Heavy metal seafood adventures

 

Before we start with the adventures :

Gluten free diet really seems to have improved matters, I am now full time TGF , or GFT ! 😊

I have switched to 3 pumps in the morning, instead of 2 in the morning, 2 at night. I had thought to try this to see if I slept better, but no change !

Adventures ! 

Day 1 - Wednesday - Scarborough + Judas Priest  

I have never seen Judas Priest live, despite being a fan since being a teenager. I never had anyone to go with, and would have been too anxious to do so pre-transistion.

The lovely Charlotte was up for going, but it was on a Wednesday night in Scarborough, so was a bit inconvenient to just go for the evening. So we decided to make a trip of it, and do a few days in Whitby on the Thursday and Friday. 

I had booked the hotel for Scarborough, picking a 2 start within walking distance to the open air theater where the gig was to be held.  I set off for hers in the morning, we had some lunch then headed to Scarborough early afternoon.  On arrival we had to find a pay and display nearby as the hotel parking was scarce and all taken.

We could hear the sound check from the carpark when we arrived, which was nice, got a bit excited by this.  On check-in , we were offered an early evening meal which had been put on especially for the gig, as normal times would have been too late. There wasn't much nearby so we did go for this.

The room was lovely - we spent a lot of our stay wondering why it was only 2 stars, it was excellent service, food and surroundings. 

It rained heavily during the afternoon, so we didn't get up to much just chilled out for a bit until was time for food.  We didn't get fully made up for the gig, in case we got food down our outfits tho.   

I had roast turkey and veg, Charlotte had  Cod in hollandaise with salad - it was lovely. 

We got ready pretty quickly, and headed down to the one stop shop near the venue for some water - we were allowed to take in one sealed bottle only. 

The security was not anywhere as strict as it seemed it would be, and we got through fine, and ascended a path that would take us to the top of the bank that the seats are located.  I had to ask a nice man for directions as had missed our area.  

The rows of seats were very steep, which did lead to problems later for some drunken people.  I had chosen some very near the end of the row, as i don't like to feel trapped.

We watched the support band  "Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons" who were OK, but a bit too generic rock for our liking, then there was a 20 minute break or so while they moved all their gear out of the way to reveal the JP setup. 

We took the opportunity to risk the portaloo's - which were as you would expect.

They were on time starting off, and set list was excellent, mainly the classic hits - I had thought they would play a lot of their new album but I'm not even sure there was a single song from it. 

The visuals got more impressive as it got darker, the crowd were really loving it, quite a lot standing in front of stage, and plenty of people bouncing off each other as is the fashion for testosterone fueled beings. 

There was a group of men, mostly older than us who were a few rows down, one of them had fallen into the row below when he first attempted to get to his seat. They had clearly all being drinking heavily.  Another one ended up going over 2 rows, and seemed to headbutt a lady in the back of the head during one song.  No idea how they didn't get
chucked out ! 

We had to stand up to let people get out to go to the bar and the loo a fair bit too. But i couldn't have stood for the whole gig, so even the fairly uncomfortable seats were better than that.

Towards the end Rob was wheeled out onto stage on a motorbike - I had seen video's of them doing this at much bigger gigs, but really wasn't expecting it at this one, it wasn't a huge stage. That did make my evening 😊

They did do a bit of a tribute to Ozzy too of course, which was nice - but they didn't overdo it. 

We left after the last song, I wasn't sure if they would do an encore, and it seems I guessed correctly.  It was a short but more painful walk to the hotel as it was uphill.

Decided to go to the bar for a drink before bed, as we hadn't wanted to consume at the gig for fear of needing the loo ! 

Charlotte managed to tip her drink over by accident, and the bar man replaced it for free - we were amazed !!! 

Think we were in bed before midnight so not a late one.

 

Day 2 - Thursday - Whitby  

We had a lovely breakfast at the hotel in Scarborough, Charlotte was on fish again - smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.  I had a fry up, and managed to spill apple juice all over myself ! 

The drive to Whitby was fairly slow, but uneventful - we were parked up at the sports centre car park by about 10:15. 

I showed her the whale bones, and the haunted tunnel to the death stairs, then we did some window shopping and wandered over to the other side of the river to look at the east pier.  I don't recall ever going on this, so thought might as well.

For lunch, I had suggested the Magpie which is supposed to be the best place in town, but people were queuing already, and was a bit anxious so we decided on Harry's next door, which looked nice but was also significantly cheaper than the Magpie.

I had GF scampi, and Charlotte had half a lobster - she reported it was absolutely delicious 4 stars !!  - mine was also very nice.

Next we went back over the river, then up the 199 steps to the Church for a look around, then on-wards to the Abbey which was explored along with the museum.  The brewery next door was next, we had a swift half. 

The swing bridge was up when we walked back towards the car, so we had to stop in at a micro pub called 'The Green Dragon' for a refreshing beverage. It was female run, and was giving off a bit of a lesbian vibe, and had lots of nice proper beer and a good can fridge too. A lot of it was GF too !  -  we returned several more times
:)

We trekked back to the car, then to the hotel to check in.  They were very pleasant with us, and our room was very spacious and in good order.  The shower had no hot water, but we had been told this pre-arrival and offered a discount of refund. We took the discount 😊

After unpacking, and a bit of a lay down, we headed back out for our tea.  Got a bit of mild transphobia on the walk to the bar I had picked, but didn't put us off our stride.

My GF pizza had all the cheese in the known universe on it, and could only manage half - it was OK aside from the excessive cheese though.  Charlotte had Hake and mussels, but they were not shelled and not so good, so she only gave that 2 stars.

Three pubs were done next, the 'Arch and Abbey' one of my favorites from previous visits - it has flat cider on, and have always found friendly.  'Beer O'clock' was next - it has gender neutral loos, and I did enjoy it last year, but seemed a bit unwelcoming this time.

So we ended up back at the Green Dragon which was very nice. 

Day 3 - Friday 

The hotel breakfast was lovely, they had GF option for the sausages and hash browns, so i did that. Charlotte had smoked haddock and poached eggs. 

They had cleaned our room while we were eating which was unexpected !  

After breakfast we walked along the beach into town, I got some sunglasses from a tat shop, and we waited a little bit for the lobster hatchery to open.  As you may have gathered a lot of these adventures relate to fish 😂

It was a small but very interesting aquarium with a lobster hatchery at one end that you
could peer into through big windows.  We looked at the exhibits which didn't take too long, but then spent ages talking to a guide who was loitering by the hatchery.  Fishermen bring in pregnant females they catch, and the eggs are harvested using tanks and cunning systems. Once the tiny lobsters are ready they are released by divers, or on the shoreline by volunteers.  

Once we had learned enough about lobsters, we headed back over the river to the beach past the east pier to do a bit of rock pooling, and Jet searching. But on the way we stumbled into a Jet shop, and accidentally purchased fabulous things.

I got a penguin necklace, and Charlotte got an octopus necklace and matching earrings. They are amazing though ! 

We stashed them in our adventure bag and headed to the rock pools via the  smokery, we didn't buy anything just had a look what they had.

We spent a good while on the beach, looking for tiny fish and crabs and such, it was a lot of fun.  Also picked up a selection of black-ish rocks that seemed like they might be jet, but after some research is likely just coal.

We did find a few fossils - although surprised there are any left, there were plenty of people out with hammers chipping away at them.  

With our appetites worked up, we again crossed the bridge to the other side, and went to a restaurant we had spied the previous day 'The Fishermans Wife'.  It had a great view of the pier very airy and ceiling fans so lovely and cool. 

I had sampled a bit of Charlotte's lobster previously and had enjoyed so ordered one, but they had run out ! - So we both ended up with a dressed crab salad, which was still amazing - Charlotte gave 5 stars.  She also had oysters with gin and cumber dip.

I am not trying oysters 😬

After lunch we did the west pier, the lifeboat museum and pottered about.  Charlotte bought a turquoise ring from a cool crazy lady in a hippie shop - narrowly avoiding having to purchase the ring sizer which got stuck on her finger 😂

There was talk of us doing a boat ride, but it was a bit close and there wasn't one for ages, so we had a coffee and contemplated tea time options. It seemed silly to walk all the way back to the hotel just to chill for an hour, so we just plodded about and tried not to buy much.  I think I got some more earings, and some rock for my boys.

Dinner was had at Cosa Nostra, which was as you would have guessed italian.  We were all the way up at the top of the place up many stairs.  Our legs were not good from being out all day, but we managed it ! 

A family was seated near us shortly after we arrived, but the the father decided they didn't want to sit there and demanded to be downstairs.   I am not too sure if it was the dizzying heights or the two trans girls he wasn't keen on, it felt a bit odd.

Food was great, I made the mistake of ordering some Rose wine, which wasn't going down very well.  I had a GF pizza, Charlotte - can you guess - had fish ! Seabass and muscles in shells 4.5 Charlotte stars.

We were very close to the Green Dragon, so we popped in there to be sociable. I left the loo with my dress tucked in my knickers, but a older goth trans woman kindly told me !

After this we went back to the hotel via the Arch and Abbey where I had a number of lovely ciders, and we talked rubbish for ages 😊 

It was a fabulous day, but was knackered by the time we got back.

Day 4 - Saturday

We had another fabulous breakfast, then packed up and took our bags to the car.  The
plan was to go to the Steampunk fair at the Pavilion, then head to the Fortunes smokery to purchase Kippers to have back at Charlottes when we went back to Hull later that day.

Charlotte managed to have yet another fish dish, maintaining her unbroken streak since Wednesday evening !! - it was smoked salmon and scrambled eggs this time.  She helped me finish off some of my GF breakfast too.

We bought some fancy jewellery and some jewelry making supplies at the steampunk market - everyone was very friendly - that whole scene is a bit androgynous - not unusual to see a smartly dressed gentleman in what could only be women's boots.

After this, we headed (once again) over the other side of town to Fortunes smokery to purchase kippers for tea.  There was a miscalculation and we ended up with twice as much as Charlotte assumed we would need, thinking that we had one each, when we had bought four. But no bad thing ! 

It was nearing lunch time by the time we got back to the side the car was on, so we decided to have lunch before heading off - Charlotte had a really expensive crab
sandwich and I got some scampi.

A lady on the cliff top warned us that sometimes the seagulls attack from behind ! she had been done the previous day, so we were very careful while eating. 

Since we had been at seaside towns for 4 day and not had one yet, we decided an ice-cream was called for. Then we headed back to Hull.

We went the scenic route past what is left of the golf balls, but it was a disappointing drive do to slow people. Got back OK though.

In the evening we had the kippers with new potatoes, they were lovely (5* from C)  ! then we watched a sci-fi film, which i think was pretty bad from what i remember.

Charlotte wasn't drinking as had a 10K race the next day ! 

 

Day 5 - Sunday  

We headed off early to South Cave for her 10K race.  Luckily was nice running weather, not too hot or cold.   

We got her number and such and walked to the start area. After they had gone, I  made my way to the finish area. 

Got myself a bacon sarnie and found an elevated perch to sit and wait for them to start to come in. I think the 1st place was under half an hour !

I did get finish line photo's, but she was knackered by the time she finished so won't be publishing her grimace ! 

She did really well , coming 1st in the non-binary class !

I drove us home in her car, as it was a massive queue to get out, and using the clutch after a 10K would not have been fun.

We had some lunch, then relaxed in the afternoon and then I headed off back home in time for tea. It was a nice way to spend the day.

 

Final Thoughts

We turned a lot more heads in Whitby than I had done on previous visits - perhaps because it wasn't goth weekend. I guess when the whole place is full of weird looking people two trans girls don't stand out so much.

It wasn't really bad, we still had an amazing time, it's just something we have not really experienced much in other places.  Doesn't put me off going back again, was just not expecting it really.

Of course there were 10's of times as many positive interactions than negative, but I thought worth mentioning. 

The food was glorious, I had not really tried any of the lovely places we ate at on previous visits. Aside from the one mountain of cheese pizza I had , it was all fantastic. Charlotte enjoyed it very much too. 

We didn't even end up trying the two more highly rated places either. 

Judas Priest is ticked off the list, it was great to see them perform, I never thought i would to be honest. To still be doing big shows at their age is brilliant.  Most of the audience was older than us, there were youngsters in the mosh pit, and standing areas tho. 

Going to be a hard break to beat !!