Inspirational trip to Ryhope and Blackhall Rocks beaches

The boy's on a roll, two blog posts in as many minutes (almost)....or as many blog posts as I have daily visitors.  That's a slight exaggeration....I'd actually love to have two visitors a day! But I digress....

Every now and then I'll take a trip to somewhere moving to try and jog the inspirational juices so to speak.  This week I went with my youngest daughter to Ryhope Beach in Sunderland, and to Blackhall Rocks Beach, roughly 10-11 miles up the road in County Durham.  Movie fans amongst you might be aware that Blackhall Rocks was where the ending of the classic 1971 Michael Caine movie 'Get Carter' was filmed.  We actually stood where Michael Caine was shot dead at the end of the movie (not for real, he's alive honestly).  It looks a little different these days.  Anyway, I do love Blackhall Rocks Beach.  I feel a sense of calm when I'm there, and oddly it has some of the most interesting fly tipping I have ever seen.  There's been a whole Landrover there for a year or two now!

 

This fella looks happy

The locals seem to like Fosters

Ryhope Beach at it's finest

Sea battered red house bricks look strangely like alien eggs at the beach

Dramatic skyline at Ryhope Beach

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

More stunning views from Ryhope Beach

 

On our way to Blackhall Rocks, home of the climatic final scene in Get Carter (1971)

We're not far from where Michael Caine was shot!

A recent campfire....

....followed by a game of Football!

We stopped for a rest as we were feeling 'tyred' (gets coat)

What's that in the distance?

It's a Landrover! I don't think it's going to pass it's next MOT somehow

Clearly BUPA members wrote this!

The Source is the Cause, and the Cause is the Source....apparently!

I think this is going to take more than an oil change and a new set of plugs!

The beauty of Blackhall Rocks Beach

Heading Back home

 

What did we learn from the trip? Apparently the visitors of both Ryhope and Blackhall Beaches, whilst separated by some eleven miles or so, both share the same love of Fosters Lager.  It was by far the most popular empty lager can we spotted (and we spotted lots of empty lager cans) probably outnumbering the other lager cans by a factor of 10 to 1.  Shame on you people for throwing your lager cans on and around such beautiful beaches, but congratulations to Fosters - your advertising is clearly working well in the coastal areas of the North East of England! We also collected some 20 or so cans to take home for an art project! Doing our bit for the environment.  Richard Buckley Artist (tm) is officially Carbon Neutral! (Disclaimer: I have no idea if that's even remotely true, but it sounded good)

Fly tipping can have a strange beauty to it.  A surreal and haunting quality.  like a snapshot in time to past events.  Where did that tyre come from? it was too small for the Landrover, and we were nowhere near any roads.  Did someone carry that all the way to the beach? I'm guessing the Landrover was driven off road to the cliff top, and pushed over the edge!  A very movie-esque ending for the car, and ironically right next to the spot where one of the most iconic British Movies ever was filmed!  Finally who wrote those poetic and cryptic musings on the Landrover! Thought provoking stuff!  I certainly left feeling far more inspired than when I arrived.

(Photographs by Richard and Annabelle Buckley)