We currently have both children at home (passing through so not quite boomerang!) and they expressed a desire to have a 'Whitby Day' and Magpie Fish and Chips. Only too happy to oblige when a trip to Whitby is mooted, we promptly booked a night at the Youth Hostel. Droving up on Sunday, it was a bright sunny morning, but with a very strong wind which turned near gale force over night. The journey went well and we were soon enjoying lunch near Ravenscar, high above Robin Hood's Bay with a bird's eye view down to Bay Town. The heather was at its peak, providing colourful foreground interest to photographs and tinging the high moors with a flush of purple. Down on the beach were oystercatchers and turnstones foraging among the seaweed and a single heron fishing in the pools exposed by the retreating tide. Sandwich terns could be heard screeching offshore as they plunge dived into the shoals of sand eels.
After a snooze and shower it was time to head down into to Whitby for a wander along the east pier and a pint at the Duke of York before fish and chips at the Magpie, excellent as usual.
To view large, please click on an image
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| Ravenscar |
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| Ravenscar |
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| Ravenscar |
Rock and Kelp
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| Low Tide at Robin Hood's Bay |
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| Bay Town |
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| Alley in Robin Hood's Bay |
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| Colourful doors |
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| Colourful doors |
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| Boulder |
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| Looking towards Bay Town, Robin Hood's Bay |
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| Heather at its Peak, Bay Town in the Distance |
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| Ravenscar |
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| Heather and Robin Hoods Bay |
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| Whitby from the East Pier |
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| Whitby, West Pier |
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| Whitby, West Pier |
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| Whitby, West Pier |
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| Whitby Harbour at Dusk |
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| Late Afternoon Light, Whitby |
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| Late Afternoon Light, Whitby |
After a good night's sleep in the Youth Hostel followed by a holiday fry up, we were ready for the day. Staying in the hostel is excellent value; as well as free parking we also had free entry to the abbey. This is always an interesting visit and, as usual, I came away with a few images of this wonderful old building.
As we wandered down the 199 steps into the old town, the grey skies cleared and it turned into a beautiful, if blustery day. The gales overnight had piled the surf up and there were some magnificent waves pounding both piers of the outer harbour.
Feeling peckish again, we drove along the coast to nearby Sandsend for crab sandwiches and then shed shoes and donned shorts for a paddle and walk along the beach, looking for sea worn pebbles and sea glass, glistening jewels of white, green and, if luck is in, blue.
As our time began to draw to a close we decided to drive homewards over the moors for some photography of the heather, using a lone scots pine tree on Egton Moor that I had spotted when up here photographing dragonflies a few weeks ago. We delayed our journey home once more with a drink at the White Swan in beautiful Newton Upon Rawcliffe.
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| Whitby Abbey |
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| Natural Sculpture |
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| Whitby Abbey |
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| Whitby Abbey |
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| Classic Whitby |
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| The Outer Harbour |
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| Looking over the Harbour to the New Town |
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| The 199 Steps |
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| Rough Seas |
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| Rough Seas |
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| Sandsend Groynes |
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| Sandsend Groynes |
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| Sandsend Groynes |
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| Sandsend Groynes |
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| Lone Pine, Egton Moor |
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| Lone Pine, Egton Moor |
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| Lone Pine, Egton Moor |
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| Lone Pine, Egton Moor |
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| Marker Stone, Egton Moor |
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| Marker Stone, Egton Moor |
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| Lone Pine, Egton Moor |
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| Lone Pine, Egton Moo |
