Seaside perspectives

My old mate John Gordon and I headed up to Scarborough on Saturday morning to witness something a little bit different.

Oliver's Mount was our destination, England's only motorcycle pure road racing circuit.  

We agreed to go when we were both marshaling at the North West 200 back in May.

 

And Saturday was a spectacular day...

...in a first class setting.

Sunday began well too.  I'd not seen sidecars race before.

Although I have seen the one and only Michael Dunlop tear up the tarmac many times.

And then it all went wrong.

As you may have heard in the news, disaster struck not once but twice with two quite bizarre crashes.  Thankfully, the riders involved were shaken up but no worse.

Sadly ten fellow spectators were not so fortunate.  Four air ambulance visits were necessary in the end and a number of those hurt remain in hospital, some with serious injuries.   Hopefully all will make full recoveries.  And John and I will most certainly be back.

Although when I say that, I mean Oliver's Mount - not Sunnyside Guest House which cost an eye-watering £75 for the night.

To be fair the (tatty) warning sign was already there.

It turned out to be the first bed and breakfast I've come across that doesn't serve breakfast.

It did have other "special features" though.

Such as damp.

The landlady claimed that it wasn't damp, instead explaining that "the wallpaper reacted with the paste." On the ceiling?

Me arse.

I didn't book a bunk bed, but that was what I got.

We booked an en suite bathroom.

But both of us were too big to bathe in the prison-issue sink.

Still, after the drama that was about to unfold, these things hardly mattered.

Scarborough good; Sunnyside Guest House not so much.