Samba in East Yorkshire?

No, not really---the reason for this street name may be trade links in the past with the port of Hull and Brazil. It's nice however to recall the sun-washed shores of Rio and Bahia which I visited a few years ago. I'm on a return visit to Hull almost exactly a year since my last visit, this time on my own for some quiet photography. I'm staying on the edge of the Old Town, which despite serious wartime damage retains some Victorian and Edwardian quarters. There's also a surprising concentration of small neighbourhood pubs. I wonder how many of them will survive the latest threat to their existence: first Covid, now the rocketing fuel prices. The city goes back centuries before this of course, with the magnificent Hull Minster, which has the largest floor area of any English parish church, and was started in about 1300.

As last year, Hull is good for day excursions. While the beaches are hardly Brazil-style tropical, they have an understated English charm. A cultural initiative has planted giant puffins all along this coast. The giant seagull, overlooking the lady selling raffle tickets, is a one-off. It's at Hornsea. an hour's bus ride from Hull. And while people often complain about rural buses, they provide an inexpensive way of getting around and their timetables are reliable. The toy train features at Bridlington, a larger and noisier resort up the coast. Another bus trip from Hull leads east to Withernsea with its mock castle.

After Bridlington I call in at Beverley Minster, which started life as a monastery and survived the Reformation. While the rain shortage this summer has caused water supply problems, it has allowed better photo opportunities than last year and the final picture brings out the best of the 14th century church of Patrington.Read more