ABC Tour – Canal, Castle, Cute Shop

THURSDAY 30 JUNE

After Whitby we have three days to get to Felixstowe and it isn’t very far.  The weather was quite stormy looking all around during the morning but we dodged the rain until lunch time and even then we only got the tail end of a shower.  We were really lucky.

The town we ended up in was Newark-on-Trent. Once again, not a place we would have sought out (ie. we had never heard of it) but a lovely place to visit. It is a market town with the ruins of a castle.  Fancy that!

But firstly we had to get there.  When we went to Pickering on the train yesterday we didn’t go on the moors, rather staying in the valleys.  This morning we went through Pickering again, but the road takes you up over the moors.  A very different picture from what you see on the train.

As the morning progressed we started to get into flatter country with lots of crops.  There were also lots of red poppies along the way.  Not a great photo, but the best I could get as we rode along.

We went past a huge power station. It makes the ones at home look tiny.

We had a lovely afternoon wandering around Newark.  I found this little shop, Eclectica. It was just divine.  Such a pretty window display that I had to go in.

Yes, more pretties inside.  An advertising thimble (the first I have found this trip) and a cute button brooch came home with me.

Then it was onto the castle.  The castle is in the centre of town and is a ruin.  However, it has been incorporated into a lovely garden.

It was built on this site as it was a strategic place on the river on the main road to Scotland from London.  The river curtain was a major part of its defences.

In more recent times a canal system was added.

They were rather handy for the trade that came later.  Newark was a major place for malting for beer.  There were about 200 malters at one stage.

The market square is apparently one of the largest cobbled squares in Europe.  There are markets each day.  We only came on the remnants of the Antiques and Craft markets as they were packing up.  There were a few antique stalls not quite finished, but I didn’t see any craft.

You can definitely tell that we are back in the more southerly parts as there are quite a few Tudor styled buildings.  We had dinner at the Prince Rupert Hotel, which has just been restored and dates back to 1452.  It is a very popular place.

The afternoon saw the weather clear for our explorations and on the way home from dinner it was a clear blue sky.  Just perfect weather.

ABC Tour – Clicketty Clack

WEDNESDAY 29 JUNE

The reason we stayed an extra day at Whitby was to catch the steam train to Pickering on the North Yorkshire Moors.  We had thought or riding up that way, but this would be a more relaxing way to do the journey.

The day looked lovely and blue when we hopped up, which was promising.  Captain Cook had a nice clear view from his perch.

The whale bone arch, a gift from a sister city in Alaska.

Firstly, we had time to have a look through the Lifeboat museum.  These photos are of the boat we went out on in rough weather.  They can have that!

The North Yorkshire Railway runs regular trips to and from Pickering each day, with several trains running each day.

There was quite crowd for the train.

The scenery was lovely as we went choofing along.

We actually saw our first red deer, a young stag.  Unfortunately, no time to get a photo before we were past.

There were several bridges along the way.

We had about an hour in Pickering for lunch.  It is a nice town, with lots of buildings in a pale stone.  It must really benefit from all the railway tourists.

The station is still quite old fashioned, with signs to set the scene.  There are lots of 40s weekends held at various steam train towns, with people dressing in period costume, entertainers in the style of the era and the stations decked out. They must be great fun.

Here comes our train to take us home.

We had to change trains at Grosmont, a pretty little station.  We had actually stumbled upon this railway here last time we were over, but didn’t know anything about it then.

What happened to our sunny day?  We got rained on at Gromont.

After such a strenuous day we had to visit The Magpie Cafe again.

Walking home along the cliff, we finally saw our first sunset since we left home.  It was rather beautiful.

ABC Tour – Captain Cook, Cliffs, Chicks

MONDAY 28 JUNE

After yesterday’s heat today was much cooler, only reaching 13 degrees.  There was only once short shower, so it was a good day for exploring Whitby.  There are lots of little lanes.  Pier Lane was a handy little short cut down the steep hill.

A famous feature of the town is the “199 Steps” which go from the harbour up to St Mary’s Parish Church near the Abbey.  This would not have been fun in the heat, but was no drama in the cool.  Whoever designed these steps got them just right.  They are not too high or deep, so very easy to walk up.

The view back over the harbour was lovely.

St Mary’s Church has a wonderful vantage point.

The church is unusual in that it still has the Georgian box pews.  The interior is quite cluttered compared to most churches.  A really interesting place to visit.

Then it was on to the Abbey.  Like so many others, it was destroyed ages ago.  There is evidence of a monastery on this site dating back to 657AD.

What a view.

Then it was back down the 199 steps (easy peasy) to more recent history.  This house (not the best photo) was where Captain Cook lived and worked while completing his apprenticeship.  A very informative museum.

We also just explored the town.  It is a maze of interesting shops and places to eat.  I stumbled upon this little beauty.

An Aladdin’s Cave of fabric.

The town is touristy, with lots geared up for children, but it is not at all glitzy.  Somewhere we have really enjoyed visiting.

Once we climbed back up to the top of the cliff we came across this statue of Captain Cook, looking out to sea, with friend sitting on his head.

A Steam Bus takes tourist on a guided tour of the town, but we didn’t have time to partake.

Back down the cliff, we did find time to go on a half hour tour on this old lifeboat.  It saw service at Whitby from 1938 to 1974.  When it was built it cost 6500 pounds.  To put that in perspective, an average house at that time cost 400 pounds, and the spitfire aircraft cost 5500 pounds when they were first built.  The current lifeboat cost 1.4 million pounds 15 years ago, so they are still a very expensive item.

While we headed out to sea, we encountered this 40% scale model of The Endeavour, which also does tours.

We went out a little way to sea before turning around and coming back.  It was a calm day, but was still quite choppy in the lifeboat.  I cannot imagine what it must be like going out in the rough weather to attend to vessels in distress.  Can you see the whale rock formation?

We had to take a happy snap of us.

Next we walked out to the end of the pier.

Before walking along the lovely sandy beach at low tide.

There are loads of colourful beach huts.

After all that walking, we enjoyed a lovely dinner by the harbour and to finish the day off, the sun decided to put in an appearance and make everything beautiful.

Now, my reference to “Chicks”….. There are heaps of baby seagulls at the moment.  They are on chimneys, in gutters and some even nest in natural places like cliff ledges. 

There is so much to see and do here that we have decided to stay another day.

ABC Tour – Coastal Town

MONDAY 28 JUNE

Monday dawned not only fine, but quite warm.  This is how we spent most of the day - “A” roads heading south.

We had lunch in this roadside US themed diner.  It was even warm enough to have a milkshake.  Yum!

The scenery continued to be beautiful.

Our destination was Whitby, where Captain Cook did his apprenticeship.  The town is so picturesque.  It is different from other harbours we have visited that in that most of the building are brick, so it is more colourful.  

It also looked more colourful, as the sun was shining.  There were so many people around. It was HOT!!! The temperature reached 31 degrees C and it was muggy!!  A bit hard to take after what we have been used to.

After we found some accommodation we went for a wander to get our bearings. I didn’t know that there was a First Fleet connection as well.

 

Whitby is STEEP.  All the accommodation is on the top of the cliff and most of the town is at the bottom.   We seemed to be walking up and down all the time and it was HOT! (Not that that I’m unfit or anything-Ha Ha.) We were walking along when all of a sudden there was a breeze and it cooled right down.  A sea mist also rolled in.

For dinner our hosts recommended a seafood restaurant called “The Magpie Cafe”  so we thought we would try it.  I think  it is quite famous, but being foreigners, we were unaware of it.  The food was devine.

Tomorrow we are going to spend the day playing the tourist.