Date: 2nd June 2022
Travelled: 90 kms from Fairhaven to Sawley, Lancashire.
Visited: Blackpool
Stayed: The Spread Eagle, Sawley, free with a beer, N53.91482, W02.34144 ย
Budget: 8 days @ โฌ142 per day
Bit of a shame to leave Fairhaven as apart from being free, there is a lovely walk along the shoreline and a couple of great pubs. Several other motorhomes are parked along the way and given the start of the Jubilee celebrations everyone is in a good mood. However we are just about out of water as we havenโt found a tap for a few days so weโll keep moving.
Blackpool is only 10 kms up the road so we get on our way. Weโve set the GPS for the only carpark that allows buses and motorhomes ( ยฃ4 ), in other words it doesnโt have a height boom gate. From there itโs about a km walk to Blackpool Tower, which is the centre of Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Borough of Blackpool, England, United Kingdom
Why go to Blackpool ? 15 million people visit Blackpool every yearโฆour guide book describes Blackpool as the Queen of Englandโs faded fun-by-the -sea resorts, a defiant tribute to a traditional pastโฆitโs tacky, trashy and a little tawdry. It all sounds inviting doesnโt it. Sitting in front of the TV during Covid watching one of Michael Portilloโs travel docs he highlighted Blackpool Tower, as we were passing why not.
As itโs the start of the Jubilee long weekend we book our tower tickets (ยฃ16 pp) online hoping to avoid the queue, which we basically did. Once inside itโs a little like going to Maccaโs, it all about on-selling, you need to pass through various pin-ball allies, a circus and the ballroom restaurant. Then itโs a 3D movie with a shaking floor and water squirting from the ceiling, then more arcades and games rooms, finally to the 5th floor and the elevator. From here on it was crowded but we had masked up, mind you we were the only ones.
Couple of facts, the tower was built in 1894 and 154 metres high. Obviously built with Eiffelโs tower in mind. They could spend a little more on maintenance it looks a bit rusty here and there. Anyway the views are fabulous and it was a great experience.
So we walk Blackpool Pleasure Beach for a couple of kms, I offer to get Pam some fairy floss to keep the festive mood flowing, but no. We make our way back to the Hymer and set the GPS for Clitheroe hitting the Tesco on our way. We try both the caravan parks and they are booked out for the Jubilee weekend. We do manage a tank full of water so we carry on to a pub stop at Sawley on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.
Bloody hell even the Spread Eagle is booked out for dinner tonight and its in the middle of nowhere. Saved us ยฃ30 plus I suppose. So we have a chat with our neighbours and a drink at the bar, before calling it a day.
Michael + Pam
