Whitby - a visit to a seaside town

On Monday we caught a bus to Whitby. We had originally been planning to take a steam train through the moors to get there, but we had a couple of recommendations from locals that the bus was quite scenic as well and in the end the schedule worked out better.

 Additionally it was a double-decker bus so that was a  really big treat for us.

We were able to score the front seats upstairs for both ways.

 (Our decision to go by bus turned out to be a very good one as on our way home we sat beside an extremely interesting local fellow who turned out to be the best tour guide you could imagine.)

It was a long ride, about 2.5 hours but the bus stop was only a 3 minute walk  from our home and there was no transfers so it worked out very well. The views of the North Yorkshire Moors were wonderful. The heather isn't fully out but there still was a purple blush to the ground from a few early blooms.

The view across the moor

And we passed through pretty little towns including Goathland which is where the TV show Heartbeat is filmed (Harry Potter was filmed at it's train station too). Sheep were everywhere, including all over the road.





We arrived in Whitby and were taken by it's charm.

 A swing bridge allows boats into the main harbor.

Donkey ride anyone?

The place was full of people enjoying a day at the beach. Hardly saw or heard any international tourists, mainly UK English overheard.

Doesn't this picture look like a postcard? 



The breakwater (built in the 1800s) is completely walkable. You can see the people on the top of it.

Naturally we had to check it out. 

Along the pier to the breakwater

After getting fish and chips for lunch we decided to climb the hill to the abbey that overlooks the town. 

 There are  199 steps to climb before you reach the top of the hill.

You can see the breakwater really well from up here.

At the top of the hill

And then, behind the church of St. Mary and graveyard 

there was the abbey, peeking out over the wall.

Breathtaking

Yet another one of the hundreds and hundreds of abbeys across the UK that ended up deserted (and trashed) after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century by King Henry the VIII. 

This was a Benedictine monastery, founded in the 11th century. 

The Gothic abbey was started in the 13th century
 to replace a Romanesque one.

This is an interesting place for all Christians and students of history as it was on this hilltop in AD 664 Synod of Whitby took place. Here in the Kingdom of Northumbria the Celtic church and the authorities from Rome made some decisions which included an agreement on which the day Easter would be celebrated. 

At that time there was a double monastery here which had both nuns and monks. 

It was founded by a interesting woman, the abbess Lady Hilda.

 She was the grand-neice of the the first Christian King of Northumbria.  

A couple of hundred years later the Danes sailed over and destroyed it all, of course. 

Those darn Vikings, at it again.