Whitby

I didn’t realise that it was so long since my last entry, doesn’t time fly when… well you know the rest of that saying.

It was a bright, sunny day on 26 November and we spent the afternoon in The Peak District. I was cloud watching which was very easy ‘cos it was blue skies! I didn’t see any Cumulus forming over warm spots, how do you get warm spots this time of year? But I did find some Cumulus Humilis on the horizon. These are flattened cumulus due to inversion, warm air rising forming the clouds and cold air sinking flattening the top of the cloud, at least that’s how I interpreted my junior weatherman’s book.

We visited Dave, in the evening, a Radio Amateur and talked aerials. Could be a boring subject I know but it’s quite complicated, if the antenna is not tuned to the radio frequency when you press the microphone the power you send out into the ether reaches the antenna, which promptly sends it straight back into your radio blowing all it’s internal organs apart and hey presto you are the proud owner of a box full of melted unrecognisable components! Hopefully this will not happen to our little radio. Our next project is to cut measured lengths of wire to use on the high frequency bands and end up with a back garden looking like Rugby transmitting station!

We got fed up waiting for the weather to clear up and decided to ignore it and hit the East coast anyway. We took the route through Pickering and over the moors to Whitby. We love the moors and even at this time of the year they are so colourful, all shades of brown from a deep burnt umber through burnt sienna to a beautiful light raw sienna. The mixture makes a lovely beckoning landscape and I always want to get out and walk amongst it.

It was getting late so we looked for a place to camp and ended up in The North Riding Forest at SE964944. A beautiful spot sheltered by trees but with a beautiful view over the valley. In the morning I stood enjoying the view in the dawn light and could hear Rooks calling. Nothing unusual in that but the sound was coming from about 150ft down in the valley below me. There was a small copse to far away for me to see any birds but the noise reminded me of Spring. Perhaps global warming is effecting the birds as well as the plants.

Next morning we trundled into Whitby and had breakfast at the Royal (actually we were parked outside!) this is the Hotel that Bram Stoker stayed in when he was getting inspiration for Dracula. Earlier this year we visited Slains Castle north of Aberdeen which is said to have been his inspiration for Dracula’s castle and now we were in Whitby, the inspiration for the setting of the novel. Whitby is a pretty inspiring place, built on the River Esk with cliffs climbing to 100ft both East and West of the town.

On the East cliff there are the ruins of the Abbey which Bram saw from the deck of the sailing ship as they approached the harbour.

On the West cliff there is an archway made from the jaw bones of a whale and you pass through them when following the footpath down into the town. These are to commemorate the Whaling industry in Whitby which was a source of employment from 1753 to 1833. Whaling was a dangerous profession with many men killed during these trips and when the returning ships were expected, a lookout would scan the horizon for the masts to appear, if a pair of whalebones were strung up to the masts, waiting wives of Whitby knew there was a full ship. That’s fine but if a mast was spotted with no whalebones, all the wives must have been worried sick waiting to find out if they were the widow.

Looking over the town from this vantage point you see a jumble of red pan tile roofs, a very distinctive view of the town.

The wind was just as strong down in town as on the cliff top and there was no escape from it. Trying to shelter on the leeward side of buildings proved to be useless ‘cos the wind just came over the top and down on your head, it was really impossible. We warmed up in the bookshop, one of the few shops open before 10 am and as the clock struck ten I crept out and up to a little church which is now a wool shop. As I was sneaking up the steps and through the door he caught me and insisted that both hands were kept firmly in pockets. It’s a beautiful Aladdin’s cave of yarn and ideas. Shawls made from a variety of shades and fancy yarns are sold made up or in kit form, £98 and £56 respectively and they sell denim wool which looks super when knitted into cardies. I had to walk right around the shop and was desperately tempted but you need a project before buying here or else you just end up with a skein of each and not enough of anything to make a garment. As it was, Pat managed to get out with his wallet intact!

Back on the street we passed a few Goths, and I’ve done some research on this description. It was used as early as 1530 but was used as a derogatory title, a bit like the word vandal today. It’s associated with the dark side (Darth Vader could have been a Goth!) but today it seems to have taken on a cult image and the Goths that visit Whitby on ‘Goth weekends’ are all happy and enjoying themselves and even though they dress in black they have brightly coloured hair and accessories. Whitby full of Goths is definitely a sight worth seeing. They’ve turned the original definition of the word completely on it’s head.

Walking back to the harbour a full size replica of the Grand Turk stands tall and proud. It’s an 18 century Man-o-War of the type used in the Battle of Trafalgar and has made Whitby it’s permanent home.

I have stood and watched young lassies climb the rigging to unfurl the ‘open’ banner, it’s something I’d love to have a go at but as I get vertigo when Pat stands too close to a 20ft drop I don’t think much to my chances.

We pulled in at Sandsend, a couple of miles North of Whitby and went for a walk along the beach. It was still very windy and tough walking on a sandy surface into a head wind. The dry sand was shimmering along the surface of the beach reminiscent of a swirling mass of Starlings. It’s a lovely beach long and wide with enough pebbles to keep me happy for a month or two and while his back was turned I managed to fill my pockets.
We both remembered a visit in Summer last year when we met up with Lyn and Simon, the weather was much better then! Lyn and I took off on pushbikes while Simon and Pat went Kapping along the beach. It was a great weekend.

Back in the van getting warm we calculated that the wind was hitting the surface of the sea at about 30 mph, you could actually see it race along the top of the water, it was blowing from land, down the Cliffside hitting the water before racing off towards Holland.

We’d never explored the coast North of Staithes and as it was cold, windy and midweek, with few people around it seemed like a good plan. So Flossie (GPS) was programmed to take us by the shortest route to Redcar. Mistake number 1. She landed us in the middle of a housing estate. Mistake number 2. I insisted on finding the beach. Mistake number 3. Pat took me to the beach. It was dull, lifeless, flat, boring and closed. It is probably quite good for kids on a warm summer day but Skegness as I remember it is better!

We checked out Saltburn by the Sea which has free parking this time of year, something in it’s favour. The pier is about 600 metres long and has had a rough life. It was built by the Victorians and was originally over 1200 metres long with a grand pier head with amusements at the end. It was damaged in a storm in which the pier head was lost and left to rot. It was renovated minus the pier head before being damaged in another ferocious storm and again left to rot. Finally in the last century it was renovated again to its current shorter length and is at present being well maintained. You can take a stroll to the end of the pier and fish from it.
We didn’t climb up to the town centre but walked a little way along the front. It felt like we were walking through the movie set of a ghost town all the little shop fronts with galvanised steel shutters and paper blowing along the prom, not a pretty sight on a blustery winter’s day.

Back at base and looking over the map there is one more place to visit, Warset Hill at 600 metres is one of the high spots of the area. There is also a mining museum close by and I should like to visit that. Earlier this year we had visited the mining museum at Blaenavon near Abergavenny in Wales and it was really good. The guides were all ex miners from that area and they knew what it was really like and could describe it in a way no other could. We went down the mine in a proper cage and were treated to some ‘miner’s banter’ and the walk through the mine was smashing, looking for different minerals in the rock walls and roofs and seeing the stables where ponies were kept. If you’re ever in that area I can recommend a visit to ‘Deep Mine’. Oh and it’s all free!

Only a short trip this time and back at home Pat was taking clothing out of the van when he picked up my coat and found out just how many pebbles I had managed to secrete into my pockets! He thought he’d broken his arm when it suddenly gave way. I got on with some weaving and knitting and trying my hand at designing some Fimo (clay) jewellery but failed miserably!

I have made some earrings using Swarovski beads which are very attractive and despite all the lovely colours available the clear beads are still my favourite.

Yesterday we took some of my knitted scarves to The Threshing Barn, a shop near Leek and found Miss Piggy’s sty was empty. That lovely soft hearted pig that we met on our last visit, who only wanted her head scratched is now residing in small packets in the fridge - yes sausages! I shall think of her every time I spear a sausage.

We’re trying to be patient and waiting for a settled spell of weather in the West because I am really looking forward to spending some time on Anglesey. I want to savour the feeling again of not having to get home for a set date.

The Peak District still beckons but the ground is so wet we daren’t put one wheel on the grass never mind all four. The ruts on the grass verges are so deep that if we fell into one we’d be grounded. Here’s hoping for some high pressure weather soon.