Sunk Island

The trip to Sunk Island, near Withernsea in East Yorkshire took us down winding roads so the approach to Sunk Island being a straight road lined by trees resembling a French avenue took us by surprise.

Sunk Island is neither sunken or an island but was formed by sand bars from the Humber Estuary in the 1500s and now is 8000 acres of farmland and marshland. The land is owned by the Crown estate and comprises the red brick Holy Trinity Church with graveyard, now a Heritage centre open to the public just three days a year as the insurance would be too high for more openings, a phone box and the Old School House now B and B selling wild garlic paste and chutneys. It is also the part of the coast-to-coast Way of the Roses Cycling route.

A resident told us that after a war, perhaps the Crimean, Prince Albert arranged for senior members of the military to be sent here and thus the V&A brand can be seen on some buildings designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon, a renown architect of the Gothic Revival style, to which he gave his own idiosyncratic interpretation, characterised by the use polychromatic brickwork. The military personnel did not stay long and now some of the 220 residents are farmers. A radar station was sited there during WW2.

A walk along Stone Creek gives views to Hull and large tankers can be seen on the Humber estuary, as well as parts of boats which have been washed up there. We saw someone collecting something in large bags which turned out to be driftwood.

The marshland and fields are a haven for wildlife with a multitude of resident and visiting birds and seals have been spotted.

It is fascinating to see land reclaimed from the sea when, not so far away up the coast, serious erosion is taking place.

Holiday in Lanzarote

After weeks of cold and rain in the UK, it was a pleasure to feel the warmth of the sunshine of the Canary Islands.

The two previous visits to Lanzarote have been in December, both times to the same hotel, Beatriz, in Puerto del Carmen, but this time we stayed in a hotel in Playa Blanca.

The hotel had everything we wanted for our visit with three generations. We made good use of the pool, tennis courts, chess and naturally the restaurant and bars.

The sparrows were quick to clear any crumbs from the pavement and even a heron and hedgehog appeared while were sipping our coffee.

The promenade leading one way to the port, the other to the marina plus beaches and shops were a stone’s throw away. We saw lots of big, red crabs resting on the rocks.

We saw many cat refuges with food and water

It was my birthday during the trip and we hired a car to visit the spa at Hotel Beatriz. It may have been a long journey for a spa but, as well as the sauna, jacuzzi and Turkish bath (Hamam) there is a fabulous hydrothermal circuit which massages different parts of the body with warm aquatic jets, a variety of waterfalls and micro-bubble beds leaving us feeling refreshed and invigorated. We then had lunch at a cafe by the sea.

On our return to the hotel, the management had delivered a bottle of champagne and chocolates to our room

A large market twice a week at the marina

Some of the area retained its old world charm

Time passed much too quickly, but we have our memories.

“The sea is their grave but this Memorial sculpture is, in many ways, a headstone for the lost trawlermen”

I have always been impressed by the architecture in the centre of the maritime city of Hull, especially the old buildings with their carvings and statues.

  On a wet and windy day, unable to visit the Ferens Art Gallery or the Princes Quay shopping mall with our dog, we took a short walk by the Humber Estuary and revisited St Andrews memorial for lost trawlermen.

The Humber Bridge is clearly seen from here (photo courtesy of Pixabay)

Installed around a paved circle, information can be found  about the history of the fishing industry of Hull and its workers

Beautiful swathes of wild flowers have been sown around the site

Some interesting information about the work of a Bobber and three trawler tragedies can be found here:

The Life of a Bobber – St. Andrews Dock Heritage Park Action Group (hullfishingheritage.org.uk)

Triple trawler tragedy: The Hull fishermen who never came home - BBC News

The Georgian Bath House

We are frequent visitors to the small market town of Wetherby, West Yorkshire, where we often take a route which crosses over the bridge and then walk along the River Wharfe. 

 On the other side of the river, we noticed some benches and on this trip we decided to find this spot. This is how we discovered the Jubilee Gardens and, what's more, within the gardens we found a Georgian Bath House. In the 18th century bathing for cleanliness was not a thing. The Bath House was a popular remedy supposedly to help with anything from headaches to impotence. The pool was fed from a spring and was surrounded by a walkway with areas for changing clothes and taking a break from the cold water. The building is no longer used as bath house, but the park is beautifully planted with, at the time of our visit, spring flowers and the benches are a splendid place to watch the river.

Easter break

It wasn’t to be.

To get away from the crowds on Easter Sunday, we embarked on the Hutton circular walk which I found on the Facebook page Summat to do. https://www.facebook.com/summattodo

Sadly, the heavy rain of the previous night had turned some of the route into a quagmire making it impossible to continue after the first gate. Did I mention we had our little dog Freddie with us, who doesn’t like his paws cleaned at the best of times.

Freddie

We had our coffee break on the huge village green at Hutton Cranwsick

The walk will have to wait until the ground has hardened up a bit.

After lunch, we set out to Danes Dyke Danes Dyke (visiteastyorkshire.co.uk) and made our way through the woodlands to the beach. The sea was coming in so we couldn’t stay there long.

Next stop Flamborough South Landing.  We have often taken the grandchildren along the Sculpture Trail there which has fallen into disrepair. We made for our favourite bench which gives a spectacular view of the area. A landslip meant that the usual route was blocked off, but we managed to find a diversion to reach the spot.

The land slip

On Monday, some family joined us for lunch and we visited Hornsea

Tuesday turned out to be the very best of the weather. Warm and sunny, we walked along the Bridlington promenade from North Beach to the Spa and returned via Bridlington’s working harbour. Here we met a man preparing and selling jet which he had found along the coast. The untreated stones looked like lumps of coal.

Although we spend many hours in this area, we always find new things to see and visit.