Travel Breezy Blackpool
Great Britian

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By Pat Hunter
 

Britain's most popular holiday resort, Blackpool, is situated on the Irish Sea coast. It is the main town of the Fylde, an almost flat and very fertile area between the estuaries of the Rivers Wyre and Ribble which is famous for its succulent hothouse tomatoes and giant chrysanthemums.

Early last century, Blackpool did not exist. Only a few gypsies lived on the sand dunes, and there were only a few fishermen's cottages near a dyke called The Black Pool. But as the inland towns grew busier with the cotton trade, their workers needed somewhere reasonably near and not too expensive where they could relax. In those days the mills closed for the Wakes, or annual holiday, which meant that everyone had to take the same week off. Then, as now, people were attracted to the seaside, in particular the Fylde's seemingly endless golden sands and bracing air. Soon guesthouses sprang up to cater for thousands streaming in aboard trains or in motorcoaches called charabancs.

By Victorian times Blackpool was already the holiday Mecca of Britain. She had three railway stations, three piers, guesthouses and hotels, theatres, cinemas and ballrooms, and a 7-mile long promenade. In the 1800's a steel Tower was built in the style of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and it still rears majestically 520 feet above the promenade. Brave souls can go by elevator to a platform just beneath its summit, and see for miles. The Tower's metalwork has to be constantly painted to protect it from the salty air, and by the time the work is finished it is time to start again! Children enjoy donkey rides on the beach, and horse-drawn carriages called landaus will take visitors at a leisurely pace along the promenade.

Blackpool also has a zoo and a Pleasure Beach similar to the one at Coney Island, and its star attraction is a terrifying rollercoaster called the Pepsi Max Big One. She was the first town in the world to use trams, and they still run along a nine-mile route to her northerly neighbour, Fleetwood. A short distance south is the borough of Lytham St. Anne's, a smaller, more refined holiday resort. Here can be found the challenging Royal Lytham links course, often host to the British Open Golf Championship.

In the autumn, Blackpool stages the greatest free show on earth - The Illuminations. Millions of coloured bulbs are strung across the entire promenade, lighted tableaux are erected, the Tower is ablaze with colour, and a laser display on its top lights up the sky. As far as I'm concerned, there's no place like Blackpool!