Em and I went to Blackpool this weekend, as I said we were going to in my earlier post. We had a great weekend, fully embracing the epic tack-fest that is the nation’s “favourite” seaside resort. Surprisingly, for the whole of Saturday, it was actually sunny… We must have walked the length of the promenade at least five times over, visiting all three piers, most of the amusement arcades, one con man and Golden Isle Adventure Golf. The illuminations were a pretty impressive sight when they came on – if a little odd in places, and being a geek, I couldn’t help but wonder what their electricity bill is like.
We stayed in the world’s tiniest hotel room at the Sandhurst Hotel, a place offering no mod cons (central heating is a feature,) but it was nice enough. The room and the hotel itself were clean and tidy, and the bed was comfy. It’s also very close to the beach, the Pleasure Beach and South Pier, which is just what you need for a short stay really.
Having met the hoopla con man so early in the day on Saturday, and lost a tenner to him, we both quickly became immune to their calls of “Where you from mate?” and “Why don’t you win a teddy for the lovely girl?” My guaranteed prize on that first stand was a very expensive pack of non-brand alternative Pogs, styled with Pocahontas and Casper imagery – very now.
We chose not to go to the Pleasure Beach, or the water park, as we managed to fill our time without them. The Pleasure Beach was also going to be somewhere in the region of £30 each, which is a bit much, when you consider that Alton Towers is the same price.
A surprisingly cool, and interesting, part of the day was when we stumbled upon a rock making demonstration at the “Rock City” shop. They make all their own rock on site, and it’s all done as a public display for anyone that wants to watch. They start out with massive amounts of what appears to be a mostly sugar solution, which is cut and coloured as it cools. It’s then moulded using a variety of techniques (including some strange elbow based manoeuvres) into a gigantic version of what the eventual rock will look like. After that, the guy simply stretches it out to the size they sell in the shop, so simple, but I’d have never guessed how they did it. I’d definitely recommend watching, in if you get a chance.
On Sunday, we spent most of the day in Blackpool Tower. We had a quick look around their aquarium, and Em was a little embarrassed to be as excited about the Nemo characters in the tanks as the kids around us. We also went to the top of the tower, looked out over the city and did the walk of faith – an obvious must. After all that, though, the main highlight of the day, and probably the stay as a whole, was the Blackpool Tower Circus. It was absolutely amazing. I was expecting it to be sub-par at best, a few simple acts and some stupid clowns perhaps, but actually, it seems to be a world-class circus.
They had a couple of acrobatic acts from China and Hungary that impressed me no end, moreso than any other part of the show. I was sat mouth wide open as they back-flipped, jumped through hoops, scaled ropes and stacked themselves up in pyramids. I’d say, before the Pleasure Beach, piers and amusements combined, if there’s one thing you need to do if you visit Blackpool, it’s the Circus.
