A foresaken beauty

 

13th of June ,  East Yorkshire Thoroughbred Car Club

I was off to Hull that weekend, and it turned out there was a free to attend classic car meet at northern car park of the Humber bridge.

Did need to register prior to turning up, which was a bit of a pain as it didn't like my primary email, so had to do it twice. I invited my friend Alice to come along too, as she is not that far away, and does invite me to some herself.

It was quite a hot day, so driving from mine to Hull wasn't that pleasant, but i made good time.  I went to Charlotte's to pick her up, and also wait for her friend Danni who is also a classic car enthusiast - she has a pride flag on her car roof !! 

We got to the car park fine, and Alice soon joined us, along with another lady who I have totally forgotten their name.

I was a really nice show, there were loads of cars, some nice food vans, and of course an ice-cream van.  We had some food there, and looked at plent
y of cars.  It seemed like every Vauxhall Nova still in existence was there, several of us commented that we hadn't see so many since the 90's.   

There were some friendly members of the GCCG  (Gay Classic Car Group)  that came and talked to us a bit - it's open to LGBTQ+ members, i had seen their stand at the NEC last year. 

It didn't go on too long, and it was starting to look a bit sparse by 8pm, and we said our goodbyes.  

 

14th of June, Spurn Point 

Myself and Charlotte had been talking about doing Spurn for a while, it is somewhere we both like exploring. I had tried to take my wife and kids a few years ago, but they were put off by the sand blowing across the exposed section of spit, and had turned around before anywhere near the main part of the point. I continued and had a lovely afternoon while they were bored at the visitor center ....

We drove there fairly early, and was parked up by about 10:45am.  I had applied loads of sun cream - but it seems not everywhere ! 

 I had only gone in a light dress, as it was expected to be hot that day, but some cloud cover and wind made it a bit cool for the first half an
hour or so. It did eventually become quite warm later on.   We walked down the seaward side of the beach, to start with. The aim was to get to the lighthouse - which serves cold drinks and ice cream and has benches - where we would eat our packed lunches.

The sand on the beach was a bit hard going so it took a bit longer than i had anticipated, but we still managed to get to the lighthouse just after midday. 

We got some drinks from the friendly lighthouse attendant, and sat on the bench outside. We were very careful not to touch any furry caterpillars, as they can cause skin irritation and breathing difficulties !

After sandwiches, and crisps and such we headed back into the lighthouse to pay to ascend it.  It's 128 ft high with 3 floors and the light area at the top.  There were some displays and things of interest to look at on the way to the top, but being able to get into the top of it is the primary attraction.  You get a fab view, almost 360, there is a small bit that is blanked off.

The steps to the top are very steep and they recommend you treat it like a ladder on the way down. 

We stayed up there quite a while - there were not that many people on the point it seems that day.  We did meet one chap who was ascending but there was room to pass on one of the walkways. 

After this, we headed towards the end of the point, using the path down the middle as it was easier going.  We did some investigation of things along the way, eventually getting to the abandoned RNLI accommodation and cafe area. We discovered that the loo's still existed and were operational - although one was a bit wet under foot.  Met a nice lady in there who was very friendly to both of us.

We decided to try and get right to the end, so after a dead end due to a dangerous path that had been closed, we did make our way further on. We passed by the ruined gun emplacements, but didn't try and get in any. It seemed more closed off that my previous visit, lots of boards up.

I was using my 360 video camera for this bit so didn't get any photo's but we did get there. 

We walked onto the beach, and then took a right to head down the inland side, but only for a bit as that side of the point is not so good for walking down.  We eventually ended back at the RLNI station and used the main path to go back.  

We did meet a lady who from a distance inquired something along the lines 'how far to the end ladies'  , but then who seemed to be confused by us as she got closer. It was a bit odd, but not upsetting. 

Popped back into the lighthouse for more water, as we had drunk
our supplies and we were both quite hot by then !

I was quite tired, and the trek back for me seemed a lot more arduous than my leggy companion. But we still had enough energy to try and walk on all the bits of the road that had been washed away on the exposed part of the spit. 

Was very glad to get into an air conditioned car for the drive back to Hull !!

 

14th of June, Beat the Clock Disco - Hull

Yes after a day of walking, we were off dancing !! 

We had a pizza, some wine, a shower and got changed, then got a taxi to Princes Avenue, arriving at HOi for about 20:45 

The disco was upstairs, but it doesn't really get going till later, so we had some drinks in the bar downstairs first.  I had a baby Guinness, some actual Guinness and then discovered they did my favorite flat cider brand 'Seacider' - i think it was Bakewell Tart flavor - it's gorgeous.

We headed upstairs about 10pm, and I got some seats.  Gemma, Emily and possibly Danni were expected to come along later, but they were attending a comedy show 1st so we were not sure when they were due.  

We did a fair bit of dancing, even with tired legs - it was pretty good music. They do 60's 70's and 80's but try and steer clear of all the 'best of' type hits that get overplayed. It's all on original vinyl too.

The others did eventually turn up, but were not there that long.  We we thinking about heading off just after midnight, so i booked an uber for us, and we waited downstairs in the bar for it to arrive.

It was a fab night, i really like that event and venue, and excellent company too of course  🤣

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burning for you

 

'Burning for you' - A favorite blue Oyster cult song, appropriate for a number of reasons concerning this weekends adventures 😊

But first i need to do a blog post about everything I have failed to blog about so far !! 

8th of May: Chameleons !  - I can't remember much about this, but i was there !

10th of May :  Church Fete, my friend Alice does a bit of a vintage vehicle display outside her local church every year. I had been once before and displayed Josephine, and did the same again this year.  However this time I got to drive one of her tractors !!! 

It was so much fun !!!   We went to a pub for tea afterwards, I had a very nice pork dish with crackling.  Was on the Guinness Zero so I could drive home afterwards.  It was a really fun day.  

11th of May: Trans Swimming !  

16th of May : Went to Hull on the Friday to visit my friend Charlotte, we had a lemon pasta linguine that she cooked which was lovely.  I think we watched one of the Star War films.

17th of May: Headed into Leeds, I was meeting old school friends in the afternoon for a mini pub crawl (loosely based on my Pints and Straws one) . I was a bit nervous about meeting them all, only one has seen me dressed before - but all had known for a while. It went well, and spent a lovely few hours catching up with them.  

 

 

In the evening, Charlotte re-joined, and we had a Not-Birthday meal for her at Cut and Craft.  The food was excellent, and the service was incredibly quick !  I had the cheapest steak on the menu - just labeled 'Flat Iron' , it was probably the 2nd best i've ever had - only marginally pipped by an expensive fillet at Goucho's.  But if you factor in the price it was the best by a mile. We did some cocktails, and I had a few more beers in the evening, it was a really nice day.

 

 

On the Sunday we sought a place for breakfast and ended up a fab cafe / cheese monger
combo in the Corn Exchange. We both enjoyed our sandwiches, then spent a load of money on cheese and their fine selection of canned fish !

 

 

22nd of May :  Chameleons , the lovely Wig ladies were in, as was Sally and Ann. Was a fab night, I did go a bit early as I didn't want to be tired for the morning as has blood tests.

 

 

 

 

23rd of May :  Had my NHS blood tests in Barsley, grabbed a pork pie from the market for lunch.

26th of May :  Went to Lotherton with Charlotte, we did a tour of the deer park on a
tractor ! You got to see them really up close as they threw food next to the trailer. 

The weather wasn't the best, we had showers and was a bit under dressed, but still had a nice time. I had gone in Josephine too, I don't like getting her damp, but the it was sunny when I set off.

 

 

30th of May :  My 2nd riding lesson, it went well !  I had Nero this time, he was lovely very similar in size look, and temperament to Gordon.   

It was very warm, and I got a bit more of a workout, as we were attempting to trot ! My timing is still atrocious, but I think I am getting better. I am not standing when the saddle is coming up, which isn't ideal for my undercarriage ! 

I am booked in again to ride later this month, hoping next time will be better.   

 

6th of June : Leeds First Friday - It was good to be back, I had missed the previous one due to being in Wales.   Grabbed a bagel at Flamingos with Benni for lunch, then did the Pints and Straws bar crawl. There we not that many there, but it was still good.  My friend Jess from Bristol was waiting for us outside the Travelodge as we made our way to pub 3 , I was sober enough to be looking out for her :) 

We ended in the Tetley, where a really weird (and likley on drugs) guy decided to gatecrash our group and start asking for relationship advice. It slowly got worse over the minutes, and he was soon on to telling us which ones of us he knew were blokes.  We were getting to the end of the event anyway, but we made a hasty retreat when he went to the loo. 

A number of us ate at the Adephi - I wasn't that enamored with my food, it was a belly pork dish, it was way too salty for my liking, and not what i needed after a load of beer. 

The others seemed to like theirs though. Not sure i will go there again for food.

We headed over to the Bridge End social after this - after being chased by a barmaid who thought we had one dish still to pay for - a straggler was finishing there's in a leisurely fashion and hadn't been to pay yet :)

I ended up on the pool table there, my friend Jess likes a game or too.  Ended up doing winner stays on, and I think I played 4 games, but only one 2.  One of the crown had challenged me, she was very unlucky. 

After this we did Northern Guitar, The Viaduct, and the End Bar.  I don't think I had eaten enough so I wasn't feeling that great. I wanted to try and stay out till midnight for the sake of  Jess who had come all the way from Bristol - but I gave up at about 11:20pm. My digestive system was making bad noises.

Walked back to Vicar lane travelodge, and proceeded to have no sleep whatsoever overnight and spend a lot of time going to the loo.

I gave up at 6am ish, and decided just to drive home. Not the best ending to an LFF i've had, but I had enjoyed most of the day. 

8th of June : Trans swimming, 50 lengths again !  and this was in about 50 minutes, so I
am possibly getting faster.  I will need to do more lengths per minute if I have any hope of getting to the 1 mile figure of 74 lengths ! 

It doesn't seem that achievable at the moment !  

 

 

12th of June : Chameleons again !  - It was one of the ladies birthdays and they had
brought cake - I didn't actually eat and I had stuffed myself on chocolate fingers before they arrived 😂 

Sally was there, but no Ann this time as she was away with work.  Not many youngsters attended, but was a decent turnout.  

 

 

 

Anyway here endeth the catch up, I intend to do a detailed write up of this weekends adventures later in the week - totally not going to forget to do it , honest