Tag Archives: Train Journey

Is Hull Really a ‘Crap’ Town? – Pt 4 Minsters, Museums and Mayhem

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Is Hull Really a 'Crap' Town? - Pt 4 Minsters, Museums and Mayhem

Christmas came early for the Tigers yesterday because the Robins didn’t turn up until the match was all but lost. Fans who travel a long way to see their team play at least deserve to see the players try their best even if it’s not good enough, especially when the weather makes it difficult for travelling. There were quite a number of fans from Bristol who didn’t make it in time for the start of the match, and some didn’t make it at all – but at least they didn’t miss much.

I hope those who did make it got home ok because it was snowing when we went to bed last night, and the forecast wasn’t looking that great for our final day here either. As it was the week leading up to Christmas, I thought we could try and get into the Christmas spirit and take the short train ride to the historic market town of Beverley which has always appealed to me, and I probably won’t get another chance.

The good news was that we didn’t have much more snow after we went to bed, but the not so good news was that the temperatures had plummeted again, and it was decidedly dodgy underfoot as we clambered into the taxi that took us to Paragon station. It was the same when we arrived at Beverley, but it was a bit warmer as there was a lot more cloud around.

At the station there was a machine that sold maps for a pound, a practice that had been introduced in lots of places, but it’s like putting your money into an amusement arcade slot machine. Sometimes you win but most of the time you lose, and after trying my luck, we headed off towards Wednesday Market a quid lighter – and no map.

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Originally posted 2023-10-22 09:35:56.

Is Hull Really a ‘Crap’ Town? – Pt 1 The Ride to Hell

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Is Hull Really a 'Crap' Town? - Pt 1 The Ride to Hell

In 2003, a book was published called Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places To Live In The UK. It wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, just a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the places that people regarded as dire. They weren’t all depressing run-down places that were still recovering from industrial decline either, because alongside them were boring Middle-England towns that had been in a state of slumber for so many years that they weren’t even considered for filming Midsomer Murders. It goes without saying that this book was right up my street, and it doesn’t take somebody with the brains of Stephen Hawking to work out that the town at the top the book’s list was Hull – or to give the town its correct name, Kingston-Upon-Hull.

So why isn’t it called Kingston-Upon-Humber? After all, it sits on the River Humber doesn’t it? Well, yes it does, but the settlement started out on the banks of the River Hull which flows into the Humber, and in the map below you can see the proximity of the city centre to the Rivers Hull and Humber. The featured image at the top of the page shows the River Hull just before it discharges into the Humber.

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Originally posted 2023-09-10 08:33:43.