Category: Family

Five days without internet. We’re now back in London for the very last phase of the trip and the hotel (which seems very nice) has complimentary internet. But it seems dodgy…

At any rate over the next few days you can look forward to new entries!

Scarborough, oh Scarborough. What can be said about you that hasn’t already?

Maybe it is better to just see…

See, there I go being silly again. Deliberately taking the most outrageous photos and opening with them in an attempt to shock the reader. Sure, Scarborough is the place to buy gollywog souvenirs, and sure the streets are lined with amusement arcades and silly family attractions. But it also happens to be beautiful:

Scarborough has been a seaside resort town for over 400 years now. To the English, such places are a popular annual trip and the town (along with many others around the country) has built itself into a tourist mecca.

The lower shot was taken from out on the pier visible in the above shot. There is a small amusement park (named Luna Park, strangely) on this very pier:

How many of the badly-painted celebrities on the ‘Dance Zone’ can you identify?

Scarborough has two beaches. KLS and I only looked at the southern one; whilst JBF took a walk to the north (we had limited time and wanted to look closer in the souvenir shops). Here’s the southern beach:

And if you scrutinize that photo you may have a question right now. Here’s the answer:

Scarborough was truly fantastic. Beautiful weather, beautiful train ride and a great destination with much to see. I wish we had a couple of days there (as opposed to four hours), but am glad we managed to squeeze so much in our short stay.

Such as two Tardises!

And… well and this arcade game:

And the fish’n’chips the town is renowned for:

And – happily – since souvenir shopping has proven somewhat problematic, Scarborough managed to supply a simple gift that turned out to be appropriate for everyone on my list. Here’s a sneak preview:

Yesterday we rode a choo-choo train to the (east coast) seaside resort of Scarborough. This left from the very impressive York train station:

Anyway, here’s a better shot of the choo-choo:

It is called the Princess Elizabeth, it was built in 1936 and the one hour trip to Scarborough was the most comfortable train trip I have ever been on! Jim agrees:

The train is owned and operated by enthusiasts on a half-volunteer basis, which means they need to raise money. One of their ways is very clever. They take two pretty girls, dress them in too-small schoolgirl outfits with see-through shirts, and let them walk through the train selling raffle tickets and souvenir pens. The fogeys eat it up!

Here’s an example of one of those fogeys 🙂

Let us end this entry now as a record of the trip *to* Scarborough, and dedicate a new one to the town itself…