14 May 2009

Another interesting trip to Blackpool

As it was approaching the May bank holiday it seemed a good idea to have another photography trip, after a lot of debate with Brian, it was finally decided that we would be very adventurous and have a trip to Blackpool for a change, which we would use as a base to travel to other more interesting points to indulge our hobby of photography.

We managed to find hotel that did not cost too much, that was on the seafront, in anticipation of all the exciting opportunities to take photographs, I bought a new lens to my camera, but then just before leaving, the car I recently bought decided to develop a fault which involved the engine management light coming on, £49 later I discovered it was an oxygen sensor would be a further £214 to correct but was safe to use the car whilst on holiday and have fixed when I returned.

We set off using and used the new sat nav to find our way to the Hotel, it must have been very clever because it took us to the back door of the hotel where there was plenty of parking, it seems the hotel was full for the weekend, the Hotel was enormous with great big long corridors that must have been very stylish at some time in the past but now quite dated, we booked in okay, and went our separate rooms, Brian had a front room overlooking the beach whilst mine had a marvelous view of the corrugated roof at the back of the hotel, but at least it was clean and it had an it had an enormous bath with a really good flow of water.

One of the important things we had decided we wanted to do, was to visit the Bispham Chippy, which serves the best fish and chips I have ever tasted and Carrot cake that must be the best and largest portion in the world, so that was the next stop, which lived up to our usual expectations.

Now been very adventurous we decided we would venture out to Stanley Park that we had visited previously, armed with our cameras, when we got there, there were a number of the birds with their young ones, unfortunately despite having my new lens it still was not long enough to take a reasonable photograph of the herons and their young ones in the trees in the middle of the lake.

It has not been mentioned to me that actually there were three of us on this holiday, because Brian suddenly produced his friend the Gnome on a scooter out of his backpack, he went on to explain that this was to be the subject of a competition to fund raise for Shopmobility, so he was taking photographs of it to encourage interest in the competition.

This was the start of some interesting photographs to be taken by us both in some interesting places in Blackpool, what was quite interesting was the attitude of other people whilst we were taking photos, some people were highly amused, but others obviously have lost their sense of humour.

Because it had been a long day when we returned to the hotel, we went off to our respective bedrooms for the evening agreeing to meet the next morning for breakfast.

The next morning we went down to breakfast which was buffet style, with lots and lots of people dining, there was plenty of food and it was well cooked, so gave a good start to the day, for our latest adventure to exotic Blackpool front, where we spent most of the day taking more photos of the friendly gnome in a variety of settings, which really tested photography skills.

Now that you cannot guess where we ended up going to dinner, yes that's right off to Bispham Chippy again for a portion of fish and chips and carrot cake for me, I forgot to say that this bank holiday weekend, had been cold and windy and that it got worse and worse as the day went on, so why on earth did we decide to go out again in the evening to take it more photos, I think it must of been the cold had got to us, because down to the front we went again, but could not cope with the extreme wind and cold that evening so gave it up for the night and retired to the hotel in the hope that tomorrow would be a better day.

While sadly on our last day the wind howled and the rain came down so we realised this was a fitting time to return home before the weather got any worse, the photos of the gnome have come out well so obviously it was all worth the effort, but I'm still trying to work out, what happened to our adventures in the beautiful countryside in that area, maybe we'll try again another time without the gnome.