Waltzing off to Whitby.

The weather forecast was good. We were to enjoy a day of sunshine and above average temperatures. so after doing my usual sussing out of the bus times and roughly how long it would take to get there, we set off after breakfast to Whitby.  First leg of the journey was via the bus to Scarborough from outside the holiday camp at 9.30am.  Alighting at Scarborough Railway station, we then waited for the number 93 bus to Whitby. We were informed by the other people with the same intentions of destination as ourselves that this bus was a Coastliner bus and ran every hour. We had approximately fifty minutes to wait for the next one as we appeared to have just missed the 9.40am.

As we waited, many other people intent on also journeying to Whitby joined the queue behind us. Slowly the queue grew longer and longer and longer until there must have been roughly about a hundred or so people waiting for this single decker bus to Whitby. It was obvious that half of them would not be journeying on it. when it finally arrived.  When it did pull up to the stop,  we luckily got a seat at the back but many passengers had to stand for the whole journey there, and the driver had to leave just as many behind.

Eventually we arrived at Whitby. First stop a toilet break and then we began our walk towards the Abbey way up above the town. It was a beautiful day and was already quite warm. We had been told by a lady in the Information office that the walk up to the Abbey took just about 20 minutes to half an hour, so we weren’t in a particular hurry. Despite the fact that it was late season for holiday makers, Whitby was very busy, and most of us seemed to be making our way up the steps to the Abbey.

I was very proud of K because we could have used the cobbled path up instead, but she tackled the steps with gusto and without complaining once. So much so that when we reached the top, I treat her to an ice cream as a treat. Whitby was laid out below us, the red roof tops, the harbour, the boats it was so beautiful and just as I had pictured it.  I loved it!  It’s so picturesque. There was an entrance fee to pay to enter the Abbey grounds and then we made our way outside to enjoy the Abbey and its surroundings.

It really is a spectacular sight and if you are ever visiting Yorkshire then its a must venue in my opinion.  Some school children were sat doing some drawings of the Abbey as we walked passed.  You can see what wonderful weather we enjoyed that day by the clear blue sky in the photos I took.  We walked all the way around the grounds and all the way through the Abbey ruins before making our way back through the Abbey gift shop where we purchased a fridge magnet and a bottle of Blackberry wine plus an Abbey pen for K as souvenirs.

We made our way back down the steps where we then had a late lunch in one of the many restaurants next to the harbour. We both had homemade Steak Pie with puff pastry (which I had to leave of course!) suitably washed down with a glass or two of white wine.  We still had plenty of time to spare before we had to catch a bus back to Scarborough, so we decided to ride on one of the open topped tour buses. These take you on a tour all around Whitby showing you the sights, so we ended up travelling past the Abbey again! It was very enjoyable as the tour guide was quite a comedian.  The tour ended up right outside the Information Office where we bought some more souvenirs and then made our way back to the bus stop for our bus.

The return journey back was not as crowded of course and therefore more enjoyable, and we didn’t have long to wait once we arrived in Scarborough for our bus to take us past our holiday camp.  I had wanted to visit Whitby during this holiday, I had seen pictures of it and yet never been there, and it didn’t disappoint at all. We had both enjoyed a wonderful day out.

More pictures of our day in Whitby are available in my flickr photostream on the right.

TG

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