I brought a dead cat back from Canada once, possibly the ideal pet. He was called Earl and we think he still lives in the house somewhere.
I talked about Kippers at length in my Isle of Man blogposts and we were pleasantly surprised to find a small Kippery in Whitby, apparently the only one left. It is known as Fortune’s and it was never actually open when we passed that way. It is on Henrietta Street, just along from the base of the 199 steps on the way to the East Pier. It has two small chimneys to the rear, seen smoking in these shots.
We had a trip to Flamingoland during our Witby holiday. David and his Cousin Katie loved the Splosh area, particularly the submarine ride with the hand cranked water pistols on it. Also, the pedal cycle ride went down well, showing that kids don’t need hi-tech to have fun.
I saw this sign in a Scarborough park and it reminded me of my dead cat…
I remember taking some pictures in New York a few years ago with my APS camera and I just dug them out. The one of the beams from the top of the Empire State is horribly blurry so not worthy of posting, whilst the one of the Battery Memorial has me in it smiling, not entirely right for a sad anniversary.
Ignore me and think of what happened to the Sphere and all the people who perished or were injured that day.
Harry Collett is the storywalker, the man in black with the top hat.
Harry is a Whitby guide, doing ghost walks and dracula walks as well as local history walks as The Baron. I ducked out of the ghost walk as my legs were hurting but the kids came back enthused and reliving many of the scary stories about the Screaming Tunnel, the lighthouse keeper, the grey lady, the Black Dog and the hand of glory. (More of these anon).
I was hesitant to go on the in search of dracula walk as I didn’t fancy cliff hopping up to the abbey again in a large party but went along to the meeting point to check whether they did go up the east cliff and Harry assured me we didn’t, it was mostly downhill. I was pleased I did go as the tour was very informative and Harry is a fine raconteur.
The Whitby accent is more Cleveland than the North Riding, although Middlesborough used to be in Yorkshire pre 1968 anyway.
If you want to hear Harry’s introductory sample to his ghost cassette, click here for a short spooky MP3, or visit his site for other formats (& to find out more).
Whitby Walks come highly recommended by Master David Grey, although he says it is a bit scary!
(You can read a review by ghost hunters here).
Whitby has a celebrated landmark known as the 199 steps. They link the east town to the east cliff top where you can find St. Marys (the Parish Church) with its extensive old graveyard and the nearby remains of Whitby Abbey, an English Heritage site.
The steps have a practical purpose- by road from the Town to the church is a very long winded route and there are resting places along the ascent for the coffin bearers (now convenient benches breaking up the climb).
We climbed it last Sunday and both Grandma Pat and I were pensive, Pat having asthma and me having my knee trouble. Surprisingly, however, the steps were in excellent condition, rather shallow and with the frequent rest benches so we managed without too much trouble.
I noticed as we climbed that the steps were numbered, every 10th step (or so it seemed) had a small metal disc engraved with roman numerals. CXCIX surpassed, we visited the abbey and returned again.
Beside the stairs is a track known as Donkey Road, so steep at the base that it has steps set into the side of it. Ironically, I was overtaken by Donkeys on a staircase leading from the beach when the tide came in later that week…
The top of the cliff can wait for another blogpost. I found an article about the refurbishment of the stairs here.
Whitby is a maze of alleyways, courtyards, lanes and stairs. Set on steep cliffs either side of a river valley leading to the sea, many of the houses are hundreds of years old and some look poised to tumble down the hill.
(Google thinks it is an inland town west of Scarborough, however!)
There are maps of the yards online but this one was our favourite.
