Day 38 Yorkshire Dells and Dales

Thursday 26/04/2018 Toll Bridge Studio 12 Barlby Road Selby!

Today our plan is to come down the coast line instead of inland, as the coast line we hadn’t been along.... when w did the Bus trip 2 yrs ago we had a fair idea it went on a lot of the area we were thinking of going along....

So packed breaky had, a phone call to Mum and Dad as Mum was heading to a hospital for a small pre Op before she has another bigger one next week.... It has to do with her heart....

Anyway after a chat and seeing they both looked pretty good, we set off... But not to far up the road we were about to hit a huge traffic jam, so we zipped side ways into Sunderland...To be honest it wasn’t as good a trip as we had hoped.... the inland had more to offer but this was different... we had a stop at Seaham... this was where it had coal mines years ago and was mainly a coal producing area. Now we aren’t sure what keeps it going other than Tourist... a stop to look at the beach and you could see evidence of past digging although most of it was underground...We ducked in and out of smaller communities all the way to Hartlepool..
So many Van parks in this area... but when you really looked at the set up of these parks they left a lot to be desired, especially the way many of the mobile cabins were placed on Besser bricks many of them looked like they would topple of them... scary if they did and people were in them...

So in we went up to Hartlepool... this was a huge place, as so many of the towns/cities were in our trip up this side of the country.... we did try and pull up at a small village pub for lunch, but once we got to the door realised it was actually shut down.... so in we went good thing too as we found a fantastic a cafe set right in a cliff over looking the beach before Whitby..... The food was the usual, but the setting made up for it just seeing the long beach, the coastal cliffs and all,the people zooming by..

We think every 2nd person has a dog in the UK and they all come into the restaurants with them, which drives us mad no end..lAt lunch we had a couple who I could have chocked quite cheerfully...Poor Dillon the dog... every minute his owner said, sit Dillon sit.... this went on and on and on and on, until I nearly got up threw poor Dillon over the cliff and the owner out on the highway to be run over.... sounds harsh will yep it is.... he truly drive us to despair ......the thing is Dillon had a brother with him as well, but bobby didn’t get up he must have learnt long ago what a nagging owner sounds like...Dillon still had to learn and so did everyone else in the restaurant..while there 3 chocolate labies were bought in and this set Dillon and his owner off as well, calming him down. dinner certainly had its entertainment just could have been different type of entertainment other than Dillon....

Having had enough of Dillon we set off for Whitby and wow what a place... Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Borough of Scarborough and English county of North Yorkshire. It is located within the historic boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has an established maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Cliff is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey, where Cædmon, the earliest recognised English poet, lived. The fishing port developed during the Middle Ages, supporting important herring and whaling fleets, and was (along with the nearby fishing village of Staithes) where Captain Cook learned seamanship. Tourism started in Whitby during the Georgian period you can see this by the beautiful Georgian style terrace houses. They truly are AMA ing to see all lined up from Street to Street, I felt these homes had so much more architectural design than many if the other towns we had seen this style in...
Tourism seems to be its main stay these days a tourist Mecca has developed over the years...
Back in the day tourism had developed further with the arrival of the railway in 1839. Its attraction as a tourist destination is enhanced by its proximity to the high ground of the North York Moors National Park, its Heritage Coastline and by its association with the horror novel Dracula. Jet and alum were mined locally. Whitby Jet, which was mined by the Romans and Victorians, became fashionable during the 19th century. The earliest record of a permanent settlement is in 656, when as Streanæshealh it was the place where Oswy, the Christian king of Northumbria, founded the first abbey, under the abbess Hilda. The Synod of Whitby was held there in 664. In 867, the monastery was destroyed by Viking raiders. Another monastery was founded in 1078. It was in this period that the town gained its current name, Whitby (from "white settlement" in Old Norse). In the following centuries Whitby functioned as a fishing settlement until, in the 18th century, it developed as a port and centre for shipbuilding and whaling, the trade in locally mined alum, and the manufacture of Whitby jet jewellery.
Other significant features include the swing bridge, which crosses the River Esk and the harbour, which is sheltered by the grade II listed East and West piers. The town's maritime heritage is commemorated by statues of Captain Cook and William Scoresby, as well as the whalebone arch that sits at the top of the West Cliff. The town also has a strong literary tradition and has featured in literary works, television and cinema, most famously in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.

A massive Abbey, The Whitby Abbey, on the hill on the other side of this massive seaside town, stood out for all the world to see as you drove into this very, interesting town. The abbey ruin at the top of the East Cliff is the town's oldest and most prominent landmark. A monastery was founded at Streanæshealh in AD 657 by King Oswiu or Oswy of Northumbria, as an act of thanksgiving, after defeating Penda, the pagan king of Mercia. At its foundation, the abbey was an Anglo-Saxon 'double monastery' for men and women. Its first abbess, the royal princess Hild, was later venerated as a saint. The abbey became a centre of learning and here Cædmon the cowherd was "miraculously" transformed into an inspired poet whose poetry is an example of Anglo-Saxon literature. The abbey became the leading royal nunnery of the kingdom of Deira, and the burial-place of its royal family. The Synod of Whitby, in 664, established the Roman date of Easter in Northumbria at the expense of the Celtic one. The monastery was destroyed between 867 and 870 in a series of raids by Vikings from Denmark under their leaders Ingwar and Ubba. Its site remained desolate for more than 200 years until after the Norman Conquest of 1066. After the Conquest, the area was granted to William de Percy who, in 1078 donated land to found a Benedictine monastery dedicated to St Peter and St Hilda. William de Percy's gift included land for the monastery, the town and port of Whitby and St Mary's Church and dependent chapels at Fyling, Hawsker, Sneaton, Ugglebarnby, Dunsley, and Aislaby, five mills including Ruswarp, Hackness with two mills and two churches. In about 1128 Henry I granted the abbey burgage in Whitby and permission to hold a fair at the feast of St Hilda on 25 August. A second fair was held close to St Hilda's winter feast at Martinmas. Market rights were granted to the abbey and descended with the liberty. Whitby Abbey surrendered in December 1539 when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

We drove to them Abbey to have a better look but the wind nearly sent us back to the car and once there we realised you couldn’t see much of it due to it’s big stone fence, still not to be beaten we found a spot to get a better look... To go into this Abbey would have been over $20ea so just a look was all we could afford monetary or time wise.... I a, sure each one of these Abbeys are getting bigger and more elaborate than the last..
Maybe they tried to out do a huge other back then I don’t know, but this one was huge and just stunning.... A look and we tried to get a better look at the harbour and the seaside township from above but again the big stone fence stopped that.... it is one of those towns you could spend days exploring and still not see everything great about it..lol
Seaside
So onwards we headed into Scarborough this city was again unreal to see, it is the largest seaside holiday resort town on this side of the north east coastline.......We so wanted to look here as well but time was not on our side this afternoon so we had to drive through to Selby... The canola fields were everywhere as we drove through the seaside countryside. Yep double side... their farming land goes right to the sea.... unreal... the fields of bright yellow looked so beautiful, just don’t stop the car or the smell hits you... Canola as we call it Rapeseed they call it here stinks to high heaven when you stop the car....

So finally we made Selby and tonight and for the next 3 nights we have a little unit, complete with oven, washing machine, sink etc... however it really is small, but we have managed to squeeze all our stuff in.... might need a shipping container when we head home.. ha ha.... getting so many odds and ends to make ourselves, comfortable as we try to self cater with limited things... although one would wonder if it really is limited...

Another can of soup, but I could use the microwave, yeahhh not the kettle brilliant.Read more