July 22, 2012
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(written on 6 March 2013)
I felt fine as I got up this morning and it was with gusto that I enjoyed the cooked breakfast in my hotel. Arno, on the other hand, was feeling maybe just a tad less fine, but he had enjoyed his breakfast as well and it took only a cup of tea on the North Pier to get him back into shape as well. He left Blackpool to return to Manchester just before noon again, so it was only a very short visit, but it was great to see him again (it had been too long - and I still haven't made it to Manchester...) and I did enjoy meeting up with him here very much. We said our goodbyes at the station and while he enjoyed his Northern Rail service back to Manchester, I went for lunch, and following that for a very long walk through Blackpool.
Typically when people walk through Blackpool, they walk along the promenade, but I was determined to see something else of Blackpool this time, so while walking south to Pleasure Beach, I stayed inland as much as possible. I wanted to see parts of Blackpool I'd never seen before. So I saw areas of town with many B&Bs where I had not expected them (I thought most were around the North station) and I also found old tram garages, not in use anymore for the new flashy trams, but rather where the old trams were now parked, awaiting whatever fate they may have. I also saw derelict streets, closed shops, but also surprisingly nice streets that I'd never seen before. It was a very nice expedition through this Lancashire town. And I found Blackpool South station. I'd been quite curious about that! Blackpool used to have three railway stations on one line, with Blackpool Hounds Hill (Central Station) a truly vast station. However, progress in the form of cars meant that Central Station closed in the 1960s and the single line got interrupted, leaving a North terminus and a South terminus. Blackpool North is still a nicely sized station and I wondered what South was like. It turns out that that is just the end of railway tracks with some dodgy platform next to it and nothing else. No ticket machines or barriers, that's just it. Still, good to see it for once!
As I finally reached Pleasure Beach at the end of my walk, and saw that even for just walking through the park you now have to pay an entrance fee (not all change is good, you see), I turned around and walked back to the North Pier, now mostly on the beach. The above picture of donkeys was taken very close to the South Pier. The weather was very friendly and the walk was very nice. Close to the North Pier and my hotel I went to the Washington Pub and had some lovely food and real ales while reading a newspaper, and I returned to my hotel at around 9, just as the sun was disappearing. In the meantime I had picked up an amazing collection of gadgets from the many tuppence machines in various arcades up and down the coast and on the piers. I think that if I would install a tuppence machine in my apartment in Amsterdam, I could happily become a hermit and I wouldn't bother with ever seeing anyone ever again. I shall give this some thought. In my hotel I read a bit and then switched off the lights. It'll be a relatively early start tomorrow because I'm off to Glasgow then! Today I still changed my train ticket. I was supposed to have gone from here to Preston from South station but after seeing today how far away that is from my hotel and how it's an absolutely nothingness station, I changed my ticket to leave from North. That'll make tomorrow morning a bit more relaxed.
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