In praise of the British Seaside.

[Smokin Joe]

Gotta be Sarfend, innit?

The east enders Costa del Sol.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I havn't been for a while but Grange Over Sands had a certain chracter the last time we visited,

Not realy a seaside town but we have had some good weekends in Liverpool, the Formby Coast and The Wirral provde the walking areas.

G-O-S update for you to save you a possible wasted visit:

G-O-S is a 20 minute drive from us and it is a veritable graveyard of a location with all the charisma of a piece of roadkill. Much of the sands have long since been replaced by sticky mud and Arnside, a short distance directly opposite across the bay (as you no doubt know), is a far more attractive proposition and we often go there for a nice flat and sandy walk at low tide.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Broadstairs ! (Kent's answer to a Cornish fishing village)

1 hr from the M25 by car and the same by train from St Pancras or London Bridge
7 sandy bays ! (6 of which are never crowded)
Surfing at Joss Bay, Candy floss and Punch and Judy at Viking bay, Buckets and spades to Stone Bay (which does not have any stones)
If you want the Ferris wheel and Dogems and kiss me quick hats, then hop on the bus to Margate

Lovely (Viking Bay) was a childhood treat for my brother and I - a slog down the old A2 on an old coach with picnic en-route was a lovely escape from the poverty we lived in at the time.

Is it still lovely or has it descended into post-heyday oblivion?

 

[Slioch]

When I were a lad we used to go to Southwold in Suffolk for our family hols - all squished into the Ford Anglia with suitcases strapped onto the roofrack.
I remember it fondly. Almost scared to ever go back there again in case it's turned into a nightmare and my memories would be ruined.

• Fishing from the end of the pier.
• Splashing around in a canoe on the boating lake.
• The putting green.
  
• Walks over Gun Hill to the harbour and back over the common with the big water tower.
• The smells coming from the Adnams brewery.
• Posh afternoon tea in the Swan Hotel in the High Street.
• The brightly coloured beach huts along the promenade.
• Fish and chips in Aldbrough.
  
• The sound of the gulls.
• Small boys using jumpers for goalposts.

etc.

 

[Cycleops]

My mum and dad used to drive our Ford Anglia from Leeds to Scarborough/ Whitby/ Bridlington/ Saltburn for the day. Dad's idea of a 'day out' was to sit in the car in the car park watching the sea through the rain-streamed windscreen, eating tinned salmon [mixed with vinegar] sandwiches from a Tupperware box and drinking over-sweetened coffee made with Carnation milk, before I had to battle the wind on the beach to 'take the dog out'. Then we'd pack up and drive home...

Yes, how things have changed since then. For me it was the family Standard 10 down to north Somerset with a stopover in Savernake forest, tea brewed on a meths stove with bread and butter plus lashings of hard boiled eggs.
We were headed for Watchet to spend the holiday with my father's Aunty, couldn't afford anything else at the time. The beach was called Mudeford, well named. The Aunty was related to Arthur C Clarke whom I remember visiting a couple of times at a farm.
Later went on to discover Cornwall which has some really lovely beaches.
The UK has a lot to offer and certainly preferable to being jammed in budget airline to any of the Costas., even taking into account the weather.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Yes, how things have changed since then. For me it was the family Standard 10 down to north Somerset with a stopover in Savernake forest, tea brewed on a meths stove with bread and butter plus lashings of hard boiled eggs.
We were headed for Watchet to spend the holiday with my father's Aunty, couldn't afford anything else at the time. The beach was called Mudeford, well named. The Aunty was related to Arthur C Clarke whom I remember visiting a couple of times at a farm.
Later went on to discover Cornwall which has some really lovely beaches.
The UK has a lot to offer and certainly preferable to being jammed in budget airline to any of the Costas., even taking into account the weather.

OT - apologies.

Is that the forest mentioned in the new ITV series Confession last night?

I wasn't sure if it was a real forest or fictitious as I'd never heard of it before.

 

[raleighnut]

Wells Next The Sea,



Won Britains 'best beach.

 

[Cycleops]

OT - apologies.

Is that the forest mentioned in the new ITV series Confession last night?

I wasn't sure if it was a real forest or fictitious as I'd never heard of it before.

No it's real enough, just near Marlborough in Wiltshire.

 

[Brains]

Lovely (Viking Bay) was a childhood treat for my brother and I - a slog down the old A2 on an old coach with picnic en-route was a lovely escape from the poverty we lived in at the time.

Is it still lovely or has it descended into post-heyday oblivion?

Unfortunately beaches get smaller, sunny days rarer, the sea gets colder, it's a sign of old age .....

Having said which, Broadstairs survived the 1970's mass move to the Costas, it never had a pier to close, or a grand hotel to be turned into flats, or a boating pool to fill with pond water and algae, so it has survived very well compared to most.
It still has the 100 seat cinema, the 50 machine arcade, the mini golf, and more pubs and chip shops that any town could ever need.
Viking Bay is still rammed every hot summer weekend and on Stone Bay small kids (with possibly a little help from parents) still create extensive hydro powered irrigation systems as the tide goes out

 

[pawl]

We like the Devon coast for days out ,Lyme Regis , Seaton , Beer , Exmouth and Sidmouth.

For the last two years myself and Mrs p have stayed on Lyme Regis for my birthday a nd wedding anniversary..We do like Lymn Regis and the surrounding area. No doubt we will return next February

 

[Venod]

Wells Next The Sea,

Yes another gem which had slipped my mind, we have stayed there and in a very quirky B&B in Cromer.

 

[roadrash]

mr and mrs roadrash have spent quite a few weekends in Llandudno over the last couple of years , we like it for a short getaway....even in January.
Llandudno also has a shop called The Hambone that sells the best pork pies I have ever tasted, and I have tasted a lot of em
..https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-retirement-thread.216598/post-5724699

 

[nickyboy]

G-O-S update for you to save you a possible wasted visit:

G-O-S is a 20 minute drive from us and it is a veritable graveyard of a location with all the charisma of a piece of roadkill. Much of the sands have long since been replaced by sticky mud and Arnside, a short distance directly opposite across the bay (as you no doubt know), is a far more attractive proposition and we often go there for a nice flat and sandy walk at low tide.

How can you not enjoy the vista of the derelict G-o-S lido?

I jumped in off the top board when I was a kid

Sydney isn't a patch on it

 

[Venod]

Can anybody remember a telivision programme flmed in the area of Grange Over Sands/ Morcambe Bay, the main character was always saying, "my marinas no joke" or is it something I dreamt.

 

[gbb]

Weymouth and surrounding areas always holds a special place in our hearts, spent many summers there with the kids. Exploring Portland, the nature reserves, fishing all day off the pier is something my now 30 year old son still talks about and remembers enthusiastically, good beaches, massive crab colonies, Chesil Beach, the air...I could go on and on.
Great for access to Monkey World, Poole, Bovington tank ranges, Lulworth Cove, Durdle Dor, the abandoned village of Tyneham...again you could go on and on.
Dorset coast every time for me.