We went up the coast from Scarborough to Staithes which was once a very important fishing port, and is now incredibly popular with artists for a rather obvious reason - it is seriously pretty.
We were really lucky with the weather as it was clear, sunny, and erh - bracing.
We then made our way back down the coast to Whitby. Here we had a drink and the much anticipated haddock and chips at the Magpie Cafe which exceeded expectations. We also paid homage to Captain Cook and climbed the 199 steps up to the abbey. We were sorry though to have missed
the Goth Weekend.
Then we carried on to Robin Hood's Bay before going back to our hotel in Scarborough.
Our hotel was very odd. It was in many ways a typical seaside hotel. It had a claim to fame as Wilfred Owen had stayed there recuperating from injuries he sustained during the war - just a shame he got himself fit enough to go back to the front from there. Downstairs it looked like it was entirely unchanged since the 1950's, but our room was lovely and newly refurbished. We also had a wonderful sea view. Our three course dinner which we had the first evening took all of 45 minutes from walking through the door to leaving - yes, I am sure it was all cooked to order! We were asked for our sweet order at the same time as we ordered our starters and main courses. I think the kitchen staff were after watching Coronation Street without the inconvenience of having to cook for residents at the same time. We did n't bother eating there the second night - not that it would have been humanly possible after the fish and chips anyway. We gave the tea dance a miss as well.
We were the youngest people there except for the obvious junkie daughter of a harassed looking mother who would seem to have successfully found the least likely place to score drugs in all of the UK to take her daughter.
Although I suppose that tea dance could have been a very clever front for drug dealing? One can never quite tell with those elderly Yorkshire folk.
9 comments:
mm a 'tea dance'. Sounds like a front to me- like the pub you went to that sells 'cheese' over the counter.
Everything's cumbrian btw- at the risk of sounding like the "everything comes from/was invented in India" guy on Goodness Gracious Me. King Arthur- Cumbrian. Dracula-Cumbrian. Lilliputians-Cumbrian
Ooooh....Dearest and I luuuurrrve Scarborough and the whole of the North East coast.
*Note to self "you've not been for so long...1999 I think...get there...quick"
We found some seriously good music venues while we were therewith some great local musos playing everything from self-penned Indie and folk to jazz, blues and beyond.
Refusing to participate in the tea dance! What an affront to Yorkshire culture! Glad you got in The Magpie Cafe. Although I have been to Whitby several times in my life, I hyave never managed to get through the door of The Magpie - owing to queues but there are some other brilliant F&C restaurants in Whitby such as The Thrush, The Seagull and The Bald Headed Eagle - I just made that up!
I seem Gill to be increasingly drawn to strange places inhabited by strange people.
King Arthur!!!
Steve, the music venues sound ace. And yes, get yourself and Dearest along there. Wonderful, wonderful area.
YP - there was as ever a queue, but for once in his life, Reidski didn't mind joining it. I had, it must be said, gone on about the wonders of the Magpie's fish and chips at great length and he really did need to see if they were as good as I said they were. They weren't. They were better.
Young addicts in the wrong place? Sort of reminds me of a Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' Team tour to Rimini, Italy in May 2004. May was just before the holiday season started, so there were no ravers, or anything like that. It was like a European SAGA convention, plus us! Well not far off it. In our party was Dave, a 58 year old, who was a crack addict. (Don't ask, sadly we don't where he is now, last heard of a couple of years ago in rehab, down in Brighton, but for all we know he could be dead) But despite this he was a genuinely nice bloke, who-for whatever reasons got hooked on crack cocaine late in life- & it was actually rather funny watching him march up and down the main seafront bars in Rimini asking everyone and anyone, but failing, where he could score drugs. Yes it was sad, but still amusing.
The look on one of our mates, with a middle class upbringing, as he sat in a bar casually showing him how to make a 'crack pipe' out of an can of coke was something to be savoured!
And, changing the subject, on sale in the souvenir shops were bottles of Adolf Hitler & Mussolini wine! Bizarre!
Great story Fatalist - thank you :-)
walking along the beach from Whitby to sandsend is the remedy for many a stress and strain JJ, although queuing for hours just for fish and chips might not be wine of them. best just eat them on your lap sitting on the breakwater with the seagulls
might not be one of them even
Sandsend was really beautiful Arthur.
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