Whitby and The North York Moors

WHITBY ABBEY


THE 199 STEPS


VIEW FROM THE ABBEY

In a way it was a good decision to postpone our visit to Whitby till today. The weather is much better today -- the wind has died down and the sunshine is predicted to last all day long for a change. The downside is that this is Good Friday, a big holiday in Britain and Whitby is a popular destination. We got to Whitby early enough to get a good parking spot near the Abbey but not early enough to beat the crowds that descended around lunch time.

I've been to Whitby before but had not gone up to the abbey. It is a stunning structure standing on a cliff overlooking the North Sea. After touring the abbey we went down the 199 steps into the old town in search of lunch. It was a mob scene down there. I abandoned all hope of going to the Magpie restaurant, home of Britain's best fish and chips. After a frustrating attempt to navigate the streets and lanes of Whitby we went back to a cozy little cafe at the base of the abbey steps, called aptly, The Abbey Steps Cafe. I'm sorry to say we were disappointed in our meal there. We each decided to try the crab sandwich and it was really awful. Why I even bothered to order dessert is beyond me. I had substandard Victoria Sponge and Vince had unchocolately chocolate cake. Oh well...can't win 'em all.

Vince had expressed a desire to see some standing stones. I've been wanting to visit the so-called "crosses" of the North York Moors. (The stones on the North York Moors are not all crosses and some date to bronze age and medieval times.) I thought we could satisfy us both by a visit to the Moors in search of some of the standing stones there. Well, good idea, but we never found any of the stones. The guide book I had was not detailed enough and we kinda got lost wandering through the moors. But the scenery was gobsmackingly gorgeous!! I wish I had pulled off to the side somewhere to take pictures. But that was the problem. The roads were very narrow, many of them were extremely steep and there were hardly any shoulders to pull over onto. We drove around for about an hour seeking the stones and then spent another good hour just getting out of the moors. It was a long drive home and we were both very tired after all the touring we've been doing. We got back to Harrogate at 5:30 p.m., a half hour before the Waitrose supermarket closed. We stopped there so Vince could pick up a few ingredients for dinner tonight. He wanted to prepare his tomato sauce for me and I was quite willing to let him cook tonight. The sauce was simple but delicious and I've got plenty of leftovers for the weekend.

Hard to believe it but Vince departs tomorrow. The time sure has flown by and I've had so much fun hangin' out with my bro'.