From the Harbour Bridge to Botany Bay

We started off in shorts and T-shirts in Edinburgh and finished rugged up against an arctic chill in Whitby.

Today entailed a fair bit of driving as we commenced our home run towards London.

We left Edinburgh on a beautiful morning again, checking out of our apartment and heading just around the corner to pick up some fresh fruit. Thankfully we did, as it was at that moment we realised we had left our entire bag of food and kitchen accoutrements back in the apartment. A quick retrace to collect the abandoned bag then off for a fairly long drive firstly to Newcastle on Tyne. Enroute we crossed the border back into England at Coldstream having had a wonderful time in Scotland over the past few days.

The only point of interest in Newcastle on Tyne was to observe the bridge which crosses the river Tyne (obviously). It is essentially a mini Sydney Harbour Bridge, having been built at the same time and as a prototype for the much more ambitious Sydney version.
After having driven over it and then turned off to find a vantage point, we noted that the Newcastle version’s proportions looked a little more ‘squashed’, and the upkeep was somewhat lacking.
We found a spot to pull over a little further along for some lunch, then continued on our way south to Whitby.
I didn’t really know what to expect in Whitby, apart from the fact that it was where Capt. James Cook did much of his maritime training before then joining the Royal Navy and moving to London. When we arrived, we found the town absolutely packed with people. Alas, England’s school holidays have just started!

Before heading to our accommodation, we found some parking near the James Cook museum and did a tour. It turns out that the museum is housed within the very house that James Cook lived in during his early maritime training here and he would have spent about 9 years living in the attic area of the house. The displays and records were very interesting and we noted that although there was obviously material on his 1770 voyage to the east coast of Australia, they took a much more ‘global’ view of Cook’s voyages and achievements than the ‘Australia-centric’ material we are used to seeing. The Endeavour on which he sailed was also designed and built here in Whitby.
Having finished our tour of the museum, we found our accommodation just a 100m away up one of the narrow, cobblestone streets of the old city area. No parking was to be had here, so we returned to the car, retrieved our gear and wheeled our bags up to the accommodation.

As Whitby is somewhat famous for its seafood we decided we should have a proper seafood meal this evening and lined up for the most in-demand restaurant in the town. After waiting in the chilly lineup chatting to some other English people for about 30 minutes, we got a table and enjoyed an excellent meal - Seafood chowder, Crab Sandwiches and Halibut fish and chips (and mushy peas which is pretty much always the only extra offered).
We decided we needed to go for a walk after this large meal but as we emerged from the restaurant, there was a really cold wind blowing up the harbour. We braved this stiff breeze and headed up to the Cook memorial and the Whalebone Arch.
On the way there we decided that, as we had been in the UK for just over a month now and HADN’T had an icecream yet, we really should do this also. So along with all the other locals, we strode along in the freezing evening with our ice-cream cones trying to finish them before the icy wind melted them prematurely.

We climbed the hill to the monument, snapped a few photos with shivering hands and then retreated back to the warmth and comfort of our quaint little B&B room.
It promises to be a lazy start tomorrow, as breakfast doesn’t commence being served until 9am!Read more