Summer 2006

This was the best time in Whitby so far, arriving for the regatta, and staying for a further week which happened to be Folk Week; we hadn't known about the folk week, but it really was a happy co-incidence. Now that we know Whitby a little better, it hardly takes any time to settle in...we had booked a cottage with Ingrid Flute again and found it easily...it was very convenient and comfortable, in a new development nestled into Silver Street. we had our first night's meal at our favourite, the Khyber Cafe and made vague plans for the two weeks that stretched out luxuriously ahead of us. There was the obligatory crabbing of course, the celebrations of the regatta and the amazing firework display...such a warm feeling in the crowd for that, it's really special...lots of strangers bonding for half an hour or so over the sight of magical fireworks set off against the ancient and timeless view...it reminded me a bit of the emotions at the Green Gathering, a lovely ecofriendly hippy trippy festival in the south, but with a completely different sort of crowd and is special because you realise that most people respond to beauty, history and positive shared experiences....whatever they are like and where they're from.
After the regatta had passed, my husband and son bought a kite, and we decided to walk along the beach to Sandsend...this started well, although the boy had started to complain of a sore throat...hopefully the op is going to sort that out soon. Lovely walk although longer than it looks, we had a snack at the cafe at Sandsend and then got the bus back to Whitby...that night the sore throat developed into feverish tonsilitis and we had to see a doctor the next day...poor boy. A very good system at the health centre near to Pannet Park, we were seen by a 'nurse practitioner' never heard of that before, but she was excellent and gave him a longer course of antibiotics than usual, and he hasn't needed them since, although he still gets odd days of tonsil problems. Whitby cured him - magical Whitby...also very medicinal was the ice cream we discovered after we'd been at the clinic at a new place in Flowergate called Sherlock's; honestly, my son's recovery so aided by this luscious confection - an enormous goblet of rich sweet comforting cream, he was feeling much better towards the end of our first week. It's a very interesting old building, and apparently used to be a butchers! They do lovely homemade snacks and lunches, too...hope it's still there this Summer, the people running Sherlock's said that they had owned the shop for some time, but they had run it as a gift shop until last year. Better this way by far...

Getting to Know You

The lovely people at Ingrid Flute agency had told us it would be regatta week at Whitby; all we knew was that it would mean competitions and races involving boats - we were pleasantly surprised to learn that it was much more than that- stalls, sideshows, stunts, aerobatics, music, a funfair, thronging crowds of people from everywhere, and a finale of an amazing firework display all in this tiny and very remote corner of England.
My son continued to indulge his obsession with crabbing on the little jetty that seems made for the purpose and I went for walks to explore the backstreets. At the tourist office, I bought Whitby Town Trail booklets for the east and west side and dedicated a day to each while my husband and son crabbed and went sea fishing.
Whitby is so interesting to walk around- you notice something different every time you walk down a street- you discover different streets, too.
I walked round the West side first, that was where we were staying in our comfortable and interesting cottage; I particularly like Skinner Street and Silver Street - Silver Street has the best, and definitely the cheapest takeaway fish and chips, although I'm prepared to be proved wrong in this!
The "new" part of the West side, developed by railway king Hudson is fabulous - it's so spacious, particularly when you are up at Skinner Street and beyond-Skinner Street has amazing shopfronts, many of the shops selling unusual things, but some just plain useful...what I also like about Skinner Street is you walk along it past the amazing buidings and then you can see the sea ahead of you; bliss! I love Cliff Street too, and it's fascinating street structure- my favourite building is probable the one on the corner of Paddock Steps with the fossils in the walls...then again, there a remany buildings to choose from - I like to imagine living in Whitby - what would be my favourite street- which house? an impossible decision to make...would have to have views of the sea or the harbour...how would I manage, how would we support ourselves. All unknown and a big step to make...
Explored the East side on a different day...it was really hectic ...I bought a local paper and went and had a coffee in I think it was the Shepherd's Purse, or near to it, just to catch my breath after the relative quiet of the West side, the East side was almost too much.
Walked along Church Street through the crowds towards the abbey...loads of holiday makers with icecreams, and then as I got nearer to the abbey steps, there was calm again- very strange- there is an incredible stillness, particularly as you go past the steps and further up Henrietta Street and the smokehouse...beautiful views across Whitby from high up on the East Cliff and time to clear my head. Walked back down into town and to the other end of Church street - also interesting for the old pubs and the seaman's hospital.
The market place is great, particularly on a market day...there are great shops on the East side, too, I think of the fishmongers, the bakery and the fudge and chocolate shops - all extremely crowded though...
We ate at at various restaurants, but the ones we have returned to are the tapas place in Grape Lane, -will post the name when I remember it!- the Khyber Cafe for honest simple food and unbeatable views, and the Magpie, always best to visit the Magpie on spec; if you go past when there's no queue and you're hungry...I don't think it's worth queueing for long, there's too much else to do, and lots of other restaurants, but really, we have gone to Khyber cafe a lot as your imagination goes wild with the view.

How I discovered and fell in love with Whitby

I went to a NAPO (probation union) conference in Scarborough a few years ago, and really liked Scarborough - the conference centre was quite special having a terrace with black and white tiled floor and a grand piano with views out towards the wild sea. It also had a long sandy beach and various restaurants, a funfair and other attractions and thought this would be a good place to visit with family, sometime when we are next in York visiting my friend Donna and her family....
When I got back to London, phoned Donna to enthuse about Scarborough, and she said "well if you liked Scarborough, you'd love Whitby", and went on to describe it well enough that I decided to book a week's holiday there almost as soon as we finished talking about it. I liked the idea of a stony rock pool type beach and a sandy beach, the history and the views.
Started looking at ads for cottages and found Ingrid Flute agency through the Guardian travel section- booked our first week in Whitby; it was so exciting to discover somewhere new and far away, yet in this country. Started to plan how we would get there...with the help of someone at Ingrid Flute agency who told us about the Coastliner bus...
We would go to Kings Cross station, get a train to York, and then stay overnight with Donna and family..the next day, get the Coastliner bus from York to Whitby a two hour journey across the moors....
we spent the few months leading up to our holiday wondering what the bus journey would be like, and what Whitby itself would be like!
The months at work passed slowly...eventually the time came...this was the year I left probation as well, so momentous!
After the usual fun in York with Donna and family they took us to the station in the morning to see us off on the bus; when the bus arrived, it was already packed; hard to know where to put our cases, but we just added them to the aready overflowing heap at the front. and found somewhere to sit near the back of the bus...the first 40 minutes or so quite boring straight route, but after that - the moors, how spectacular - beautiful steep curving hills, many colours, diferent animals, tightly winding narrow roads, picturesque villages. The second part of the journey was quick and we were soon in Whitby, unceremoniousy deposited near the bottom of Baxtergate. A quick fumble for the map sent by Ingrid Flute; struggling to see the street names of all the tiny roads, a quick look at the harbour and off to Flowergate and our cottage in Waterloo Place. First thoughts of Whitby - scruffy, (the tiny bit we saw) smelling of fish and chips, a supermarket and some normal useful shops (a relief!) and THE SEA! Hooray!! We loved it!

Took our cases to the tiny dark cottage and went out to explore. First stop fish and chips at a cafe on the corner of a very steep hill going up into Flowergate; delicious and cheap to us southerners. Second stop a phone call to Donna telling her we were already in love with Whitby and how brilliant she was to suggest it. We went on a short boat ride out of the harbour and took in the two distinct characters of the East and West cliffs...those were the eraly stirrings of my love affair with Whitby.

The Naked Man in the Tree

Today my friend Donna suggested I start a blog-

I met Donna when we were in the first year of secondary school; we didn't really speak to each other for a few weeks; all that changed one memorable day in our first autumn term. We had endured one week or so of going to hockey at Barn Elms playing fields. I decided never again and when double field came up on the timetable the following Thursday, I developed a mysterious illness and went to lie down in the medical room. Someone else had already had the same idea- yes, it was Donna. We both lay there pretending to be far too ill to be sent to Barn Elms, and then I said " I can see a naked man in the tree"; I meant the shape of the branches must have resembled something like a naked man although how I knew that at age 12 I'm not sure.... I can't remember much else of what we talked about that morning, apart from both admitting we were avoiding hockey; but we were firm friends from that day on, making a specialism of PE avoidance together with Katy and Penny.