A thingumabob

This whatchamacallit stands the end of Bridlington's north pier. It clearly serves some purpose but what that is or even what this gismo is called I have no idea. Maybe something to do with yacht racing, there's a Royal Yorkshire Yacht club in Bridlington which holds regattas off this coast and apparently they wave a lot of flags.

Bridlington

Bridlington was pretty much the same as ever it is at the end of season, quiet, the odd tourist, a few seagulls waiting for scraps, the Yorkshire Belle moored up till next year and the fishing fleet tied up because the weather's been a bit iffy lately.

Fresh Fish Daily

Here's a little mysterious shop. It's close to the station on Quay Road and never, ever seems to be open yet there's a fresh display of adverts in the window whenever I see it and that window over the door opens wider with the passing years. Something fishy about this....

Street Life

I mentioned a long time ago how Bridlington tries to stop gulls nesting on buildings. They put netting and spikes and so on with limited success. But if you're going to leave your Christmas decorations up all year you're just asking for trouble as this pair of Kittiwakes think it's a very des res.

Faded Glory

There's a lot of what is politely called 'faded glory' abounding in Bridlington. Here, for example, is a classic seaside hotel, five floors including basement bar and so on and nobody wants it, at least not at the offering price. So here it sits, with expired planning permission for conversion to flats, quietly falling apart until the next auction. I posted about this block some three years ago; very little has changed since then apart from the new coffee bar and even that could still do with a splash of paint on the upper reaches.

A little splash of colour

I've just realised that the other day when I said they were making ready for the tourists to pour in that  in fact they were repairing damage done by last year's tidal surge that flooded Bridlington especially around the harbour. The water came over the harbour wall and into the little shops and cafes that line the harbour. 

So to today's post which is the Bayside funfair, which, at the risk is of appearing to kick someone when they're down is hardly the most fun place on the planet. I know it's pre-season but it seems that a quite a few of the rides that were there are no longer; the water slide, for example, torn down for health and safety reasons so I've heard. Well maybe it was just the dull weather and things will brighten up ...

Big Guns

Nowadays Bridlington will welcome any visitor who cares to call but at one time there was felt a need to keep out certain foreign invaders, the French, the Dutch, the Spanish just about everybody at one time or another even the Americans. The top gun, on the North pier, was found during excavations and restored in the 1977, the lower one was found by a passing gull who set up home there.

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

Making Ready

On what was possibly the greyest and dullest day ever known I took myself off to the seaside for an afternoon in Bridlington. The place was somewhat rundown and not quite awake, with lots of little painting jobs being carried out and pavements being power hosed by the Council in readiness for the forthcoming influx of tourists. No amount of painting however will cover up the demolition heap of what was once a broken down leisure centre and what will be a brand new £20 million (there must be money in the East Riding!) pleasure palace.

Bridlington Visitor

Here's something a little different; a knot on Bridlington's north beach. There's some old tale about these birds being named after King Canute who, as you know, tried to stop the tide coming in and got his feet wet for his troubles or maybe he was named after the birds. I don't know, it doesn't matter all that much. These birds don't breed in this country but thousands fly in for the worms and such like on our shores every Winter.

Colour Codes

OK I admit it's not the most exciting picture ever taken, nor yet the best composed but there's a reason for that I'll come to in a minute. What you're seeing here is a series of LED flags and like those maritime flags they're supposed to some special meaning, in this case it's a relationship with local groups or places. The sign below gives some sort of an explanation and also the reason why I couldn't take a better picture. The lights are controlled by the wind and within a minute of taking the picture they all went out. 

Hmmm. Anyhow there's a webpage with more about this (including a short video) written by the very man who thought it all up here.

A Coast To Boast About

Bridlington's South Beach is one of its main tourist attractions and keeping it clean is a big headache. Seems when there's been heavy rain the bathing water and the beach get contaminated from the nearby Gypsey Race and no-body likes bathing in dirty water. Mind you I can't recall seeing that many people bathing in the bracing North Sea anyway. So the local water company are installing a new storm drain and pumping station on the South Beach. A kilometer long pipe (floated over from Norway!) is being installed. Currently the whole place looks a mess but there's a big poster showing what it will be like when finished. We'll hardly know it's there and that'll be £40 million well spent. There's a webpage as you'd expect and it's here.

This gives some idea of the scale of the project.

What it should look like when finished in Spring 2014.

Four Legs Good ...

An extremely gloomy day with that rarest of things a warm stiff Easterly breeze blowing and Bridlington was fairly empty (and mostly shut) at this end-of-season time. If we'd gone the day before it was, we were told, "wonderful with bright blue skies"and "just like Summer". Hmmm. Anyhow in the harbour and quite out of proportion to its surroundings this hulk was quietly tethered up. It's a dredger of sorts, a much bigger version of the one I posted here. Looks like some serious digging going to to be done.

Meanwhile out in the bay another four legged beast was lurking but more of that in the next post.

Cliché

"If the boy and girl walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand in the last scene, it adds 10 million to the box office."  George Lucas 

Nautical Mile Promenade

A stroll along the prom has long been one of the attractions of the seaside and at Bridlington you can stroll for a whole nautical mile. Several small promenades were rejigged and joined together in what is described as "an imaginative stretch of waterfront, which never fails to hold the visitor's interest, and which is by turn exciting, instructive, humorous and good fun, at any time of the year".

Here's one they built earlier.

Accompanying you on your stroll is a running dialogue of phrases from poems, odd thoughts and details of events that happened nearby, shipwrecks and rescues and so on. At a nautical mile in length it's claimed to be the longest piece of writing in the world.

Life's a beach

In the times of yore, when I was a lad, we went to beach and played about, got wet, didn't drown and went home happy. But lurking behind all the jollity was an hidden need for a sign. How could we go on without the Great Sign? Well here's a classic; a triptych full of dos and donts and totally meaningless icons that need a description to make sense. The right hand sign has description of Bridlington beach which is, ahem, just behind it! I don't know now how we ever managed without them.

Burton Agnes in passing

On the train coming back from Bridlington and going as fast as the push-me-pull-you diesel can go I had very little time to catch this glimpse of Burton Agnes Hall. The estate has been in the hands of the same family since some Norman stole it way back whenever. That's the Tudor gatehouse peeking out of the trees the hall itself is hidden from view. It's a tourist attraction and you can have a family fun day out if that's your poison. Wikipedia has more here. 

The Water's Edge

Bridlington's south shore at low tide is a good place to spot some wading birds.

This month's theme is 'the water's edge'. Find what others have made of this at the new CDPB monthly theme page here.

Sandy walk

You can walk your dog on Bridlington beach only when the 'tourists' have gone home.

1912

The immature gull on the right has just been given a hard lesson that the free lunch is no longer available, I expect he'll survive. There's no shortage of gulls round these parts. The stonework is the top of the facade of Bridlington station.

See more of the Weekend in Black and White here.

Dull Day in Bridlington

Anyone taking a seat overlooking Bridlington's harbour is going to be met by one of these guys. There are signs saying they can be agressive and they should not be fed but I've never had any trouble and they will sit patiently while you focus your camera on them.

It was a particularly dull and foggy day in Brid so I pointed my camera at the birds. The above is a Herring Gull probably in its second year judging by the speckled head which mature birds don't have. 

These are Lesser Blackbacked gulls on the beach.... 

These are two Turnstones having a wash.

This little starling sat about two feet away so I barely had time to focus.