Whitby

Hi all, it’s seems like I’m averaging out one post per month so if that’s all I can manage I’ll try and make them count.
Last week me and the bf had our 5 years together anniversary, so having booked some time off work we were determined to get away for a couple of days and decided Whitby on the North East coast was our desired location. I’ve been to whitby once before with a friend but this time we had plenty of time to go explore. Firstly I’d like to give a recommendation, we stayed in the Riviera Guest House on the west cliff. I really wanted a sea view from our room on this trip so booked a double en-suite with sea view. When we arrived the host Zed informed us that seen as they weren’t too busy he was upgrading us free of charge to a superior double, and superior it was, this was the view from our room.

I was blown away by the beautiful bay window looking out onto a stunning view, the room was large and bathroom was lovely and warm and clean, the breakfast was delicious with many choices and hospitality was prompt and friendly.
To get to Whitby we had to travel to Scarborough first (Neither me or the bf drive). I know we only went at the beginning of May but I thought I’d take this opportunity to show you the old tram.

As you can see the tram company was established in 1881, and is still working! Though I admit I’ve only been it once, I find it just a bit too rickety.

As you can see the tram is on the cliff-side and ferries people up and down the steep slopes (it is rather scary).
After grabbing some lunch in Scarborough we headed for the bus to Whitby and had a look round the town.

The bus journey to Whitby is a treat in itself, you travel through the North York Moors which is incredibly beautiful on a clear day and as you crest one of the hills you make your way down into Robin Hoods Bay, which has to be one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. Unfortunately I didn’t get a pic but do google it, it’s such a pretty place. The bus then climbs back up onto the moors and then trundles along to whitby, where the first thing you notice is the incredibly gothic and imposing structure of Whitby Abbey. Perched on the cliff top, you can see it from almost everywhere in Whitby. Walking round the town you can get great views of the harbour and all the fishing boats.

The little streets are not unlike those in York, very narrow and windey, very cobbly and picturesque. Up on the west cliff, where we were staying is the whale-bone arch, made from the jaw bones of what must have been a ginormous whale.

After checking in at our b&b we went to quite a well known restraunt in Whitby called Magpies. It was a short walk from our b&b and there’s a takeaway next door in case you don’t want to sit in. We both had fish and chips but there was a wide range of seafood, all fresh and local. I consider myself quite a connoisseur of fish and chips and I must admit, it was possibly the best fish I ever tasted.

After we filled our bellies full of scrummy fish and chips we decided to take a walk along the beach just by the west cliff. The sun was warm and almost setting and the beach was all but empty.

We must have walked a couple of miles but it was so nice we didn’t seem to notice. We came across the colourful beach huts which I couldn’t help taking a few snaps of.

And I just couldn’t help this next photo, if this isn’t a seasidey photo I don’t know what is.

The seaside isn’t the seaside without a stripy deckchair.

I get a bit snap happy when I’m on the beach so I’ll just share a few with you.

Me and the bf both agreed this looks like its been taken from outer space.

I just love the depth these clouds give in this photo, it really opens up your eyes to how far you can see out.
After we got back to the b&b we decided we’d sit and watch the sunset. Apparently Whitby is the only place in Yorkshire where the sun rises and sets in the sea, in the summer months. We were lucky enough to witness it.

The sky turned an orangey gold, and the shimmer of the sun on the water was beautiful.

But what really took my breath away was the view of the cliffs with the sunset.

I hope my photos do it justice.
The following day we had the full day in Whitby and the weather was a little drizzly. But undeterred we wandered around the town and walked up the 199 steps to the abbey for a closer look.

I was quite surprised how easily I managed the steps as I’m not in the best physical condition at the moment :/. But the view is well worth the ascent especially on a clear day. However there’s something to be said for the eerie foggy weather that lends itself to the moors and sparks the imagination in such a gothic place, after all Whitby is the inspirational location behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Further at the top I took a few close ups of the Abbey itself, though we didn’t go in, it still is quite visible from outside the walls.

As you can see the Abbey is now ruins but the towers and stones that are left gets ones imaginative juices going, and its not difficult to picture life up there as a monk in the times of the Tudors and the dissolution of the monesteries, quite chilling really.
Of course the trek down the steps was easier than going up and whilst we strolled through the town we saw on the other side of the river the tell tale puffs of steam from the steam train, which I insisted we must go see. As a child I was a huge fan of Thomas the tank engine and when I stepped into the station I regressed into a child like state at the joy of seeing . . .

The Green Knight!!! I know I’m very much a geeky nerdy person but I outdid myself when I saw this beautiful example of living history and british engineering. The noise was everything you imagine it to be and more, it’s loud, the steam hisses out of the engine and the smell of coal is prevalent in the air. I loved every minute of it, especially the chugging noise as it took its vintage carriages along.

After taking some snaps (and trust me I wasn’t the only one) I insisted we see it on the morrow to capture a little video of its arrival to show my nephew when we got home, but for the time being we carried on our adventure.
One of the boxes I wanted to tick on our holiday was to go fossil hunting. I studied Geology at college which included a palaeontology module which I am absolutely fascinated by, Whitby is a well known area for this activity and we strolled the beach by the harbour. It was just as we were turning back with a little deflated hope that we saw . . .

This ammonite. Granted it isn’t the best fossil ever found in Whitby but I think you can quite clearly see the distinct spiral of the ammonite shell.
For lunch we went for a cream tea at a lovely quaint little cafe and made our way back out into slightly better weather. The bf bought me some lovely jet earrings and we strolled back to the b&b, picking up yet more fish and chips on the way back for our tea.
On our final day we had another little wander and found, much to my delight, a little market containing a wonderful little haberdashers. I didn’t see it at first but the bf said “turn around” and outside the little shop I saw. . . .

Button heaven!!!!! My eyes must have popped out my head!!! Of course I purchased some but inside there was more, floor to ceiling fabric, all lovely prints and for only £6.99 a meter and £2.00 for fat quarters, I bought a couple of meters and a fat quarter.

The card on top is the shop name and I believe they are on Facebook. There was some fab buttons, here’s the selection I bought

My favourites have to be these stripy rainbow ones.

I also bought this little bag of star buttons, I think they’re real funky I just hope I can put them to good use. At a different market I also got this . . .

Think my spotty needles look real well in it. It was the bf who bought it for me, he has a thing about foxes.
So after getting yet some more pics of the steam train and a little video for my nephew (who is mad about Thomas the tank engine) we headed back to the bus station for the return journey. We stopped briefly in Scarborough for an ice-cream and got the, not so glamorous, diesel train home. It was the perfect few days away. I’d seen great views, had an excellent b&b with great sea view, enjoyed good weather, strolled on the beach, seen the steam train twice, had a cream tea, ate more fish and chips than were good for me, found a fossil in the sand, picked up some bargain craft supplies and got some great pics.
Arriving home is always a big disheartening so with days left before we have to go back to work we visited Hobbycraft where I picked up some seed beads . . .

And the Bothy Threads cut thru light house by Amanda Loverseed, quite fitting whilst on our hols.

As regular readers will know I’m currently working on Amanda Loverseeds cut thru narrow boat, but I have a terrible habit of leaving stuff lying around when I’m not doing them, so to rectify this problem I became quite determined to make myself a cross-stitch bag. And so I got to work . . .

Chose my printed fabric and sewed by hand until I was in quite a lot of pain, but the not quite finished result is rather good I reckon.

I’ve put a pocket on the front with crochet detail . . .

And buttons to fasten the pocket shut . . .

I still need to create the button holes and I’m thinking of doing the crochet detail around the top of the bag, but considering I didn’t use a ruler or in fact any straight lines at all I think it turned out rather well. I like the way it has a slightly slouchy look, and it hides my spare tyre quite well.

For now its practical enough, and I’ll show you when it is completely finished.
And so were back at work tomorrow (deflated sigh) but it has been a wonderful little holiday.

Scarborough

Hi guys, as you know we’ve just moved home and to fully replenish ourselves from the stresses of moving we decided last weekend, as it was a bank holiday, to visit the seaside for a much needed getaway. Our destination Scarborough.
It’s one of my favourite places, plenty to see and do and eat. The history of British seaside towns is quite tragic really, once they were bustling centres for tourists with the developing railways that stretched across Britain in the Victorian era, and gradually as years flew by air travel became more accessible and affordable to the masses and with the introduction of the package holiday british seaside towns decayed. However many places held on and have regenerated themselves as “holidays at home” have become popular again. Scarborough is such a place. With its cliff top castle ruins, grand hotel perched bravely on the seafront and the resting place of one of England’s finest writers Anne Bronte, there is much to see and do.

Anyway enough history. We caught an early train and as it isn’t a very long journey from where we live we arrived in plenty of time to go to the beach before lunch.

The sun was out but kept hiding behind scattered cloud but this didn’t dissuade me one bit, I had brought a towel and intended to paddle! (I had been waiting an awfully long while to visiting the seaside) despite the water being a tad cold, it was wonderful to have the waves splash up my legs as my toes sunk into the sloppy sand underneath. I just love a paddle.

The weather had been on and off all week so I was quite surprised to see so many people eager to spend the day on the sea front, but it was a bank holiday weekend and people were determined to enjoy it, we sat close to the donkeys on the beach which were walking back and forth ferrying little children to and fro on donkey rides, the donkeys themselves were allowed quite a bit of freedom and could wander if they wished but never went far from their herd.

It was nice to see people flying kites on the beach as well, something which I’ve never tried, but am eager to do so next time. I love the sea and found myself more than a little snap happy as the tide came in

The sunshine on the waves was great and there were many yachts out to sea, not to mention the pirate ship which does a trip round the South Bay.

From the beach there is the best view of the grand hotel, which is unmistakable in its Victorian grandeur.

What a great view those windows must have. Also from the beach you can see the lighthouse on the harbour . . .

And further north the castle ruins . . .

The castle is run by English Heritage and you have to pay on entry. It’s a pretty steep climb which I’ve done many times but we didn’t visit on this occasion. The castle holds special events somedays with medieval activities such as jousting, and is great fun for adults and kids alike. Just outside the castle is a graveyard overlooking the South Bay, this is where Anne Bronte is buried. The Bronte sisters are some of my favourite authors and “Agnes Grey” by Anne Bronte is one of my favourite books, its heart-warming to see that some people still put flowers near her grave.

After our rest on the beach we took a wander and had lunch at the “Golden Grid” seafood restraunt which is partly the inspiration for a book by GP Taylor, which has now been made into a film. I’d been to this restraunt before and was won over by its maritime charm and great food, most if not all of which is caught the very same day. (note to self, must try the crab cakes with sweet chili sauce, sounds yummy)
On this occasion we had haddock and chips, well, you can’t go to seaside without having fish and chips, and in Scarborough there’s no shortage of places to get them. We then, with full bellies, headed towards the north bay. We skirted round the cliff where the castle lies and I got a few snaps of the seabirds nesting on the cliff face.

I’m not great at identifying seabirds yet but I know most of them were common seagulls and Herring gulls, if they’re not the same thing anyway. We didn’t go all the way up to north beach as we were running short of time to get our return train, but as we were walking back we heard a woman saying “I’ve just seen something!” And was pointing out to sea, so we stopped to have a look, and sure enough we saw rising out of the water every few moments, a dorsal fin! We weren’t sure what it belonged to at first perhaps a porpoise or a dolphin but we were sure it was a mammal.

This was the first time I’d seen a dolphin/porpoise and it was an amazing end to a great day, we strolled back the way we came as the porpoise was going in the same direction, I got a little video as I loved to see the shine of the water off its skin as the sun caught it. As we reached the harbour we stopped for an ice cream and watched a man and his son fishing for crabs on the harbour wall, they had a big enough job keeping the oversized seagulls away from their catch. We headed for the train station tired but content, content that the weather had maintained its warmth and sunshine, content that we’d had a good feed of fish and chips and ice cream, content that I’d finally got to go for a paddle and now my feet feel lovely and soft because of the exfoliating sand, just content.