Day 9 Friday 22nd May 2009 We visit Whitby

Day 9 Friday 22nd May 2009. We visit Whitby.
We had to arise early after our late night yesterday; we made it; breakfasted at 7:15am and made our way across the road to the station to catch the 8:30am train to Middlesbrough, where we caught an Esk Valley Railway train and arrived at Whitby 3½ hours later. The flat to rolling countryside we had seen up ‘til now gave way to small hills, some covered with rocks which were used to built the stone walls around some of the fields. At Grosmont several of our group alighted to enjoy the experience of a steam train trip. They later rejoined our group at Whitby ½ an hour before we were due to return to Newcastle. Whitby in the second coastal town situated at the mouth of a river; you may remember the first was Looe. This towns lay out was similar only in that it was built on each side of the river and on the hillsides; the exception being that the buildings were of a different construction and shape. The overall colour tended toward darker colours such as red, orange and browns whereas my memory is of the lighter shades of white, blue and grey at Looe. The river harbour was larger at Whitby. The ocean beach was larger, but less sheltered and I imagine surfing may be possible. On the top of the eastern skyline is dominated by the ruins of St. Hilda’s Abbey high on Whitby’s East Cliff. The abbey was founded in the year 657. The town commercialises the fact that Cpt. Cook spent his youth here having been born in nearby Marton. There was a replica of the bark Endeavour in which Cook sailed to New Zealand in the eighteenth century. We found an old vintage bus built in 1931; it was steam powered. We went for a ride on it; it made an awful noise; when the driver went down a hill he let the flames from the boiler exhaust up through the cabin where he was sitting. Whitby is a nice town. The other main attractions were the ruins of the Whitby Abby and fish and chips. As I have been finding it difficult to find meals with green vegetables we decided to go to a supermarket to purchase our evening meal. We were successful and enjoyed it on the train as we travelled back to New Castle whe re we arrived at 7pm.