Greetings Travellers
A couple of weeks back while I was staying in the village of Stillington in North Yorkshire with my family we decided to take the steam train from Pickering into the seaside town of Whitby for the day.
Pickering Station is themed like a 1930s train station, the idea here is that passengers are transported back to the steam era.
The journey from Pickering to Whitby is around 20 miles. On the steam train this takes roughly 2 hours and travels through the North York Moors National Park. I managed to snap these shots from the window while the train was stopped.
When you first arrive in the centre of Whitby near the harbour the first thing you are most likely to notice is this replica of Captain Cook's ship the Endeavour.
This replica ship is permanently anchored in the harbour and is mostly visited for its bar and grill restaurant.
In 1978 this statue of Captain Cook was presented by the people of Canada to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth. As part of his time in the British Navy during the period of the seven years war Cook spent years charting the eastern coasts of Canada.
His statue gazes of in the direction of Canadas Eastern shores.
When we arrived in Whitby it was a particularly hot day especially after spending 2 hours on the steam train.
The ice cream parlour at the ship Inn seemed like a much needed oasis of coolness in this hot 28+ degree centigrade weather.
I decided on salted caramel flavour and sat outside to eat it watching the harbour hustle and bustle flow by.
Just across the street at the local Co-op store I noticed these two stone pillars with Lego style heads painted on them and decided to snap these shots...
The boat in these pictures is a smaller replica of Captain Cooks Endeavour. This one regularly sets sail around the harbour.
One of the other main attractions in Whitby is the old abbey ruins which lookover the town from the top of a cliff.
In the shadow of the abbey lies St Mary's Church and graveyard.Bram Stoker the author of Dracula visited Whitby in 1890 and was inspired by the gothic architecture of the abbey on the cliff face and St Marys churchyard.
In the novel Dracula , a shipwrecks of the coast of Whitby with its captain dead at the wheel with bite marks in his neck. A large black dog jumps from the ship on to the beach and runs up the 199 steps from the harbour to the church yard of St Mary's.
A real shipwreck did occur here in the 1800s and there was a Russian captain aboard it tied to the wheel but he was drunk rather than attacked by Dracula. This event inspired Bram Stocker to include a shipwreck of the coast of Whitby in his novel.
Unfortunately we didn't have time to look around the abbey and churchyard as we had to be back on board the steam train at 5 in the evening.
I did however manage to get a couple of nice shots of the Abbey from the tour bus.
Before heading back on the train we decided to eat dinner in Trenchers restaurant. Whitby is one of the most famous places in England for its fish and chips and a visit to the town wouldn't be complete without sampling some.
Trenchers is a very nicely presented restaurant with fair prices and fast service.
I decided to try the haddock and cod fish cakes with a side of mushy peas and a Peroni to wash it down...
My parents opted for the classic haddock and chips...
After dinner we hopped back on the steam train and headed back into Pickering .
Whitby is one of favourite coastal towns in the UK.
I plan to head back soon to take much more photographs of the abbey and churchyard. I might do this in October as I am sure there are many interesting Dracula themed Halloween events happening at that time.
I guess if your staying in Whitby you could take the opposite journey and head into Pickering via the steam train for a day visit to Pickering.
I have enough photographs to write up a post on Pickering which I will do for you guys tomorrow.
For now I hope you enjoyed this little tour of Whitby.