Hestia considers Blackpool

We stopped off at Blackpool for a couple of nights whilst en route to Birmingham where I was hosting a Conference.  The journey down from Scotland had been punctuated by splattery rain showers and Blackpool itself sat grey and miserable as our car pulled up at The Big Blue Hotel.

Ah, The Big Blue Hotel - the only hotel you are happy to hear screaming from as you trundle up with your wheely-case - because it is owned by (and overlooks) Blackpool Pleasure Beach itself.

Unflapped by the drizzle and sight of holiday makers in rain ponchos, Hestia's clan set off to explore the Promenade before dinner.  As Billy Connolly once said, 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes.'  And, for once, we had the right clothes!

Here are the vital statistics of our sojourn in Blackpool


1 - evening meal taken in the hotel.  We usually prefer to go out and explore new eateries, but after the long drive, we opted to eat in.  It was nicer than I expected.

1 - evening meal taken outside the hotel.  We found this restaurant via Tripadvisor and will happily recommend it to anyone in the Blackpool area.  Sonshine proclaimed their Chicken Noodle Soup 'better than mum's'.  Disloyal little bugger.

3 - passes for Blackpool Pleasure Beach - amazingly our day there was spent under cloudless blue skies - resulting in us all getting a bit burned.  We may have had the right clothes, but we forgot sun tan lotion.

2 - goes on the Wild Mouse - epic!

3 - goes on The Grand National Rollercoaster - brilliant but rickety!

1 - number of bosoms unexpectedly juddered to freedom from out of bra on Grand National.

0 - mercifully, number of cameras able to capture my 'escaped bosoms'

6 - possible chiropractor appointments needed by Tertarus after roller coaster fun.

1 - go on The Irn Bru Revolution with sonshine

0 - number of times I was sick on the Revolution

10 - number of times I thought I was going to DIE on the rides at BPB

1 - jumbo hotdog each at Pleasure Beach for lunch

75 - number of pounds charged by a member of the humngously vast Petulengro family for a proper Tarot reading in the Pleasure Beach.  I made my excuses and left.

2 - number of goes on the Zipper Dipper, the kiddies rollercoaster.  Great fun!

2 - number of hours queuing time for the Valhalla ride.

2 - number of minutes I contemplated queuing for two hours for Valhalla ride.

2 - blisters on feet from walking all the way back from the Cantonese Restaurant at night because Tertarus would not wait for a bloody tram to arrive.

42 - number of quid to get into Deep Sea World

12 - number of times I wanted to punch out the teenagers at Deep Sea World.  These are some of the questions asked of the Deep Sea World Staff by the teens:  1)  (To the lad looking after the seahorses) Where are its arms?   2) Do you get Great White Sharks at Blackpool.  Tanks are carefully marked ' Do Not Use Flash' and what were they all using? Yup - flash. 

7.50 - pounds spent on a single bag of fudge

1 - number of bits of fudge I could eat before my pancreas begged me to stop.

0 - number of bits of fudge in bag by the time we got back to hotel *eyes Tartarus suspiciously*

5.5 the number of hours it took to drive from Blackpool to Bromsgrove thanks to roadworks and an accident on the M6.

Found this on Youtube - remember this?



Loved it.  Next post - the Conference weekend :-)