£151 MILLION WELL SPENT?

Advantages: It's BIG! Gets you to Lincolnshire from East Yorks.......
Disadvantages: ....at what cost?

...Whilst an enthusiasm for the Clifton Suspension Bridge, or the Forth Rail Bridge may be understandable, the third in my series of bridge reviews is probably rather less so. Indeed, this particular bridge has recently featured on these very pages, and for good reason, as being an economic millstone to the Humberside area and a drain on the finances of local residents, who have little other choice but to use it in their daily commute, paying through the nose for so doing. Two factors, I am sure, very much at odds with its original conception. My review here is not politically motivated, although I do strongly support the locals' views and urge you to follow the links that I am publishing at the foot of this review. OK that's the party political over with - until the end. WHAT IS THE HUMBER BRIDGE? It is a suspension bridge...

RICHADA 24.01.2007 (25.01.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Humber Bridge

Brid - Great resort on east coast!

Advantages: lots to do
Disadvantages: busy

...Overview ------------ Bridlington is a famous seaside resort which has an appeal for people of all ages. Its beautiful beaches and brand new award winning promenades and gardens are popular with families and the older generation. Location ----------- Bridlington is situated on the East coast of Yorkshire north of the Hull and the River Humber just south of Flamborough Head. A half hr ride North leads you towards the seaside resorts of Filey, Scarborough and Whitby. Attractions -------------- Great beach and harbour - donkey rides Fairground rides Market Town centre shops Bars and restaurants Bridlington's Leisure World John Bull World of Rock Beside The Seaside Museum Eating/Drinking ------------------- Lots of bars to choose from, lively on Fri, Sat nights. Mostly cheaper style restaurants...

johanna18 20.03.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Bridlington (England)

For whom the bridge tolls?

Advantages: It's fair, it's right, it's reasonable
Disadvantages: It's up north, so no-one gives a toss

...Nearly every day for the past 10 years I have used one of the wonders of the modern world - the Humber Bridge. And I hate it. Why? Not because it's part of my journey to work, although that does add injury to insult. It's not because of the other reasons that people have mocked the structure, and there are plenty. Even before it was built, it was dogged by controversy. The bridge owes its existence to political bribery. In 1966, Barbara Castle promised to build it in order to win Labour the marginal seat of Hull North. Nor do I bemoan its status as a white elephant, a 'bridge from nowt to nowt', a claim that has been weakened by the bridge's undoubted success as a transport link. And I can't even repeat what the Viz Profanisaurus uses the bridge to describe. No, my bone of contention - shared by many others - has been...

Silverback 07.01.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Everything that starts with H ...

Something fishy going on here....

Advantages: Good family fun.
Disadvantages: Aimed more at kids.

...I enjoy watching fish & other 'underwater critters', so I visited 'The Deep' in Hull last year, after cashing in some Tesco clubcard vouchers for free entry tickets. The Deep is tauted as being one of the most spectacular aquariums in the world. I don't know if this is true or not - I've not visited many aquariums around the world. It is certainly an impressive sight, both internally & externally. Built right alongside the Humber estuary, the building is made to look like the prow of a ship - very fitting for the location & very modern looking. The website recommends taking a riverside walk around the building with the possible oportunity to see pods of porpoises & seals. Personally, I've never seen anything other than an old pallet float by, but it's worth a look while you're there, & the new footbridge across the river Hull...

sambam000 20.06.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Deep - Hull

My first (and only) published poem.

Advantages: Hey I'm a published writer!
Disadvantages: I'm a bloody rubbish poet.

...Just over a year ago, I joined a local writers group. The Renegade Writers, as they are known, are an eclectic group to say the least. They did performance stuff all the time, which sounded a bit of a laugh. The only problem was, they did performance poetry, and as a would be writer I wrote prose. So I started to try and write poetry, and spent many nights screwing-up one crap poem after another. Eventually I dug-out an old diary I'd kept years ago, and found the makings of a poem that I'd written about a friend who lived with me way back then. He was quite a chronic heroin addict at the time (clean now, thank god!) So I did a bit of a rewrite, and what is below was the result. I read this out at the Humber Mouth Literature Festival and it went down well. I then submitted it to a publisher, and forgot all about it. Then a few...

theblackstar 28.10.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Poetry

Up Meggies

Advantages: Lots to see and do
Disadvantages: May cost a pretty penny

...Cleethorpes is the end of the line. True that. The local railway line terminates in Cleethorpes, the station is literally right on the beach, you can just walk down off the station, cross the road and you're paddling (when the tide's in, that is). Now the really important question is, should you want to? Cleethorpes, for those of you that don't know, is a coastal town in North East Lincolnshire. Known as 'Meggies' by the locals, for some reason lost in the mysteries of time. It's often referred to as a seaside resort, but that's not strictly true. Cleethorpes actually sits on the banks of the Humber Estuary, not the North Sea. However, it does have a nice long stretch of beach that's lovely for walks or horse riding, though you're only allowed to take dogs on some stretches of the beach at certain times of the year. The border...

mokee 26.11.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Cleethorpes (England)

Lot Lot less in Cleethorpes!

Advantages: Compact
Disadvantages: Not much to look at

...Where to start, A180 roundabout and head back out! I'm sorry, but this is not the most exciting place on earth. In fact, it is near rock bottom. I will explain here and now that I live about 28 Miles from Cleethorpes and have never stayed for more than 5 hours in one trip. Also, the locals, known as Meggies, are very friendly and try to make you feel welcome, even when heavy mist descends to provide the best view of the town! Attractions I did say that Cleethorpes was compact. In fact, it is more or less split in two. You have the traditional area near the Railway Terminus and the pier and Then the area near the Boating Lake. If travelling by train, the journey in is not much. You have some factories and Grimsby Town Football Club to one side, and the Humber Estuary on the other. The pier is now a nightclub and no access is...

Littleswamp1 27.09.2004 (28.09.2004) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Cleethorpes (England)

Lighthouses, Lifeboats And Loads Of Wildlife!

Advantages: Plenty Of Fresh Air
Disadvantages: Not Really Suitable For Disabled

...As a child I would visit Spurn Point quite frequently, probably two or three times a year and as I got older I became interested in Birds and Wildlife and this place became magical to me. Spurn Point is a peninsular that protrudes over 3 miles into the Humber Estuary on the East Coast of Yorkshire, yet in places it is only 50metres wide. It is a unique place within the British Isles and one which is important not only for its Fauna and Flora, but it has been an important place for navigating vessels from the North Sea into the Humber Estuary for centuries. Spurn Point is also one of the fasting eroding places in the British Isles and its changing shape can be seen on a year by year basis. The Peninsular consists mainly of Sand and Shingle held together by Marram Grass and Sea Buckthorn. The Victorians built Sea Defences which were...

micksheff 15.02.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Spurn Point, East Yorkshire

  No fish at the end of the line

Advantages: No longer smells of fish, even Warty Doris
Disadvantages: Sometimes smells of failure

...who lived here, "only salesmen and relations come". The resulting lack of prospects or chances of migration produced a culture of low ambition: the expectation of failure has seeped deep into the bones of its people. To quote a colleague who grew up near here, it's an underachiever's paradise (which is, admittedly, one reason I fit in so well). But thanks to the M62, upgraded ferries to mainland Europe, and better local roads, Hull is far easier to reach (and get out of) these days. For the uninitiated, you'll find it on the Humber estuary, halfway up the eastern coast of Britain, about 220 miles north of London. However, tolls on the Humber Bridge, ostensibly the city's gateway, are a scandalous £2.70 each way, hardly providing an incentive to visit. Maybe they're designed to stop people leaving. Yet people do visit Hull. Its...

Silverback 15.03.2004 (11.08.2005) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Hull in General

Life's too short to be trapped somewhere so boring

Advantages: Can take a car full of stuff to and from the continent
Disadvantages: No excape from booze cruisers except in expensive cabins

...of the entertainment onboard can be seen by searching YouTube for "North Sea Ferries""entertainment". I tended to find a few seconds sampling what the ship has to offer normally leads to me deciding to try for an early night with a book. I use the past tense since these days, my own time, especially my own leisure time is something I value highly, too highly to spend that much of it sailing in the dark on ship that offers me nothing I find attractive apart from a cruise down the Humber which doesn't last long and, at certain times of year, will be undertaken during the hours of darkness anyway. Robin Hood airport is an hour from my house in west Hull. If I set off from my house at the same time as I would need to set off to catch the ferry to Rotterdam (or Zebrugge) .... a choice of 2 destinations, by flying from Robin Hood airport, I'd most likely be...

MrDavis 10.09.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of P & O North Sea Ferries