Ice cream, seagulls and chips

I woke up to brilliant sunshine this morning and went out with the camera for a walk up the lane. The cottage is in such a quiet location, mostly a farming area, though some of the houses have been spoilt by ultra modern extensions, probably second homes.

We set off mid-morning - the early sunshine had faded away - planning to spend the day in Whitby, hoping that being the day after Easter Monday it might not be so busy. We'd wanted to see Whitby Abbey for a long time and thought we would content ouselves with seeing the ruin from the outside and avoid the charge for going inside.  Unfortunately 'going inside' meant through a visitor centre into a large expanse of grass and although I realise that money is needed to maintain such a large building I stood on tiptoes and took a picture over the wall! There's also a charge for parking and toilets, so we chickened out and drove down to the riverside and found a car park there.

We bought a picnic lunch and walked through the town to find a seat. The town was mobbed - I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer holidays! My memory of Whitby will be of chips and seagulls! I did like the sculptures of fisher women, though it took quite a while to get a visitor-free picture - my Blip today. I also walked to the end of the harbour entrance and took a picture of the 'Captain Cook Experience' returning to the river, my extra today.

We planned to drive up higher in the town to visit Pannett Park, which sounded beautiful. Unfortunately the only parking was on the street and after driving round a large circuit three times we gave up and went on to Sandsend just a few miles up the coast. Here we parked on the seafront but the long beach was backed by a 45 degree concrete wall so we had a cuppa in the car and drove back to our cottage at Raw. 

This all sounds rather negative, but I must admit that I'm not really an English seaside resort kind of person! Tomorrow we plan to drive further north up the coast to Saltburn-by-the-Sea, so I hope that's better!

Quote of the Day: 'The beach is not a place to work; to read, write, or to think.' - Anne Morrow Lindbergh.