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This weekend, the usual pre 7am Sunday wake up call was accompanied by a wet and drizzly Bridlington morning. And as usual, our eldest had a football match planned - something, I will add, we have been enjoying immensely. Fresh air, a family activity and a good bit of sport thrown in! Although, with the rain coming down, our enthusiasm had been dampened a little.
But it was still a real disappointment to receive a text saying the match had been called off due to the opposition failing to raise a team. So that begged the question, what would we do with our day?
Where to go?
Now, I am pretty useless when it comes to this kind of on-the-spot, inspiration-required decision. I usually leave this kind of thing to my good lady wife, who is full of excellent ideas. The shortlist she came up with was restricted to two choices:
A. Stay at home - Get some long overdue housework completed, do some inventive, crafty stuff with the kids to keep them from wrestling with each other. B. Go to Hull - Mooch round with the kids and get some Christmas Shopping done.
With the weather brightening up, it wasn't a difficult decision! As much as I would like to have fixed some things around the home, tidied the garage, took a trip to the tip and washed the car - a day spent in the UK City of Culture 2017 seemed a slightly more enjoyable option.
The newest swinger in town
One thing I had been meaning to do on my previous visits to Hull was take the family to ride on the Scale Lane Footbridge. "Ride?" I hear you say. "How can you ride a bridge?" Well let me explain...
The Scale Lane Footbridge was constructed over the River Hull in 2013, to provide pedestrian access between the Old Town and The Deep. As the River Hull is navigable up to Hull Bridge (just outside Beverley), all bridges along this stretch must be moveable to allow larger vessels to pass. So, unlike many of the bridges in central Hull, which are bascule or lifting bridges (think Tower Bridge in London, for the most famous example), Scale Lane was designed as a swing bridge (think, a giant pinball flipper!). But this bridge comes with a twist. It is the only moving bridge in the UK which people can stay on as it moves. Hence, it is a very unique experience!
More than just a bridge
The bridge itself isn't just functional, but a tourist attraction in its own right. The council actually swing the bridge, regardless on Saturdays and Sundays, just so people like me can go there and take in this clever bit of engineering. The final Sunday bridge swing takes place at 11:30am and, after a short stroll through the Old Town, we finally arrived at the bridge itself. To ensure you can access the bridge, you need to enter from the Scale Lane side, not The Deep side, which gets closed off. You make your way up a winding set of steps or a ramp, which curve up and around a tourist information centre. This takes you up to the actual bridge deck, which resembles a boat more than bridge, with numerous benches and places to sit.
As the bridge starts to swing small red lights set into the structure start to pulse and pleasing tinkling noise starts to sound to let everyone know you're on the move! Whilst all this is going on, visitors are still able to enter and exit the bridge as the base on which the information sits acts as a giant turntable. The whole swing took less than 10 minutes, but for the kids it was a fun experience, and raised a number of questions. Even C, who was a bit dubious, thinking I was just taking us all to see something pretty geeky, was pretty impressed.
An award winner
The bridge actually won the World Architecture News Transport award in 2013, beating projects such as King's Cross Station. As such, it has been recognised as a clever structure, whilst at the same time providing a much needed transport link - befitting Hull's brave new world of culture.
The Scale Lane Footbridge normally swings at 11:30am on Saturdays and 10:30am & 11:30am on Sundays, but this is subject to change. If you're ever visiting Hull, it's a fun little diversion to make - for geeks and non-geeks alike!
