Whitby Abbey

There are 199 steps that take you from the town up to the headland where the ruins of Whitby Abbey stand next to St Mary’s a Church where Dracula is supposed to be buried. Dracula is a work of fiction of course but it doesn’t stop everyone searching the graveyard to find his grave. This can take a very long time because not only are there loads of gravestones, but many of them are seriously weathered so it’s difficult or impossible to read who lies there, but there is a grave near the entrance to the cemetery which you can see in the fourth photo of this footprint. It has a skull and crossbones on it and some believe this is where Dracula lies. Others believe it’s the grave of a pirate and others still think the symbol is simply the trademark of one of the stone masons of the time. Which is correct? You must decide.

Surprisingly there weren’t so many people around here but that may be because it was quite late in the day. There was an ice cream van next to the entrance to the Abbey and Rob just couldn’t resist the opportunity for a ‘99’. The red sauce included isn’t the usual stuff you get elsewhere because here you get asked if you’d like Dracula’s blood on your cone. The answer has to be ‘Yes’ of course.

The rest of the evening was spent in Whitby culminating with an Indian meal then back to a Goathland. Tomorrow would be an early start and Rob had already sussed out the car park charges in readiness - free until 9am.Read more