Hull. March 4th 2015

From the Humber Bridge, on into Hull itself courtesy of the excellent “Park and Ride” system. Some of the buildings we passed on the way in were distinctly tatty and in need of TLC, but then that’s probably true of most cities. The centre is grand and bustling enough with a selection of major civic buildings around a circle which in a sense “dots the i” which is the canal-like stretch of water that runs in from the river bank and through the marina.

There’s obviously a great deal of maritime heritage here. It might be a river port, but it’s more of an inland sea-port in truth and so there’s evidence in the buildings and their ancient inscriptions of Trinity House, Port Authorities, the Seamen’s Mission, warehousing and so on. The Spurn lightship, firmly moored at the head of the marina is recollection on its own of “those who go down to the sea in ships”.

I suspect there’s a lot to enjoy here and that we came home with most of it undiscovered despite our plethora of pictures. City of Culture in a couple of years time – it’ll be interesting to see how that develops and what impact it has on the people and the infrastructure.