North Yorkshire Coast #2 - Whitby and Sandsend

Hi there everyone 😀

I just have a couple more posts to share from our North Yorkshire coast holiday back at the beginning of June. It seems like an absolute age ago now ... we certainly have packed a lot in to the last few months.

It was Tuesday of our week away and weather forecast was a little better so we headed back to Whitby’s west side to see if we could get any better photos looking back across the town and we didn’t do too badly ...

It was certainly a lot brighter than it had been on the Monday and there were some great views looking back across the town ...

 Neither of us had really explored this part of Whitby before so we walked along the prom heading North to see what we could find.

The first thing we came across was this intriguing looking structure ...
Upon closer inspection it was actually a memorial in remembrance of the bombardment of Whitby during the 2nd World War. It was both really pretty and poignant at the same time ...

We carried on along the prom to the beach huts, which neither of us had seen before. Ever a sucker for beach huts we had to walk right to the end ...

... taking in the quirky hut number plaques and signs ...

... before making an about turn and heading back ...
Now ... Martin is a Yorkshireman born and bred and spent the majority of his childhood holidays on the North Yorkshire coast but the Whitby cliff lift came as a real revelation. I'd read something about it somewhere but didn't really know what to expect.

We were both pleased to find it though, as we didn't really fancy the walk back up the top ...

The chappy in the kiosk told us that the lift opened in 1931 and consists of a vertical shaft down from the cliff top through the clay, leading to the tunnel. Originally there were two cars, running in parallel, but now there is only the one.

We could only but marvel at the foresight and enthusiasm the Edwardians must have had to have undertaken this feat of engineering ...

We exited the lift at the top, not far from where we'd parked ... there's loads of free on street parking on this side of the town ...
From here we decided to head North along the coast on to Sandsend where we had a wander along the beach taking photos and looking for pretty pebbles ...

... before stopping for refreshments in the garden of The Wits End and heading home for a bit of an earlier finish ...

********************************************************************************

North Yorkshire Coast #1 - Geocaching in Whitby

Hi there everyone 😀

I know we are jumping about a bit with blog content at the moment so apologies if it's getting a bit confusing 😀

Today we are in Whitby, back at the beginning of June ,where following our very busy weekend having our annual catch up with old work friends, it was Monday morning and we had a nice easy day planned, having a bit of a breather after three full on days of being out and about.

We did have a much slower start but I wouldn’t say it exactly ended up being a nice steady day. We headed back into Whitby around lunchtime, in the mist and the rain, for an afternoon of Geocaching, which took us on another good walk around the sights of the town centre.

We started off at a wooden sculpture that neither of us had seen before, where we had to collect some information about ships that had been built in Whitby in the past, before being sent off elsewhere for the next set of clues.

Along the way we completed another cache at the war memorial ...

... before hunting for a series of clues that had us visiting eight of the town centre pubs. Fortunately all of the information we needed could be found on the outside of the pubs so we didn’t end up completely sloshed.
Once all the information had been collected we did retire to The Board, for a bit of a breather, and to work out where we needed to go next.
Fully refreshed following giant fish finger sandwiches, which were a bit of a disappointment I have to say, we headed back out towards the East Pier lighthouse.

Neither of us had been out this way before so, whilst it was still damp and breezy, it was good to explore somewhere new.

We followed the narrow cobbled road to the left of the steps leading up to the abbey.

We passed a pretty little memorial garden ...

... and plenty of quaint and quirky looking cottages, this being the very aptly named Tipple Cottage ...

... and ended up at the entrance to the pier, where it was pretty blowy, but the rain had stopped ...
We needed to walk out to the lighthouse to find some more information ...

... which we found before having a quick selfie ...

Having found what we were looking for we then headed back across the bridge to the west side of town, where we just needed a bit more information which was to be found on the west pier lighthouse. Well, by now, we’d pretty much had enough and decided to retire to The Pier for another pit stop where Google told us all we needed to know.

From there we headed back to the car and took a drive up to the whalebone for a few misty photos.

Whilst up there we managed to locate the bench overlooking the view which is said to have inspired Bram Stoker to use Whitby as the setting of part of his world famous Dracula novel.
 

By now we were both shattered and more than ready to head back to The Piggery for nice quiet evening just chilling out.

The forecast was better for Tuesday and we did head back to the west side to see if we could get some better photos, but I think I will save these for another post.

*********************************************************************************

Weekend Catch Up #3 - Whitby & The Bay to Boggle Hole

Hi there everyone 😀

We are back up on the North Yorkshire coast for the 3rd in a series of posts about our week's holiday, which started out with an annual catch up with old work friends.

On Saturday the plan was for us all to meet up in Whitby, where we would have a mooch about, a few pub stops and lunch and then to either stay out till the evening, if the weather was good, or to head back to Robin Hood's Bay to eat, if the weather wasn’t so good.

Writing this post at the beginning of August, in the midst of a heatwave, it seems very strange to say this but we woke up to a heavy mist, so had a bit of a slow start. We met up with Sue and Jude in Whitby, with Rob and Phil having decided to make the cliff top walk in with Charlie ... the gorgeous springer spaniel, who is very much part of the gang.

We had a bit of a mooch about and met up with the boys at the bottom of the steps to the abbey, before heading back across the bridge to find somewhere for lunch.

The weather wasn’t too bad, though rain was definitely on the way, and we ended up having crab and prawn sandwiches in the harbour, followed by ice creams, before we parted company and we headed back to The Piggery for a bit of a chill out before meeting up later at The Victoria Hotel at the top of the hill in Robin Hoods Bay for dinner, and very nice it was too.
Sunday was our last full day with all of us together and we had a walk on the cards. We were meeting up in Robin Hood's Bay and making the walk to Boggle Hole, starting out on the cinder path, which was nice and steady.

We soon veered off though and had a couple of serious up and downs before ending up at the youth hostel where drinks and cake went down very well.

We had a nice walk back to The Bay along the beach, where Charlie had a good run and we had a few more pit stops as we made our way back up the hill and Jude and Rob's caravan for the annual BBQ.
As always the BBQ was a real treat, with plenty to eat, all expertly cooked to perfection by Rob, plenty of chat, laughter and discussion about where we would be meeting next year.

It looks like Broadway is the favourite option, so see you all again next year 😀

*********************************************************************************