Sunday 25th April 2021
Today we got a much better impression of Whitby. Alison and Peter had booked online a visit to Whitby Abbey and so we left the motorhomes a little earlier than normal. This meant when we arrived and walked around Whitby on the opposite bank of the river where we had a quieter time and better impression.
The pedestrian route to the Abbey is quite strenuous as you have to climb 199 steps, my legs were still stiff from yesterday but thankfully I managed without too much discomfort.
The steps, Abbey and church graveyard feature in Bram Stoker’s book about Dracula, but obviously the history goes back much further.
At Michelle’s request we walked around the graveyard, I’m pleased to say there was no sign of evil, perhaps it was too sunny!
We wandered back down into town and after stopping for a snack we wandered up through the town on the opposite side of the river to the other headland overlooking the town. Here is a whale bone arch, a nod to whaling fleets of the past and also a statue of Captain James Cook the historic sea farer and explorer.
Of course we couldn’t finish our day out without trying the obligatory fish and chips of which Whitby is famed for. I’m sure someone has counted how many fish and chip shops there are in Whitby but needless to say you don’t have to search for one, I wouldn’t have thought that there was that much cod in the sea to sustain them. Ours had the original name of “ Mr Chips”, I will say everything was freshly cooked and tasted good, Layla certainly enjoyed sharing the fish.
