Gabrantuicorum sinus portuosus

"After riding about twenty-two miles thro' a flat grazing country, reached Burlington-Quay, a small town close to the sea. There is a design of building a pier, for the protection of shipping; at present there is only a large wooden quay, which projects into the water, from which the place takes its name. From hence is a fine view of the white cliffs of Flamborough-Head, which extends far to the East, and forms one side of the Gabrantuicorum sinus portuosus of Ptolemy, a name derived from the British Gysr, on account of the number of goats found there, according to the conjecture of Cambden."
Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769

Burlington-Quay we now know as Bridlington and all those other antique names such as Bretlington and Britlington cute though they may be are now passé. Ptolemy called this place portuosus meaning there were many harbours but over the years the North Sea has eaten away the coast giving a large bay with miles and miles of sandy beaches. The white cliffs of Flamborough are still there though I think the goats are long gone.

Hull Fair and all the fun thereof

Round and round it comes again the Autumnal forced fun fest. Hull Fair, centuries old, seemingly never changing and just as noisy, smelly and tedious as ever.

At least old Balou was still there and not remotely impressed by all the goings on.

All pictures by Margot K Juby 'cos I had a bad foot and was in no mood to take pictures of this stupid thing, I just tweaked them a tad.

Black knight is a long way from home

The local train company¹ has decorated its trains with scenes from the cities it serves and so here we have Leeds' Black Prince statue shuttling backwards and forwards between Hull and Bridlington. The same train also had an image of Sheffield. I haven't noticed any trains with images of Hull yet, perhaps the company hasn't heard of the City of Culture ...

Weekend Reflections are here.


(1) I call it 'local' but Northern Rail is part of a vast conglomerate, owned by the multinational Serco and Abellio (the UK arm of the Dutch state railway), which operates transport services across Europe and elsewhere. Although I have heard Serco and Abellio have had a falling out.

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.

and the winner is ....

As you might guess I'm not big on competing and the whole business of finding the so-called best  by this distasteful method leaves me asking why bother. But it seems some folks like a little competition even in the most obscure categories, so here, should you ever want to know, is the Beverley Bun champeen. It's on Lairgate, just down the road from the chippy, but the winner of this prestigious award is surely destined for bigger things.

Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore ...

I read today that the UK, for its size, has more tornadoes than the US. So, whilst Chanterlands Avenue may not look much like the corn fields of Kansas, Dorothy should still keep a weather eye out for twisters. Why only last August East Hull had one knock down some trees and lift a few roof tiles ...

This flagrant breach of copyright is in a stationers on Chanterlands Avenue. It has for sale mugs, tee shirts and other tchotchkes all with 'Hull' written somewhere on them, it's the place to go for your Hull memorabilia ... no seriously, stop laughing.