Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come throu...
Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come through with a review at long last. :)
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We have just returned from a fabulous trip to Whitby. I can safely say that I felt so at home there…the people were very friendly, the scenery and shops were lovely and I just had an excellent time!
~~~Where is Whitby?
Whitby is located in the North East of England, not far from the North Yorkshire Moors. You will find this extremely pretty fishingvillage at the mouth of the River Esk. Whitby’s skyline is dominated by the Gothic Abbey on the Cliff top ~ we were there at the end of Gothic week and also saw the lovely firework display that made the Abbey look even more spectacular! When you see the Abbey silhouetted against the night sky you will see why it inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula!
If you are travelling there by car you will need to use the following routes ~ FROM THE SOUTH ~ Take the M1/M18 or the A1 to A64. FROM THE NORTH ~ Take the A1/A19 to the A171 (or the A170). FROM THE WEST ~ Take the M62 as far as Hull and then take the A63/A165 following the coastal route….there are other ways, but I’m not a driver, so you’d have to check out your road atlas! There is no direct train route, but it is possible with changing and using the Wolds Coast line.
Whitby is a popular place to visit for the day when you are staying at Scarborough, Bridlington or Filey…we visited many times when I was little, but this was my first chance to actually stay here.
~~~Where did we stay?
We stayed in a lovely basement flat not far from the Crescent and the West Cliff area of Whitby, on the West side of the river. We had to walk down
to the harbour (and it was quite a steep climb on the way back) and cross the bridge to get to the Abbey and the little touristy shops. Whitby isn’t really for the less mobile ~ there is quite a lot of walking involved (often up and down steep paths or steps) and parking is a little limited. The Station, supermarkets and a good selection of pubs (expect opinions on beer and pubs later), cafes and shops were near to us too.
~~~Shopping!
Much to Alun’s dismay there were a lot of shopping opportunities in Whitby. There are some really expensive shops selling jewellery and antiques, but there are some good bargains to be had too. I bought a pair of black boots for me (£7.99) and two pairs of shoes for Alun (£9.99 and £15.99) ~ not bad! Things you should really look out for in the shops include:
WHITBY JET. I really wanted to buy some earrings in this lovely black jet, but it was very expensive (small stud earrings started at around £10), so I had to content myself with looking at it! The Whitby Jet and Enamel Workshop on Church Street is worth a look even if you can’t afford anything from the shop! I found a lovely “ethnic” shop called Incantation and got some really nice Amethyst earrings for £7.95! Incantation is on Church street, along with all the other little shop son the winding streets.
WHITBY DUCKS. Lucky Whitby ducks are made by the Whitby Glass group and cost £1.75 each. I bought a Rainbow coloured one (I couldn’t choose which I wanted), but you can get them in different colours for each month. They also had Black “Gothic” ducks and ones that changed colour with the weather! The little glass ducks are supposed to bring you good fortune ~ I’ll keep you posted! Visit www.whitbyluckyducks.com to find out what to do if your ducky is lucky!
SOUVENIRS. It’s a seaside resort so you will find the usual round of amusement arcades and souvenir shops. Most of the touristy shops can be found around the Harbour and the streets leading up to the Abbey Steps. I was surprised to find there weren’t as many “tacky” shops in Whitby…some of the glassware and pottery souvenirs were very tasteful and would make very nice gifts!
~~~Sightseeing.
WHITBY. We really enjoyed exploring the little streets and pubs around Whitby. It seems quite complicated, but we didn’t get lost because the place is quite small. The Old Town of Whitby is on the East side of the bridge and the more modern shops and houses are on the West side….if you remember this it’s not too difficult to get your bearings!
The harbour area is nice, even though the tide spent more time out than in! We didn’t see many boats, but we were lucky enough to there when the big bell rang to say the swing bridge was about to open. The bridge rotates to allow bigger boats through and it seems to take ages ~ very nice for us tourist, but probably a bit annoying for drivers wanting to cross the river!
We went out of season so many of the museums were either shut or only opened on reduced hours…we were only there for four days anyway and we didn’t want to waste the uncharacteristically sunny weather inside. You will find the Captain Cook museum on Grape Street, the Dracula Experience on Marine Parade, the Heartbeat Museum in Market Square, Whitby Museum and Art Gallery at Pannet Park and Whitby Abbey. The Abbey is at the top of 199 steps and it’s not a good place to go for the less mobile. If you do have mobility problems, or want to avoid the steps for any reason, you can drive up to the top. The only rouble is that you have to pay to park and then walk to the Abbey and pay again to go in (£1.70 for adults, £1.30 concessions and 90p for children). We just took photos of the Abbey and drove back down…with limited time on our hands we wanted to explore the surrounding area.
GOATHLAND We set off into the Yorkshire Moors along the A169 from Whitby. Arriving at Goathland is quite a surreal experience ~ most of the shops and signs say “Aidensfield” and you have to avoid the sheep roaming freely around the streets. Aidensfield, sorry Goathland is a nice village, but probably wouldn’t get many visitors if it wasn’t for the television series Heartbeat. We spent a little time here, but walked down (following the marked path) to Beck Hole. I was much more impressed with the walk and the pub at Beck Hole than I was with Goathland. The little pub here serves filling sandwiches and some excellently kept beer! Check out www.beckhole.com for a view of the village and its unique drinking place/shop!
ROBIN HOOD BAY. Robin Hood Bay can be found between Whitby and Scarborough off the A171. We left the car at the public car park (you don’t have to pay out of season!) at the top of the cliff and walked down through the village to the quay at the bottom. This is a pleasant walk on the way down, but very steep on the way back up. For the less mobile you can drive to the bottom but it’s very difficult to park down there and the roads take nerves of steel to cope with!
Apparently the legend says that Robin Hood ran away to this pretty bay to escape the law. Whatever the reason it got its name I would recommend a visit here. November is perhaps not the best time of year to visit ~ most of the shops were shut (Alun was pleased!) and it would have been a dangerous walk down if the weather hadn’t been so nice. We stopped for a coffee at the bottom in the amazing second-hand bookshop…I could have wandered around it all day!
OTHER PLACES.
~~~Staithes. This is a very pretty village North of Whitby. Expect another steep climb to the bottom (from the public car park on the top), but again, the walk down is very rewarding! The buildings have whitewashed walls and are well weathered by the sea winds. There’s a nice pub at the bottom called the Cod and Lobster and a good little coffee shop…the Amaretto Hot Chocolate is worth the walk on its own! Staithes has a few gift shops, a few places to stay and is a good base for exploring the surrounding area.
~~~Runswick Bay. This is another pretty little seaside village, not far from Staithes. There’s not actually much there, but the bay is sheltered and we took some good photos of the boats and lobster pots! There are few hotels and a couple of pubs ~ our friend stayed there when he way walking the Cleveland Way and wanted to show us how pretty it was.
There are loads more places to go, but we didn’t really have the time to explore Whitby AND go everywhere else too!
~~~After dark!
There is no shortage of quaint little pubs in Whitby. I thought we would be bored at night, but we really enjoyed exploring the variety of different bars (and BEERS) around the town. Our flat was near The Granby ~ a nice traditional pub serving home cooked food and a good selection of beer. All the way down to the Marine Parade area the winding streets are lined with pubs and Fish and Chip Restaurants, so eating out is not a problem ~ there is an Indian Restaurant on the West side (near the Station) and a Chinese Restaurant near the bridge on the East side too.
There is a selection of bars down by the harbour and a good pub called The Duke of York at the bottom of the 199 steps. The Duke of York gets very busy, but the food is excellent ~ I had a lovely Whitby Crab sandwich that was very reasonably priced. The only “bad” meal we had was in The Shambles Restaurant upstairs at the Market Square. It was overpriced (£15 for the main course) and I was ill all night after eating the Queen Scallops! It was a real shame because the beer selection there was quite promising.
We found lots of pubs that had reasonably priced food and good atmospheres…the one I would really recommend is The Jolly Sailors on Marine Parade, it isn’t much to look at, but the staff and service was good (as was the food!) ~ £1.49 for an excellent pint of Samuel Smith’s Stout too!
~~~The End!
All too soon our four days in Whitby had come to end! I really didn’t want to leave and I’m sure that we will be visiting again soon. There are so many more places to go to and ones we will want to call on again. I would love to go back in the summer and see Whitby when all the shops and Museums are open and the place is really buzzing! I would recommend Whitby to families (there are a couple of Amusement arcade in Whitby and it’s not far to Flamingo Land) and to people wanting a relaxing and friendly seaside holiday. We didn’t get onto the sands on the West side of Whitby, but the beaches looked clean and well maintained.
I hope my Whitby Duck brings me luck and I wish I was back in Whitby.
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Nov 13th, 2002
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