Today was cloudy and quite cold but the rain held off. We spent most
of the day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
This is an amusement park which has been part of Blackpool since
1896. It has several old wooden roller coasters dating back to the
1930s. I went on all of them except the Big Dipper which wasn't
operational. The movies below are known as POV (Point of View)
videos. They show you the experience of the ride from the front
seat. You can enjoy what I enjoyed right here and now!
The Blue Flyer
The Nickoldeon Streak
The Grand National (I didn't like this
one, it hurt my neck!)
I also went on some more sedate rides.
Alice in Wonderland
Wallace & Gromit's Thrill-O-Matic
The Ghost Train
The River Caves
Satoshi went on all the rides above but also
some others including...
Red Arrows Skyforce (Satoshi is actually in this video)
Photos are taken during some of the rides. These can be
purchased later for ONLY £20! (Or one can take a photo of the
photo on the screen, circumventing the need to pay all that
money.)
Satoshi sat with the Mad Hatter on the Alice in Wonderland
ride. He didn't have much to say... perhaps he was scared?
Satoshi about to begin the "Valhalla" ride
A somewhat wetter Satoshi exiting the ride!
We also went on the miniature train ride. The locomotive was
built in 1934. We wondered if it was once steam-driven. Sadly,
it's only a diesel engine now.
We had dinner at Toby Carvery at Morcambe.
We had both been looking forward to having a meal at a Toby
Carvery and we were not disappointed. Dinner was hot, with
plenty of meat and as many vegetables as we could eat. All this
for £12.99!
Our next stop was Lancaster where we visited the Lancaster
Priory Church. It was fortunate that there was a Service on at
6:30pm or we would have missed out on seeing inside this
beautiful building. The light was beginning to fade during our
visit so the photos of the windows are not as bright as they
could have been.
It was lovely to hear the bells being
rung before the Service.
I think this is Saul about to fall off his horse because of
the Vision he had on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).
King Alfred and St Oswald
A detail from the Mothers' Union banner, showing the
Annunciation (Luke 1: 26-38)
This organ is at the west end of the church...
...and this one is near the choir. They are played from the
same console.
We attended the service at 6:30pm. It was "The
Stations of the Resurrection". Members of the congregation had
made some tapestries of parts of the story of the Resurrection.
These had been placed around the church. The Service involved
the congregation moving to each display. There was a reading and
a prayer at each one. Following the Service, we drove to our
accommodation at Windermere. We arrived at 8:51pm with ten
minutes to spare before the reception closed! We were made to
feel very welcome and our room is on the ground floor, very
close to the bar and the breakfast room. The barman had not
heard of port and only just knew about sherry. He said that he
had worked there for five years and nobody had ever asked for
it. He gave it to me in a standard glass - almost half full!!
It's a wonder I wasn't "half full" afterwards! There was a grand
piano to play. I'm sure we will have a very lovely four nights
here!