beach along with the crowds to see the bikes and cars on the beach, with more than 160 bikes and the same number of cars this was the biggest Race the Waves so far.

The bikes lined up first followed by the cars.

Then they paraded back so everyone could admire them.

They then time trialled back down the beach, some being really competitive, some just content to take part.

Brilliant weekend, fantastic weather ( a little bit sunburnt ) but as I said, a sting in the tail !!

On Sunday, this happened

Yep, tyre went bang, we were both ok and Ian just got on with sorting out the spare as I grabbed the warning signs and high vis vests, we were back on the road within the hour.

The van is now back to the dealers again for new tyres, we checked back and these had been fitted in 2018 so would be due to be changed soon given all the standing around during the lock downs.

Anyway, more soon xx

Up to my elbows in fleece (again)

 Last week turned out to be fleece delivery week. After clearing the decks of almost all my fleece stash, I've started to restock with freshly sheared fleece.

The first to arrive was the RSPB ebay purchase of three un-named fleeces, the photos of sheep and rolled fleece indicated that at least one was a Jacob which is good as I'm on a woolly hat knitting kick at the moment and at £5 plus postage I was quite happy to take a chance.

Yep, I would say that the box contained two Jacob fleeces :-) but the third fleece has me puzzled.

I'm leaning towards it being a Romey cross, I'll see how it washes up in the next couple of weeks.

Two days later the next parcel arrived containing three bags of fleece, two of them being from Dolly, the third from Daisy. These are a lleyn cross so not super soft but seriously warm and woolly once knitted so will be hats, infact one of the hats will be going back to the farmer in a few weeks as he said that he has never had anything made from his fleece.

I've already washed and spun a few grams just to see what it's like and there is more in the bucket as I type.

The next test will be to see how well it holds the dyes.

Exploring Morecambe

 We rarely travel over bank holidays mainly due to Ian working but last weekend we had the chance to grab a couple of nights away and found a relatively cheap campsite at Morecambe just 15 min walk from the prom for £23.50 per night. It was on a holiday park full of static caravans with a small area of pitches for touring vans.

When we first walked up to the sea front our impressions were of a depressed seaside town especially as so many shops etc were closed and/or boarded up but as we walked along the seafront we noticed that it was not so bad and suspected that shops had closed because of the Bank Holiday. In two minds about the place we returned to the site and popped the cameras on charge whilst we did a bit of research on line.

We woke on Saturday to sun streaming through the sky light so after a bite to eat we headed back down to the sea front.

Brightly painted hoardings hid unsightly demolition and building areas.

V Dub immortalised in paint

Eric Morecambe

Thora Hird

John McGuinness

And the open air swimming pool, now demolished and the space occupied for the summer by a travelling fair. However, glimpses of the old pool can be seen between the fairground rides.

Great care has been taken to add interest to the Promenade and surrounding areas.

The Art Deco Midland hotel has had a facelift in recent year (we tried to book a room when it first reopened but were unable to find a vacancy )

This style of building could be spotted around the town especially former cinemas.

                                               The beautiful railway station is still original

Like many traditional sea side places, the piers have been lost but the Wintergardens still remains and is slowly being restored

many years of nicotine staining are slowly being
removed and we will be visiting again to check on the progress

After winning on the tombola ( we gave the prize back to be redrawn ) hot chocolate and toasted teacakes eaten whilst listening to the organist we continued our small voyage of discovery.

After stopping off at an amazing book shop, we headed into the back streets.

We found this lovely row of shops complete with iron work frontage, hopefully they will all come back to life in the future.

We past the former Alhambra theatre as we sat on the bus back to the campsite , determined to return someday and explore the town further.

Farewell Morecambe, we will be back.