Whitby Abbey

We had a wonderfully peaceful night. Though it seemed a long sleep I was awake a few hours listening to Eileen Atkins reading from her memoirs.

We drove first to Whitby Abbey. We didn’t walk down to the town as we used to visit it a lot when friends lived there. Then we drove to a small wild camp place about 2 miles above Robin Hoods Bay to see if it would be suitable for an overnight stop. It is spectacular with small green fields falling away down the hill to the town with its red roofs. We took the chance thst it wouldn’t be occupied when we wanted it later, and drove on to Ravenscar. A hotel was built there in Victorian times but it didn’t really take off as a resort as it was too high above the sea with no access down. We joined the coastal path and headed off south to an old radar station built in WW2. This was of interest to Mr C who worked in radar during the Cold War.

Radar was invested by the British in the 1930s and a team at Bawdsy Manor in Suffolk found how it could detect aircraft. Radar stations were put up along the British Coast during WW2 but most fell into disuse when more modern stations were built during the Cold War.

When we lived in Felixstowe Mr C told the daughters he had to go on a secret mission to deliver papers to Bawdsy Manor, still used by the RAF. We could go with him. Instead of driving we walked along the cliffs to the river estuary where we got a small rowing boat to take us over. A track led up to the manor and he disappeared into the grounds to deliver the secret papers. It was more Famous Five than James Bond. When we were on the family holiday this summer in Suffolk I was telling the sons-in-law how we made up the adventure for the daughters. They were very disappointed as they’d thought it was real. (He did have to deliver something though).

The sun has gone and a wind has got up so luckily we are sheltered below a hill.