Weekly Blog - W/E 16th October 2021 - Part One

This week was a very different one. Mainly because we went on holiday for a week to Whitby in Yorkshire. We'd booked a cottage a few weeks ago, to have a family holiday this time, with LB joining us. We thought about going abroad, but didn't have anyone to look after the dog and didn't fancy dealing with the red tape and paperwork around Covid, so we decided on another UK holiday. 

We chose Whitby, as we wanted to visit family on the way up and back down, but didn't want to stay anywhere we knew too well and although we've visited Whitby on daytrips a few times, we'd never stayed there or really explored what it had to offer. 

We set off on Sunday after a few hours rushing around trying to pack and leave the house in a reasonable state. I hate coming back to a mess, so I always try to leave it tidy.

The journey was good, as we were travelling on Sunday morning/afternoon, so not much traffic. We stopped off at OH's parents on our way up, for a visit and refreshments. It was nice to see them and see that his dad is doing okay. He looked a lot better than our last visit in July at least. We stayed a couple of hours and then completed the last leg of our journey up to Whitby.

The cottage/house was beautiful and very big, sleeping 8 people. It was also very close to the town centre and the beach which was perfect. The owner had left us some Ginger biscuits, a Brack cake and some Yorkshire tea from the local Deli, which was very kind. We settled ourselves in, had a bit of supper, (I'd brought a few bits with us) and then chilled for the first evening of our holiday, after our long journey. 

I didn't sleep well the first night, I never really do when I go away. I think my mind races to offload all the stresses of the previous weeks and I can never quite settle, so the next morning I was pretty tired when I got up.

It was also my birthday, so we got off to a leisurely start. I opened my cards and presents and then started my jigsaw over breakfast. Then we walked to the local shops and bought a few provisions for the week. We didn't get much, just some salad, ham, fruits and bread/milk, etc.  As we were so centrally located within the town, we intended to eat out at least once on most days and then have a simple salad/sandwich for the other meal. 

LB and I did a bit of thrift shopping in a couple of charity shops. I found myself a pair of virtually new walking boots for £5.50, as I'd forgotten to bring mine. I also bought a brand new grey cable knit cardigan for the winter months for £5, (the tag said £40), so that was a bargain. When we'd got everything we needed, we the headed back to the house for lunch. 

After lunch, we all walked down to the beach and had a stroll along the sand, breathing in the lovely sea air. The dog was loving it. We then walked back up the cliff and treated ourselves to hot chocolate at the top, before heading home again. 

In the evening, we headed out for supper to a restaurant on the riverside. It was a seafood restaurant, but I don't really eat fish, so chose something else from the menu. It was a nice evening, and great to be able to walk everywhere.  I slept like a log that evening and woke up feeling totally refreshed and ready to start our holiday proper.

Day Two of our holiday also got off to a slow start. I did a bit of my jigsaw before having a shower and getting ready, whilst OH did a training session on his Zwift set up. Once we were all up and ready, we headed into town for lunch and to walk the dog. The weather today had started off raining, and the dog hadn't wanted to go for much of a walk, but by the time we headed out it had stopped and was turning into a nice day. LB decided not to come with us today and stayed home to chill instead.

We stopped off at a lovely cafe around the corner for lunch and then headed into the town by a different way.  En route, I noticed some small succulent plants in one of the Charity shops and stopped off to buy a couple at £1.20 each. We walked along the main high street of shops this time and I popped into a couple more charity shops.

We stopped to watch a couple crabbing near the harbour. They had caught a huge crab, bigger than I'd ever seen anyone catch whilst crabbing. They said they were going to put it back in the water though.

We made our way to the Captain Cook Museum, but as we weren't able to take the dog in, we decided we would visit another day to take a look around.  We did go into Whitby Jet Museum though.  This was a very small museum with free entry and was very interesting, as it told about the history of Whitby jet and how it was created over millions of years from fallen trees (similar the the Monkey Puzzle tree) which hardened over time. It was fascinating. There were also lots of exhibits of things made from Whitby jet, which was also interesting and a huge piece, purported to be the biggest piece of Whitby jet in the world. I loved it, well worth the visit. There are many jewellers in Whitby selling pieces of jewellery made from Whitby Jet and I kept an eye out for some earrings, but they were pretty expensive so I didn't buy any.

From there, we wandered down the cobbled streets, past the 199 steps to the Abbey, to another beach beneath the cliff where the Abbey stands. Here I looked out for jet after reading how to in the Museum. Unfortunately, however, all I found were pieces of sea smoothed coal.

We continued right to the end of one of the harbour walls and beyond the light house along wooden boardwalks which was lovely.  Looking back toward the shore, you could see the Abbey and the whole town spread out before you. We came back into town across another small beach and by this time it was 5pm, so we headed home, the dog was tired and we had spent the whole afternoon wandering the town.

Later in the evening, we headed out to a nearby pub for their Bingo Night. We didn't win anything, although almost everyone in our half of the pub did, the girl on the table next to us won the final jackpot of over £350. Lucky thing. It was fun though.

Whitby is such an interesting little town with lovely cobbled streets, alleyways, great shops, cafes, galleries, museums, etc. Such a great place to explore. A bit difficult if you have difficulty with steep hills and steps, but otherwise a fabulous place to visit. Staying there was such a different experience to being a daytripper.