Thu, 12 Sep 2002

author Tim	location Elswick, Lancashire, England
posted 19:56 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Blackpool, Elswick ( No photos )
A reasonable distance was covered down the motorway this morning, before turning off to have a look at the seaside town Knott End, on the west coast. A great lunch was followed with a walk along the very strange "beaches".
It looks like you could walk out for about a kilometre - the water is so shallow, hundreds of birds use the beach for a resting place.
We then headed south around the point, which basically consists entirely of the city Blackpool. A very strange place, the entire point is basically hotels on one side, a strange bus-train hybrid on the other, and "illuminations" over the roadway. These strange creations are light-up representations of everything from Disney characters and Postman Pat to "Kodax" film - a rip off of Kodak and obviously the sponsor of the whole thing.
We decided that it was way too touristy for our taste, and headed inland to find that elusive great B&B. We succeeded. It's called Thornton House, and is a recently-redone rustic place, run by a nice couple, in a little one-pub town called Elswick (the pub is fine - we checked).
Breakfast is yet to be rated, but the sound of what it is was enough to make us think we could manage without a dinner. Also, the ever-present cost of everything helped our decision!
Tomorrow, we will probably head further south to take in more of this fantastic country side while the weather holds - clear blue skies, temperatures around the low 20s.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Heading South for the Winter ( No photos )
The updated, and suitably un-detailed plan for the next few days consists of "head south along the motorway and get off somewhere". That should do us! Everything else will just sort itself out.
Not sure whether we are going to be able to get internet access anywhere, so we may not get a chance to update this for a while.
Also, we have just sent out an email to lots of people - feel free to forward it to anyone who may be interested if you received one.

(customised)