Sunshine

What a beautiful day today. My second top daughter was feeling a lot better and to suit the mood the sun was out down here in the south west (I hope it was with everyone else too), no chilling wind, so just the right conditions for an easy walk. Where better to start from than out down along the Grand Pier.

The Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare is a pleasure pier on the Bristol Channel approximately 18 miles southwest of Bristol.

The pier is privately owned (by Michelle & Kerry Michael) and is one of three in the town together with Birnbeck Pier, which stands derelict awaiting possible restoration (don't even get the locals on that one... please don't mention the Tropicana either) and the much shorter SeaQuarium aquarium built towards the south end of the seafront.

It is supported by 600 iron piles, and is 400 metres (1,300 ft) long.

The Grand Pier has been damaged by fire on two occasions, in 1930 and 2008. I can remember clearly waking up to the news on the morning of the summer 2008 fire, which completely destroyed the pavilion, there were lots of issues, but the main for me was that the couple who had invested so much into the area had lost everything they had put into this historic building. There are not so many around here that will believe in the place (Local council take note please when you waste money consistently and needlessly and achieve nothing) But this couple weren't going to give up on their efforts for the town or leave no one properly accountable. (Alarms were ignored for long enough for the fire to take hold completely and destroy the whole building. Only a few months ago was the judgement on blame made ... and strangely enough the alarm company is no longer trading so the chances of recouping any money are further than remote.)

The pier was successfully rebuilt at a cost of £39 million and reopened on 23 October 2010. It is a great place for part of a day out. We tend to miss out the arcades and rides indoors and just do the walk down the prom and possibly even go down to the Victorian Tea rooms for a treat. The weather was so good today we sat out at the picnic tables on the pier side (not even sheltering in the conservatory for those windy days) It was beautiful, especially for a February, we just chatted and whiled away the tesco parking time, watched the tide go out and the mud walkers arrive (Don't ask .. I will have a blip rant about those another day).

Hubby (and various sized daughters) went to get the car and I walked down along the beach front to get a better view of the pier. (blip) Now that the tide was out people were all coming down onto the beach so it was good just to get to my rendez vous before it became too busy.

I am looking forward to a walk along the beach to Uphill tomorrow while my daughter is at gym, so let me just cross fingers for a bit more sunshine.