Visitor advice for North West England

Hey all. So I'll be taking a short (2 or 3 days) trip to England starting next Thursday. I'll be in Blackpool for at least the first night, and a day or two later I want to end up at the ferry in Grimsby. I'll have a car (picking it up in Blackpool.)

SO, looking for suggestions on things to do from those who know the area! Scenic drives, fun things, stuff to see, etc. Even just a good place to get a pint and a curry. I'm not really interested in going down south to London. Scotland is a possibility. I haven't booked the ferry back yet so that end of the trip is still flexible. Also, I'm on a limited budget and I want to go places where my new-to-me car won't get nicked.

I haven't been to the U.K. since I was 16 and then only briefly so most of it might as well be China for me. Suggestions appreciated!

- J

My God, Blackpool to Grimsby. Anywhere you go in between will be an improvement.

You have the lake district and North Yorks Moors if you want scenery. Go to York is you like old cities and culture.

blackpool nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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There's more culture in a yoghurt!

Head to the Lake District. Beautiful countryside, lovely walks, cheap b&b's, scenic lakes etc. Take walking boots and waterproof jacket. Enjoy.

With only 2/3 days you'll be lucky if you get on up to Scotland and back down to Grimsby. Its 2ish hours drive to the border and about 4 to Edin or Glasgow. Can't recommend Grimsby/Blackpool or in fact many places in that area (not the Midlands... this is the North!)

Edit: What Pas said.

You didn't see our kitchen when I was at Uni there.

One liners from SP apart there's the walled city, minster, train museum, more pubs than I managed to visit in three years, air museum and many more things to do.

Lake District, Peak District and Yorkshire Dales are beautiful. Don't bother if it is raining though.

An alternative to York (quite touristy) would be Lincoln - not an hour away from Grimsby. Much underestimated and not touristy. Lincoln was an important Roman town, has an 11th or 12th century cathedral built on the site of one of the first Christian churches in England dating from 300 A.D (at the top of a steep cobbled hill so be prepared for a climb and wear sensible footwear). Directly opposite the cathedral is the Victorian prison housed within the remains of the old castle. Do the tour with the tour guide to get the history - well worth it. Under no circumstances leave without seeing the chapel and taking a seat in the coffinesque pews!! Also take a look at the Magistrates Courts next to the prison. Staff are super friendly. You could then nip to Grimsby via the picturesque Lincolnshire Wolds.

Ahem, that is not the Midlands, that is the North West, title modded accordingly.

Haha, I thought Blackpool was somewhat touristy. Is it that awful?

I do want to see where they built/build(??) TVR cars. Anyone know where that is?

Also, I'm a geophysicist and a geology buff, so spending a couple hours climbing over interesting rock formations in a park very much counts on my list of "fun."

Oops, sorry about getting the region wrong. Like I said I don't know Britain well at all.

I don't HAVE to take the ferry out of Grimsby if someone has a better suggestion. I just need to get back to mainland Europe by Saturday or Sunday.

- J

Blackpool is touristy, They tend to wear white stilettos though.

You might find the cliffs near Whitby , Scarborough and Robin Hoods Bay to your liking.

This is there head office...

Went to Blackpool for a wedding last year, stayed an extra night before the wedding, just for me to see Blackpool.
OMIGOD. It wasn't fun at all. I'm from Hamburg and have seen quite some dodgy corners on the Reeperbahn, but Blackpool was really outrageous. Imo.
After we had dinner in a little Italian restaurant (which was ok, nothing special, but nice) we strolled around for a bit, I had enough quite quickly. Apart from us there was one other couple, otherwise only hen do after stag do, all of them absolutely wasted (which I do not mind) and looking for trouble (which I do mind).

We also drove around a bit in the area. I liked York. Pretty.
Also strolled around a bit in Clitheroe ()) and Lymm.
Nice little towns.

Do not forget when in Blackpool to get to Harry Ramsden to get some fish and chips he is famous for them.Heysham Head is nice and if you get to Clitheroe get to Edisford Bridge beautiful place.Borders on the North West Riding of Yorkshire.

Then you should go to Whitehaven. It's not overrun by tourists and could be exactly what you're looking for.
If you wanted to go up to D&G (Dumfries and Galloway), there's a few of us from the area on TT and we'd be happy to give tips.

Going from west to east like that you will have to somehow get past the Yorkshire dales. Loads of lovely places to go - and if you are into interesting rock formations you'll probably find it interesting - especially if you find limestone interesting...

Bits of the dales can get very touristy - malham is lovely, though can get extremely busy - but you might find a walk from Malham, up Gordale scar, past Malham tarn, down the dry valley, over the limestone pavement and down into Malham cove interesting.

An alternative (also touristy) place is Brimham rocks.

Otherwise - you can just spend ages bobbing round little villages from Grassington to Burnsall, to Appletreewick, to Pately bridge... Lots of nice walks - in a really beautiful part of the country.

As a previous poster said - this sort of trip is quite miserable if the weather is poor.

TVR were based in Bristol Avenue, Bispham, slightly to the north of Blackpool 'proper'. However, last I heard they have ceased trading further to a disastrous takeover by a mega-rich Russian russian by the name of Nikolay Smolensky. There isn't much to look at but a great place of pilgrimage.

YES

Well I'm back. I didn't get around to doing my grand tour all over England but I did get my car.

I LIKED Blackpool. Not somewhere I'd book a two week resort holiday in, but it was really fun to just walk around and see everything. I stayed two nights at a great little bed & breakfast in Bispham, drove Saturday afternoon down to the ferry port in Harwich, took an overnight ferry back to the mainland.

And here's my little souvenier I brought back:

[img]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x308/jay200mph/Elan/747sized.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x308/jay200mph/Elan/743sized.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x308/jay200mph/Elan/740sized.jpg[/img]

There are still stacks of unfinished (car) bodies outside the TVR plant! I've seen 'em with my own two eyes. Really sad for us motorheads.

It did take me a few tries to remember to speak English to people in shops though! Yikes!

- J