Recent content by East Coast Mariner

We all know about the Wiltshire White Horses, and the justifiably proud Cerne Abbas Giant, but did you know there is also a Suffolk Dragon? I found out about it a few years ago and have been paying a visit ever since. It is a summer-evening tradition for me, and with the year cracking on, I...

That was actually quite scary. I didn't visit Alton until 1999, and Black Hole was definitely the scariest thing I rode that day. The on-ride photo was just me ducking down! I agree. They're there to do... something. There's something quite artificial about it. Mind you, I don't like...

The "solid" coaster on the example skyline is presumably the Wicked/Jurassic coaster, unless I've misunderstood things? It looks about 67m tall, so could quite possibly be the first Vekoma hyper coaster? I'm thinking back to the proposed design for Hyperion at Energylandia - it's not the same...

I watched a vlog about this park last night, and was surprised it seems to have the Mini-llennium Flyer trains, as used on Tomahawk and Coastersaurus at Legoland Florida. So, presumably it's a smaller gauge than GCI's standard? It's also the only GCI I can find listed on RCDB as "Family"...

I say that sometimes a walk can take in three different villages, and there is probably no better example than the “Groton Triangle”. Based on a walk I originally saw online, from Boxford to Groton, I extended it to include the nearby Edwardstone as well. Starting in Boxford, Suffolk, I headed...

The Tolpuddle Martyrs are, understandably, mostly associated with Dorset, but I recently found out they also had a link to Essex. Six labourers - George Loveless, James Loveless, Thomas Standfield, John Standfield, James Brine and James Hammett - were arrested in 1834 for their efforts in...

Great idea for a thread, @Matt N . I do like the Kelpies. I hope I’m allowed to do a TR from April this year. There’s not much I enjoy more than a village-to-village walk, and I had wanted to do one from Newport for some time (Newport in Essex, near Bishop's Stortford), to the village of...

Part 2 - A Different Approach When I went to college, in the 1990s, there was a group of students from Harwich. They used to complain that the place was boring, and “it didn’t even have a McDonald’s”. Well, I can confirm that Harwich now does indeed have a McDonald’s (and a Burger King), so I...

Long term, it's probably the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Then there was the coaster renaissance with the '70s Charles Dinn and John Allen woodies like Racer and Beast. More recently, I'd agree it's something like 2006-2018 (at least from my personal point of view). The old old-style B&M/Intamin...

Valgard's shaping up nicely. I get the feeling that the western edge of it is going to be the "Norwegian Coast", and you'll be able to watch the water ride from the restaurant. I suspect it will be a Rocking Boat a little bit more than a Water Coaster at this stage, but we'll see.

Excellent, @Niles, definitely TR-worthy! I've never been there, but it seems to have a ride line-up on a par with most of our theme parks. I love those Fabbri Frisbees - I used to ride the one at Margate over and over! Don't suppose you rode Jungle Jeeps, did you? That has animal models from...

Sea, piers, coasters...

Out of interest, do you have any inkling as to why they did that? I appreciate they wanted to move most of the rides to their other parks, but that still leaves the best wooden coaster in the UK, and in good, refurbished condition too. The park didn't have a great reputation, admittedly, but...

Interesting reports, Heth, of two parks that are very much my cup of tea (at least on paper). I'd certainly agree that making more rides like Merlin's Quest seems to be the right direction for Toverland. Enjoyment is a funny thing, isn't it? You can have the "best", most-polished park, but...

Day 5 - Blackgang Chine It is no exaggeration to say that Blackgang Chine is one of my favourite places on Earth. From my first visit in 1983, as I passed the Two Smugglers at the entrance, I knew I was somewhere special. I returned in 1989 and was enchanted by the Weather Wizard. And in...