To the lighthouse

Spurn 'blob' (my title) - the goal (photo by David Nichols for YWT)

Withernsea sea front

The day off in pictures. Yesterday we cycled from Withernsea to Spurn and back, hence I'm lolling in bed playing with the laptop. A 30 mile round trip, it makes for a relaxed feel next day. Our new-ish car - the Skoda Roomster - is perfect for us, as we had it fitted with a kind of inner bike rack. As long as t'owd man is available to take everything to pieces.

Withernsea coast, heading south

Setting off from Withernsea sea front. There wasn't much in Withernsea to keep us there. On return, even after 30 miles of cycling, no pub was inviting enough to tempt us in for a pint. (If you work for Withernsea council, I'm sorry for this less-then-enthusiastic evaluation). You can see they have tried to stick the coast together with concrete in places to stop the erosion.

We drool

Suggested elevation, as sent to parsonage committee for approval

We have a potentially beautiful view from our vicarage, St Peter's church with its Anglo-Saxon tower, but there are only 3 very small windows facing towards it, one of them with a window seat and frosted glass. The second has frosted glass too and somewhere to lie down and doze in watery comfort, (a good idea - the bathroom tiles are really naff 1980s), and the third vantage point I only look out of when peeling vegetables. A real missed opportunity, and one of the things we miss in clerical life is being able to alter things as you would do in life outside. I drool over houses with turrets and towers; I like to look out.   See: Rapunzel

The thing that struck me about the Holderness landscape was that it was stripey.

Spurn ahead

Sea both sides - well on the way

WW2 boneshaker path

1852 Low Light

To the lighthouse - a little newer, but no longer used

Spurn lifeboat - I went on it once, not being rescued though

The big pic below is perhaps the most atmospheric view we had, looking south. A man on the beach in the distance (one of about three) seemed to be digging for bait. He's the little speck in the middle of the horizon. The other two aren't on this pic. There was plenty of room for them all to be well-spaced out! A light mist shrouded (do mists do anything else in cliche-land! Make a suggestion!) the sands stretching out to our right.






























I'm thinking I could do with a new bike with front suspension to help me cope with paths like the ones round here. Wrist-shattering.









T'owd man was chaplain to the Mayor of Grimsby many years ago. As part of his duties we attended a lunch in appreciation of the Spurn lifeboat crew. They came over in this lifeboat, and gave us a ride over to Spurn in it when they went home. The then mayor of Scunthorpe was at the helm, and put his foot down. We were by the railings on the lower deck, and were pressed against them so hard we had bruises you could see; they were well worth it.




Imagine living in the houses shown below on the Spurn blob!

On the way home, we admired the wind farm, which seemed to have a wind farm farmhouse. I imagined writing a children's story about the wind farmer getting up in the middle of the night to help some wind give birth to a baby wind. Putting the wind away for the night. Looking out anxiously to see whether the wind is growing well.

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Trips like this give one space to think about what makes life worth living; this came up naturally as we left Withernsea, where t'owd man was once interviewed for a teaching job he didn't get, thank goodness; we felt it might have been a kind of living death to live there. Perhaps that is their value, or some of it at least if it is not to be a purely self-indulgent exercise. But how can one translate this into something that has an effect on the world for the better? Ummm.

Lifeboatmen's families' houses

Windfarm, with windfarm farmhouse

Mummy there's a lighthouse in my bedroom! (Withernsea)