Hornsea & Home - 15th July ‘23

I was planning to come home on Sunday but I decided to head home today - Saturday. Although the weather looks nice tomorrow, once again it was forecasted to get a bit rubbish this afternoon. 

Thankfully a trauma (and poo!) free evening and morning wake up! I didn’t fancy breakfast so I headed out as soon as I was abluted!

Someone had mentioned Hornsea as worth a visit. Never been before but I had the morning free so .. why not? It was about 15 miles south of Brid and took me about 30 mins to get there. My original plan was to park up at a village called Atwick and walk south along the beach into Hornsea. This plan was aborted as I didn’t fancy paying £5 to a caravan holiday camp to use their empty and scratty bit of waste ground by the beach! Silly really because it would have been a good plan.

I drove into Hornsea and found some free parking (as most of it was!) right by the beach. The sun was shining although it was quite chilly in the strong wind . According to the forecast I had at least a couple of hours of no rain!

I got the dogs onto the beach and started to walk northwards. It wasn’t a great beach for walking on - lots of groynes to navigate and less sand / more shingle than the other beaches this week.

After 10 mins of walking I realised I was on the “no dogs” section of the beach. To be fair to the few people that were around I didn’t feel any dirty looks/ judgement!

I got them on the lead and within a few hundred yards we were at the dogs allowed part of the beach. I walked north towards the village of Atwick - so my original plan but backwards!

There were very few folks on the beach and the weather was generally good - in fact, near perfect for walking.

We got to the caravan park at Atwick and had a halftime snack. 

Up to this point I have to say I was in a bit of a mood! Everything was making me cross- I was cross with having to have the dogs on a lead to start, I was cross with the groynes, I was cross with Tilly for walking by my side when she should have been enjoying the beach, I was cross with Benny for enjoying the beach when he should have been walking by my side, I was cross with the weather when it started to spit, I was cross with the woman walking towards me who totally blanked my smile and cheery hello, I was cross with the couple in front who kept throwing their bloody dogs ball straight towards us all the bloody time, I was cross with the uneven pebbles I had to walk on some of the time and I was cross that this time I’d remembered the dogs water but forgot a drink for me. But mostly I was cross that it was the 15th July and I thought I could treat it like a normal day. Like if I didn’t acknowledge it, it would not exist! Well I had tried being on my own (I don’t count the crazy collies) and it hadn’t worked especially well. But hey, I’ll know for next year. Every days a school day!

While we were sitting having our drink / snack I WhatsApp called the kids. I managed to speak briefly to all of them and as a result, I could feel the red mist lifting. Subsequently, I had a much nicer walk back along the beach to Hornsea. I suspect the dogs were as relieved as I was that my mood had lifted?!

I had a nice cup of coffee at a place called The Hornsea Hub. The town centre was pleasant enough too - the sort of place Kim would have loved poking around - lots of locally type shops. Overall, Hornsea has the feel of a seaside resort that’s trying hard to keep up but not entirely making it. I’ve been to a lot worse places!! You can have that FOC from me Hornsea - for next summer’s marketing campaign!?

The walk was about 5.5 miles in total. I was heading out of town at about 1pm just as the wet weather was starting to roll in. I thought I’d get something to eat before I started the Brunnehilda pack up procedure. I went back to the wee cafe I had parked by on the first evening- South Landing Beach, Flamborough. I think I had returned because it had a really cool name. I had an all day Eggs Benedict. It wasn’t great - you need runny poached eggs on a Benedict and these were as hard as Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast!! While I was in the cafe there was a very dramatic thunder storm. The loudest clap of thunder coincided with the server placing the plate on my table - a gastronomic warning maybe?!

The rain was set in now so I packed up and pulled down Brunnehilda in the drizzle. Including having a long chat with my Nextdoor neighbour. He was from Wakefield. He told me a lot of other stuff about himself too. I don’t think he was too interested in my back story but then why should he be!??

We were pulling out the site at 3.30pm. A very uneventful journey with just one food and fuel stop at Tibshelf. Arriving at Welton Lodge Farm at just gone 8. The economy has been awful for this return journey - less than 20 mph!! I don’t really know why - it was 28 going up!!

Here is the rating for North Mount Farm CL site:

Pros:

1) Very clean

2) Adequate space between pitches 

3) Great 5G

4) Each pitch had a water tap.

5) A nice sea view 

6) A good dog walking area

7) No gate

8) Flat pitches

Cons:

1) No where to walk to (pub / beach)

As the 8:1 ratio confirms - the site was a hit and deserves a return visit.

———-

“Better by far you should forget and smile

Then that you should remember and be sad”

Kimbo

6/1/61 to 15/7/21