The Humber...

Barton-upon-Humber feels like the back of beyond. It’s been cut off… not by a retreating tide, twice a day, but by the Humber Bridge, once and for all. A road leads down to the Humber and the ‘Humber Bridge Viewing Area’; it’s a cul de sac today, though it must have been a busy thoroughfare in years gone by, when it led to the Humber Ferry. There’s a house which, according to a plaque on the wall, used to be the Waterside Inn, a small coastguard station and a row of cottages built for the coastguards, but none are now used for their original purpose.

The bridge dominates the view; for those travelling across the bridge, Barton-on-Humber barely registers. I had a chat with a guy fishing from the breakwater, his regular fishing spot, who had a similar 'blind spot'; “I hardly notice the bridge any more”, he said. He had just caught a cod - “must be five pounds”, he reckoned - and was taking it home for his tea. It would feed a family…

The Humber Bridge...

Scruffy boatyard, Barton-upon-Humber...