Whitby harbour

Sleights holiday 6

By the time I ended my walk in Whitby itself it was after noon, very hot and predictably very crowded. I always enjoy looking around the harbour area, which is full of boats, mostly yachts and small cruisers. 

Whitby Abbey and St Mary's Church are prominent on the headland above the old town. I didn't make my way up the famous 199 steps this time, though I wrote about the abbey and church last year HERE and HERE if you want to read that. 

In the photo above you can see the old swing bridge that I mentioned yesterday, which used to carry all through traffic from one side of Whitby to the other, until the new high level bridge was built in 1980. There has been a toll bridge here for centuries, replaced eventually by a swing bridge in the 1800s. It allows ships to pass up and down the river Esk when the tide is high enough. This was important as there are ship building and repair workshops up the estuary and now there is a marina with berths for numerous vessels. The bridge is just a single carriageway, now controlled by traffic lights and so it became the site of much traffic congestion until the new bridge was built. 

Although fishing from Whitby has diminished in volume over the years from its heyday as an important whaling port around 1800, there is still some commercial fishing. There were a number of Fisheries Patrol vessels moored, bristling with communications masts. 

I didn't linger long in Whitby because of the crowds and the heat, though on my wanderings I did come across a couple of the sculptures by Emma Stothard that form a heritage trial around the town. There was a fisherman mending his nets and 'the gansey knitter' (below), which celebrates the fisher wives who knitted traditional, thick, patterned jumpers for their menfolk.  I found a shady little park where I ate my packed lunch and then took the bus back to Sleights. I'd intended to take the train but it turned out there wasn't one! Or at least, not until very late in the day.