Skegness 29th June 2012

Usually at this time of the year we go to the Norfolk Show but this year we wanted to do something different to celebrate Julie's birthday. We decided to go to the seaside but from where we live all the resorts are a long way away. Our usual trips are often to Great Yarmouth but this time we decided to have a look at Skegness. After a steady drive where we seemed to get behind numerous tractors and to find umpteen road works on our route, we arrived. We remembered that in the past we had found free parking at the south end of South Parade and once again we were lucky. Despite the weather on the journey being a bit grey and drizzly, as soon as we were out of the car we were greeted with sunshine and a lovely blue sky. The gardens seemed well tended..

As the weather had only just cheered up the beach, which was a lovely sweep of beautiful sand was pretty clear of people. The clear sky made the outline of the many wind turbines clear to see....

There's no shortage of rides on the pleasure beach and some are quite large.....

One of the side shows (that is accompanied by a very distinctive tune!) is one that is also found on a pier in Great Yarmouth and involves racing camels...

Julie is a bit of star player when it comes to the 2p machines that push coins off shelves. This one had a very nice tiny bear as a prize and Julie had her eye on this one. Luckily she is such a good player that she usually doesn't have to spend any money to get the prizes she plays for.....

There were some strange goings on on the streets of Skegness when we were there. There were some 'ladies' on what appeared to be Segways. Also some living statues. We also saw what appeared to be a Police incident, complete with police tape and posters asking for anyone who saw anything to report to them. I was totally taken in by this and was asking a security man what it was all about when he explained that it was just a publicity stunt for the Punch and Judy show, did I feel silly!! Luckily I didn't get any pictures of this last event :-).

We were very strong minded and didn't make use of the many food outlets including this rather pretty ice cream parlour...

However on the way back we stopped just to the north of Boston where we found a lovely pub called The Ball House ( http://www.theballhouseboston.co.uk ) where had a great meal that was a fitting end to a lovely day out and Julie's birthday.