Blackpool (Sept 2012)

Blackpool (Sept 2012)

I waited 64 years before my first visit to Blackpool. People said “You should go, you’ll enjoy it”. So I did, and I didn’t!

The hotel was disappointing, and about three miles from the main attractions, and the weather was awful. Strong winds, sleeting rain and bitterly cold.

As we’d never been to Blackpool before, we asked for a map at the hotel, and were bluntly told “we don’t have any”.

So we headed to the Tourist Information opposite the Tower. It was closed. The rain was so heavy we decided to take shelter in a hotel in the hope of a pot of tea. The hotel we went in was even worse than our own, with tables full of dirty plates and long queues for the café. The bad weather seemed a better prospect, so we set off again. Our next stop was a seedy bar, where we were told we could only enter if we handed over £6. We declined, and went back out into the rain. Next stop was Blackpool’s iconic Tower. What a dive! Dirty, shabby, sticky, dark and dingy and overpriced. The only saving grace was the ballroom, which looked rather good (no doubt, because they film Strictly Come Dancing there).

We knew of an art gallery nearby, and decided to go there next. We got lost several times, and got colder and wetter. When we finally found the gallery, it was closed!

So, we set off back to the hotel for a cup of stew. (We ordered tea, but it was more like stew!).

We decided to cheer ourselves up with a tour of the lights after dinner on a tour bus. The traffic was awful, so our driver took us round all the back streets, and by the time he got to the illuminations, the bus windows had all steamed up. What little bit of the lights we did see were nothing special, although the Bispham tableaux weren’t too bad.

The following day was better, as the rain finally relented, still cold though!

We went back to the Grundy art gallery, which was a treat, and the highlight of the weekend. There had installed a nine hole crazy golf in the gallery, with different statues on each hole. Hitler was there, Saddam Hussein, builder’s bums, grave stones, desert islands and more. The most fun I’ve ever had in an art gallery and highly recommended. We later went to the Winter Gardens for a coffee, another venue well worth a visit.

The tram system in Blackpool is great, once you get the hang of it, and free to over 60’s.

Maybe if the weather had been better, Blackpool may have appealed more, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back anytime soon.

Martin.