United Kingdom
River Esk

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    • Day 34

      From the Harbour Bridge to Botany Bay

      May 30, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

      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!
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    • Day 7

      Whitby 🏖

      September 24, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

      ... in Whitby angekommen haben wir den Rest des Tages ganz gemütlich verbracht und einfach das Blau genossen 🌊 unser Ausflug nach Whitby begann mit einer wunderbaren Aussicht auf das Meer, zwei sehr leckeren Scones und dem ersten leckeren Kaffee, den ich, seit wir in England sind, getrunken habe! ☕️ Danach haben wir den Hafen und den Strand von Whitby erkundet, der wunderschön und gemütlich ist, doch seht selbst 🏖 Die Promenade ist voller Spielhallen und Essensstände. Julian hat hier sogar zum ersten Mal einen frischen Donut gegessen. Fazit: Sehr, sehr lecker! 🍩
      Außerdem haben wir gelernt, dass es in Whitby mindestens 7 verschiedene Arten von Möwen gibt, die jedoch alle nicht gefüttert werden dürfen, was hier auf zahlreichen Schildern und sogar auf den Essensverpackungen, z.B. auf den Fish & Chips, aufgedruckt wurde 😅
      Auf der Heimfahrt mit unserem Mietwagen (zum Glück sind wir das Ding bald wieder los 😂) durften wir feststellen, dass sich mitten auf den englischen Bundesstraßen/Autobahnen Wendestellen, und noch besser, Bushaltestellen befinden 😂 da muss man schnell mal eine Vollbremsung auf freier Fahrt hinlegen 🚘
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    • Day 1

      Whitby et le Comte de Dracula

      November 6 in England ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

      Des centaines de miles et autant de ronds-points, une route aveugle, bordée de haies... Un ennui insondable.
      Puis le Yorkshire, enfin, et la si jolie Whitby, celle de mes 10 ans...mes meilleures vacances.Read more

    • Day 35

      Our favourite York(!)

      May 31, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

      It goes without saying that Darcy is our favourite York - but the city of York is pretty special too ;)

      We had our laziest start ever this morning, made some WhatsApp calls back home and wandered down to breakfast at 9.30am. We checked out immediately after breakfast, took all our bags back to the car (about 10 minutes walk along the cobblestoned streets) and then did a little more exploring of Whitby.
      The crowds were building again but were tolerable. The weather was not as cold as yesterday but there was a solid overcast.
      Loss and I went exploring separately for a bit (I was interested to see lots of people fishing for crabs off the wharf using collapsible nets with some bait secured in the base), then met up and had a look through the Museum of Jet which provided some interesting background to its use.
      It is no longer permissible to mine the material and the jewellery shops are supplied with their raw materials by locals who literally scour the beaches for bits that have been washed up on shore.
      Queen Victoria wore a lot of Whitby Jet jewellery during her 40 year long period of mourning after the death of her beloved Albert. This meant that Jet became the choice of Victorian women for mourning purposes but has more recently become a regular jewellery choice alongside any other precious or semi-precious gemstone.
      Another claim to fame for Whitby is its 7thC Abbey. Its decaying form and dramatic setting, sprawling graveyard and church surrounded by swooping bats - along with Jet being used as mourning jewellery inspired the author Bram Stoker to write the novel ‘Dracula’ in 1897 after having visited the town.
      We climbed the 199 steps up from the old town to the Abbey, took in the view and then returned to our car to commence our drive to York.

      The scenery changed dramatically as soon as we left the coast, and we saw on a hillside a very strangely shaped building which was part of a facility signposted as ‘RAF Flyingdales’. This turns out to be something ‘that provides a continuous ballistic missile early warning service to the UK and US governments, ensuring a surprise missile attack could not succeed. The RADAR is capable of tracking objects including satellites and debris, 3000 miles into space.’

      We found our accommodation in York without any issues and both the quality and location of the apartment are excellent - in a very quiet little nook but very central to the heart of York.
      Once we unloaded ALL our luggage this time (it was time to reorganise the luggage properly and start getting it ‘airline ready’ again) we had a bit of late lunch then headed off to start exploring by foot. We headed across the river, got ourselves onto the old city walls and began circumnavigating the city. The walls are not complete which meant getting back down to street level a few times to find the next section of wall.
      We were keen to have a look at the York Minster which is an iconic building but also has some significance as far as Bible history and prophecy is concerned (see the photos).
      We were also keen to have a bit of a look inside.
      Paid tours had finished for the day but we were invited in to the Evensong service which was about to commence. Not quite sure how it happened, but next minute we find ourselves seated up near the altar and the 40 minute service got underway.
      Being the third most important church in the Church of England, it was very much a ‘high CofE’ service and very foreign to us in so many ways.
      Never-the-less we got a good appreciation for the architecture and acoustics with the pipe organ and choir in full voice.
      Following this, we continued our tour of the walls of the city, bought some groceries for dinner and arrived back at our apartment just before 8pm.
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    • Day 4 - North York Moors NP & Whitby

      September 13, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

      Today, the weather was great, so we decided to visit the North York Moors National Park and the coastal town of Whitby. The moors were hilly and covered in heather, with sheep roaming around freely. Unfortunately, we missed the full bloom of the heather by about two weeks. We stopped by a few towns within the national park and took a walk on the English footpaths.

      In the afternoon, we went to Whitby, a coastal town known for its beaches, cliffs, old abbey, and lively boardwalk by the ocean.
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    • Day 12

      Whitby Abbey / Draculas Town

      July 27, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      Heute haben wir einmal einen kleinen Stadtbummel gemacht. Nachdem wir lange gefrühstückt haben und uns bei dichtem Nebel und Regen entspannt haben , haben wir die Räder gesattelt und sind in den Ort gefahren. Whitby Abbey , eine Tour durch die engen Gassen Whitby‘s, eine kleine Bootstour und jede Menge kleiner Shops standen auf dem Zettel. Abends noch länger unter der Markise verbracht gab es bei einem fantastischen Meerblick Burger und Salat.Read more

    • Day 101

      Down to the beach!

      September 26, 2017 in England ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

      Finally late this afternoon the fog cleared just long enough for us to see the beach! And what a surprise! All these coloured little beach huts lined up. It's a way down the cliff to the water- we walked but it can also be accessed via a lift. By the time we walked along the beach a little to the peer, the fog had set in again with the wind! Cold!!Read more

    • Day 29

      Whitby

      October 6, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

      We hired a car in York and made our way to the coast, emerging, via some incredibly narrow roads, at Robin Hoods Bay (or, at least, at the Pay-and-Display car park at the top of the hill).

      Today, it takes five hours to travel from Sherwood Forest to Robin Hoods Bay by public transport, and presumably it took quite a bit longer in the 14th century, when Robin Hood was actually (or, maybe not actually) alive. So it’s probably safe to assume the place doesn’t have much to do with him or his merry band of outlaws, other than a name.

      It was, though, a picturesque tangle of narrow streets leading down to a small cove with a few fishing boats, a couple of pubs and a heap of shops selling all manner of twee nick-nacks.

      Whitby, just up the coast, was different. Bigger than we expected, and a bit brasher - it has Pleasureland, Funland and Fun City all in a row on the waterfront - it was good fun.

      We walked up the hill to Whitby Abbey, part inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula tale, and window-shopped for Whitby Jet. Jet is a black gemstone, apparently now largely forgotten beyond Whitby, related to coal and made popular by the original influencer, Queen Victoria. It’s not every gemstone that will burn if you set fire to it.

      Friday evening in Whitby was pretty hectic, and we enjoyed a few drinks watching the sun go down over the beautiful and historic - yet bustling - old port.

      Our last Whitby experience was a day out on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

      We travelled from Whitby to Grosmont, where we had a look around, then walked about six kilometres to Goathland on a track following a previous railway alignment. It was incredibly peaceful walking through some wonderful scenery for a few hours.

      With moorland topping the hills above us, black-headed sheep dotting the lush fields, a multitude of small bubbling creeks all around, and the occasional walkers with their dogs, it was all rather quintessentially English.

      Goathland was the fictional town of Aidensfield in the television series “Heartbeat”, and the magnificent Goathland Railway Station has featured in the Harry Potter movies and a host of other productions.

      We continued our train experience on to Pickering, enjoying the varied countryside all the way, then returned to Whitby.
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    • Day 100

      Captain Cook

      September 25, 2017 in England ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

      Captain Cook came to Whitby when he was 18 years old to start his seaman training. All the boats, including the Endeavour, where built here in Whitby. There is a memorial to him given jointly by Australia, New Zealand and Canada.Read more

    • Day 100

      Whitby England

      September 25, 2017 in England ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      We've arrived in the U.K. 🇬🇧 After a very early start this morning we caught a flight to London, picked up our car and headed north for a 4.5 hour drive to Whitby on the coast in the Yorkshire Downs & Moors. The weather is a little bleak today but great scenery.Read more

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    River Esk

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