Blackpool Pleasure Beach! Pepsi Max Big One, Infusion and Bling!
So after our quiet relaxing trip to Formby, we headed on up to Blackpool - the thrill center and most famous seaside resort in the UK. The most famous part being Pleasure Beach Blackpool, with the Pepsi Max Big One, which used to be the tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster of any park in the WORLD!
As we pulled into Blackpool it was dusk, the sun falling behind the horizon and the colours of a late summer sunset appeared.
There were plenty of Seagulls too as it was super windy and they were enjoying the thermal currents.
We could see all the way down the beach to the Blackpool tower and the Ferris wheel on central pier (Blackpool has 3 piers! North, South and Central).
A Trip Up North - Formby Red Squirrels & On To Blackpool!
So after being all the way down South in Minehead and Dunster we headed back home to Worcester.
Then all the way up North to Liverpool! We were heading to the Lake District - one of the most beautiful places in the world, but the weather was rather threatening so we decided it might not be a good idea. We hung around Liverpool for a couple of days, I caught up some Uni mates (I studied in Liverpool at John Moores) and we explored the city a bit (checked out the Tate etc.). I didn't really take any pictures there though as it was nasty and grey, nothing much to take pics of. There was some awesome stuff in Tate though (saw some original Andy Warhol and Picasso!).
After that we headed further up North, our destination Blackpool! An original pleasure beach with tacky shops and what was once the highest rollercoaster in the world! (Pepsi Max - Big One).
We stopped off at a National Park site on the way with a nice beach, a trail and a conservation area for Red Squirrels (which are quite rare) called Formby.
Cute little fellas they are.
With big bushy tails!
Sadly there was a noisy crowd of kids that came along, so the poor little blighters got scared and ran off. It was a nice place to walk around though.
A Round of Mini-Golf and a Cream Tea in Dunster!
After A Trip Up The Hill and a Ride on West Somerset Steam Railway the next morning we started off with a solid English Breakfast again, this time we had the full works with Black Pudding!
Unfortunately this was the only food shot I took at my aunt's place in Minehead...she's such a superb cook we just wolfed all the food down without thinking of taking pictures of it! It's such a relaxing place too and alcohol served with every meal (apart from breakfast..). We had a bottle of bubbly every night I think.
Anyway, after that we just walked a little way across town to the mini-golf course at the park (Blenheim Gardens), there was a brass band playing too! The weather wasn't great, but at least it didn't rain.
I came joint first I think, a bit rust at the old putting.
A Trip Up The Hill and a Ride on West Somerset Steam Railway
After our trip down to Minehead and a visit to RNLI we headed up the hill where I took the glorious sunset pictures in 2006.
Unfortunately this time the weather had deteriorated by the time we reached Minehead so it was more grey skies than blue and rather chilly.
The moors were colourful though with the flowers at the end of the season.
We went up with the top down in my aunt's pimped out Renault Megane Cabriolet! Nice red leather seats, it's a sweet ride.
5 comments
A Trip Down to Minehead and The RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution)
So after A Trip Up the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire the last dinner we had before heading down to Minehead was a lovely venison burger with potatoe wedges and some mixed vegetables (kinda like ratatouille).
This is the room I was staying in, can you see me in the mirror 
It used to be my bedroom originally when we first moved into the house, then when I came back after graduating I switched to the back bedroom (which is larger) to allow for my computer, TV and so on. It was good to be back there, coincidentally my Mom has sold the house now and is looking for a new smaller place.
8 commentsA Trip Up the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire
After a lovely day out and visiting Broadway, we had dinner in Birmingham at my Aunts house.
The next day was a rest day really, eat and laze around the house, catch up on a few e-mails and so on.
Breakfast was a classic Bacon and Egg sandwich on freshly homemade bread!
My choice of sauce is HP/brown sauce - always! For dinner we had something nice and healthy too, pan griddled sirloin steak.
You get those lovely black lines across it, served with tomatoes, mushrooms and a jacket/backed potatoe.
An Afternoon in Broadway (Evesham/Worcestershire)
So after the lovely carvery lunch we headed off to the quaint village of Broadway for a wonder round - one of the favourite stops for coach tours and you can always see hoards of yanks and europeans wondering up and down the main street (depending on the season). It's one of the more famous villages in the Cotswolds (which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).
When we arrived the weather was pretty nice, blue skies and fluffy white clouds lining the famous wide main street.
The place was fairly busy, mostly with Europeans at that time of year and I guess a few septic tanks thrown in for good measure 
Broadway has many tiny boutique hotels like this - Broadway Hotel.
There are also many old fashioned Thatched cottages.
Sunday Roast Carvery at Evesham Country Park
So it may sound weird to some people, but it's common in UK for people to hang out at the garden center - especially on Sunday afternoons.
The one we went to was called Evesham Country Park which contained Evesham Garden Center and the delicious AppleBarn Restaurant.
In basic terms a Garden Center is a place that sells plants and things to go in your garden like statues, pagodas and so on. Generally however they also contain decent restaurants, usually some kind of factory outlet and a few other shops.
And of course because it's Sunday we had to have the traditional Sunday Roast Dinner! In this case and in most pubs on a Sunday something called 'Carvery' is served. Basically there are fresh joints of roast meet (usually pork, lamb and beef) and a mixture of vegetables and side dishes (stuffing, carrots, peas, sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower cheese and so on). And you choose which meat and veg you want, add some gravy and sauce (apple sauce for pork, horseradish sauce for beef and so on) and off you go!
The delicious roast beef with yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese and the full works.
And even better, roast pork! Salty and delicious with a big dollop of apple sauce and a lump of crackling.
It was absolutely fantastic! Carvery is not cheap though, but not too expensive either at about £9-11 per plate depending which meat you choose, yes that is RM60-70 but in economic terms it's about RM30 if you are earning in pounds so it's not too bad.
It was actually a pretty nice day so we had a walk around the garden center, this is basically what it looks like. It's a very relaxing place just to hang out and mooch around checking out the flowers.
A Day Out in Birmingham
So from Worcester the nearest major city would be Birmingham (home of Aston Villa and Birmingham City for the football fans amongst you).
It's about a 40 minute train journey and to start ourselves off for a long day out...of course we must have the Full English Breakfast!
This is for you HB!
Then off down to Worcester Foregate Street to catch the train...in the rain of course, with grey skies - typical UK weather.
The train are nice and smart though with plenty of room and are almost always on time!
I hardly took any pictures in Birmingham as it's not a very attractive city and it was raining and there's loads of dodgy people around....honestly I don't particularly like Birmingham.
The New Bullring is quite a fantastic building though...especially on the sunny days with blue skies, which is what? Twice a year! Ha!
The outside is covered in 15,000 spun aluminium discs.
We wondered around, did some shopping, got some bargains at Primark of course and then headed back to Worcester when the shops started to close (5.30pm for the lose).
It's odd being a place where everything is not open to 10pm, oh well! More coming soon.
You can find all the posts on my UK trip:
13 commentsA Trip to Worcester Cathedral & Royal Worcester Porcelain
After a good long sleep and getting adjusted back to UK time it was off down to Worcester Cathedral for a walk around. We happened to be in town during the Three Choirs Festival, so there were lots of events going on.
This part of the Cathedral (the altar) always strikes me as odd, with the very classical architecture and the garish 'modern' stitchery below.
The ceiling is simply spectacular.
There is even a little cart you can push around with an angled mirror on it so you can view the ceiling without craning your neck.
The glorious East Window.
