Wet Whitby

I decided to take my time getting home from Scotland, I wanted to do a couple of things on my way south but I didn’t plan and I didn’t count on mother nature.
Im driving so can do long distances between stops.
Firstly I went to see how to get across to the Holy Isle at Lindisfarn. I didnt really know much about it other than from a book I read once and was rather astonished when I ran out of road! Apparently there is a causway but I was the wrong side of the tides so I would miss it this time around….add that to my list of places to visit and maybe I’ll get to it one day on my coast walk.

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Up to this point I’d been staying in Airbnb’s but as I had my tent, I thought to keep costs down I’d camp and that’s when Mother Nature played her cards.
I have always wanted to visit Whitby, again inspired by book fame. Bram Stoker descibes scenes based here in Dracula and I wanted to see it for myself. I also had had a book as a child that talked about Whitby jet, a black gemstone that had fascinated me.
As I travelled in my car, I was expecting to cross the Yorkshire moors. I never saw a thing! The rain was fine and horizontal, visibility two meters!

The roads were flooded in places and as I came down into Whitby, it looked grim.
I parked and the first thing I did, was to find somwhere to eat. I was drenched and cold within minutes, you wouldn’t think it was ‘Flaming June’.

I ate in a narrow little cafe called Sherlocks which was rather good and I was feeling much better about exploring. Although I was still damp (too late for full waterproofs) I explored the town.

In better weather the cobbled and narrow streets would have been delightful. With a gale and rain lashing me, holding my hood down, I crossed the Esk river and up towards the Abbey. I passed an alley called ‘Arguments Yard’ I was feeling pretty murderous myself myself by now as my legs were soaked and I was beginning to feel as if I’d wet myself. Also there were lots of people trying to find somewhere to go on a wet day. I like people but, not crowds.
What was I doing? Only the young or people in love stand around in cold rain! I am neither! There are 199 steps up to the church of St Mary and the ruined Abbey (some wag thought they would write the number on the stones periodically on the way up in pen, at one point they lost count and left question marks).
I got to the entrance and beleive it or not I had to queue!!! I stomped around the Abbey, the wind howling through the stones and headed back down the steps! I was not in the mood for this! I suppose it was atmospheric the wind and rain.

I found a little free to enter, Jet museum with a cafe attached and decided I needed sort out accommodation which was not camping.
Getting away from my sogginess for a moment, lets talk about Jet. Jet is classed as a gemstone but is not a mineral in the true sense, its the mineralised remains of trees, so a sort of fossil! What is amazing is the tree Whitby Jet comes from, it a relative of the Monkey Puzzle. Now these are still in the world today in South America and varieties in New Zealand. It makes me think back to Pangea (no I wasnt around then) and the movement of land masses I mentioned in my New Zealand blogs. Jet is found across the world, its black hence the saying ‘Jet Black’.
After looking around the museum and having a cup of tea I successfully booked Bed and Breakfast in a rather dubiously named place called Wetwang. I wasnt feeling very hopeful!
I left Whitby with the feeling I’d been cheated!