Meadows and hedgerows

Yorkshire holiday 16

By the last full day of my holiday, I was so much into the spirit of relaxing that I didn't wake up until 9 am! By that time it was far too late to contemplate driving to the coast and finding a parking space at one of the tourist spots, so I decided to explore the lanes and footpaths of the Esk valley, around my guesthouse. By the time I set off, the sun was high in the sky and it was really, really humid, so that I was soon a hot, sweaty mess! Nevertheless I enjoyed the walk and the interesting little things I encountered on the way: ancient footpaths -

Hedgerows bright with flowers; the one below is Great willowherb, I think.  

I find it hard to separate out the various umbellifers, members of the carrot family - cow parsley, hedge parsley, so many of them, all roughly similar to the untrained eye. This tall one was an interesting shape from below, against the blue sky. 

I'm pretty sure this one is Meadowsweet. It was used as a strewing herb, a fragrant plant that used to be scattered over the floors of dwellings to sweeten the air, and also as a remedy for digestive disorders. 

I was happily surprised to see a llama, pretending to be a sheep. It wouldn't look out of place among the alpacas of Saltaire, though llamas are bigger, with longer ears and longer faces. 

Around St Oswald's House

Yorkshire holiday 15

After hot days spent exploring the busy towns and villages of the north east Yorkshire coast,  it was lovely to relax in the beautiful, balmy, summer evenings at my guesthouse. I really enjoyed the cooler evening air and the golden light around the gardens. Here are a few of my favourite images from there. 

And the best image I could manage with my 135mm lens of the July 'Buck Moon', not quite full on the night I took this: 

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside...

Yorkshire holiday 14

There's a long, mainly sandy, beach stretching northwards between Whitby and neighbouring Sandsend, with a line of colourful beach-huts.  The tide was high when I was there but I walked along the promenade and sat for a while on the beach. It's always fun people-watching in those kinds of places. 

The North Sea was unusually blue in the hot sunshine. Though its waves were very muted, as there was little breeze, even so I was reminded of how dangerous even an innocuous-looking sea can be. There were no lifeguards anywhere to be seen, though there was a jet-ski parked up on a trailer. (What good is that?) In the short time I was there, I saw a kayaker in a wetsuit take a tumble out of his kayak, which then drifted out of his reach. He didn't really seem to be able to swim (!), necessitating another swimmer to have to help him bring the boat back in. Shortly after, a tiny child wandered away from his dad (who was engaged in building a huge sandcastle to civil engineering standards). The little boy stood in the edge of the sea where a gentle foam was washing in, followed quickly by a proper wave, only small but quite powerful enough to knock a toddler over. He promptly fell face down in the surf. I was too far away to get to him but luckily his dad looked up and saw him and ran to rescue one very traumatised, choking child! Dearie me! Apart from that, it was an idyllic scene...

Whitby memorials

Yorkshire holiday 13

There is an iconic view from the cliff top at the other side of Whitby harbour, looking back to the church and Abbey and over the harbour. This side is the 'seaside' part of Whitby, with the beach, guesthouses and tourist amenities. (Crazy golf, anyone?) There are also a fair few landmarks, memorials and statues dotted around. 

Perhaps the most famous is the Whalebone Arch, made from the jawbone of a whale. Whaling was, of course, a highly dangerous occupation and many crews never made it back to port. Those that did tied a whale's jawbone to their ship's mast, so that watchers on shore could quickly see the good news. A commemorative whalebone arch has stood in this spot since Victorian times, though the bones have been replaced a few times. 

Nearby is a statue of Whitby's most famous 'son', the explorer Captain James Cook:

Up by the church is a rather fine Victorian monument called Caedmon's Cross, commemorating the 7th century Anglo-Saxon poet, Caedmon, who lived in the monastic community at Whitby Abbey. Its carved panels depict various saints, kings and biblical figures. (See HERE for detail)  

More recent artworks include some figures by local artist Emma Stothard, forming a Heritage Trail around town, inspired by Whitby's fishing heritage. (Below) Dora Walker (1890-1980) was the first female fishing boat skipper on the north east coast, after working as a nurse during WW1. She was something of a historian too, writing memoirs of nursing and the fishing communities locally.  

Down by the harbour there's a Whitby fishwife, by the same artist. 

I was touched by this memorial too, though it has proved controversial. The bombed-out (replica) house, complete with an unexploded shell, commemorates 137 civilians who lost their lives along this coast on 16 December 1914 in a bombardment by the Imperial German Navy. 

Fishing from Whitby

Yorkshire holiday 12

Between 1753 and 1883, Whitby was an important port for whale fishing. Boats would go out to waters round Greenland and it's said that 2761 whales in total were brought back to Whitby harbour. Whale blubber was rendered down to oil in the boiler houses by the harbour. It must have been a smelly place! The oil was used for burning in lamps, making soap and candles. The skin was used for leather, cartilage for glue and the bones for making ‘stays’ in corsets. Eventually, the whale trade dwindled as petroleum products were brought in. 

It is still a busy harbour with a small commercial fleet but fishing tends nowadays to be largely a tourist industry. People book sea fishing trips and others fish from the harbour breakwaters with rod and line. A few locals put out lobster pots and mackerel and cod can be caught off the coast. 

You can buy seafood around the harbour, including the famous Magpie Café (declared by none other than Rick Stein to be the best fish and chips in Britain). There is a still a smokehouse in the old town, producing kippers (smoked herring). 

199 steps from St Mary's, Whitby

Yorkshire holiday 11

The headland above the fishing port of Whitby, North Yorkshire is home both to Whitby Abbey (see yesterday) and the ancient parish church of St Mary's. The church is a squat fortress, built to withstand the elements in its exposed position. Its history dates back to Norman times though the interior, with its box pews, wooden galleries and elaborate three tier pulpit, is mostly late 18th century. 

The graveyard has memorials to sailors and fishermen, buried there and lost at sea, a tomb for the wealthy Cholmleys who lived in a mansion by the Abbey, and hundreds of ordinary folk from the old town below. Genealogists might have a hard time finding their forebears, since most of the gravestones are heavily weathered and largely unreadable. I was rather attracted to this carved face of what looks like a fisherwoman. Her expression, to me, bears witness to a hard life. 

Some of the box pews are labelled. The congregation would have paid to use them, though there are pews 'For Strangers only' and one labelled 'Church Maid' and 'Sexton': the people who would have looked after the church and church yard and kept the pews clean, no easy feat when the heating was provided by an ancient, smoking wood stove. 

 No easy feat either to transport a coffin up the 199 steps from the old town to the church (see top picture) ... though the wealthy would have hired a horse and cart and used the steep road at the side. 

The church is the setting for a scene in Bram Stoker's novel 'Dracula' and Whitby holds regular 'Goth weekends', being a magnet for those who enjoy Goth music, fiction and fashion. 

Whitby Abbey

Yorkshire holiday 10

On previous visits to Whitby, I've baulked at the cost of entry to the Abbey, which sits on the headland above the port, cared for by English Heritage. At £12 ish it seems a bit steep for a single ruin and a small museum. This time I paid up, and was able therefore to take the 'classic' shot of the Abbey with a small pool in the foreground. 

The history of it all is fascinating. Founded in 657 AD by Hild, daughter of an Anglian nobleman, it became one of the most important religious centres in the Anglo-Saxon world. In 664, a significant meeting of the Synod of Whitby to try to reconcile the differing traditions of Celtic and Roman Christianity, decided that the date of Easter should from then on follow the Roman traditions. 

The monastery was eventually abandoned, probably due to Viking raids, but then reinstated in 1078 as a Benedictine monastery. The present Gothic buildings were constructed during the 13th-15th centuries. Then, King Henry VIII's famous 'Suppression of the Monasteries' caused its abandonment in 1539. Much of the abbey settlement was demolished and the land was bought by the Cholmley family, who built a mansion in the grounds (now housing the museum).  The full and fascinating story can be found HERE. 

It's frankly amazing that any of it survives, exposed as it is to salt-laden winds and rain on the headland above Whitby. The stonework looks like honeycomb in places. 

English Heritage supply an audio-tour, should you like one. (No good to me, I'm deaf). Thankfully there are a few information boards around too, one of which showed an artists' impression of what the abbey nave might have looked like. 

 

The Cleveland Way

Yorkshire holiday 9 

My original intention had been to walk a stretch of the Cleveland Way coastal path from Staithes south to Port Mulgrave and perhaps even as far as Runswick Bay. There is a coastal bus that means a linear walk, returning by bus, is possible. It was, as I've said, far too hot for that. I did climb the steep path from Staithes onto the cliff top seeking some breeze but even up there it was hot, with not a breath of wind. The views from higher up are lovely though, and I spent some time just sitting watching the sea and the boats.

It's not often that the North Sea looks as turquoise and tropical as this! 

The little red boat was, I think, the same trip boat that I saw in the harbour. 

The cliffs along this stretch of coast are notoriously unstable and there are frequent landslips and rockfalls. There are signs along the beaches and cliff top reminding people of the danger and urging folk to stay clear. People don't seem to heed such warnings.  A young girl was tragically killed by a falling boulder on Staithes beach a couple of years ago and there have been rockfalls since. It all looks so beautiful on such a lovely day but there are many dangers on the cliffs and sea. 

Staithes harbour

Yorkshire holiday 8 

Because it was so hot, I spent a lot of time in Staithes sitting on the beach, just watching the crowds of holidaymakers. There were a few boats offering sea trips and, when this trip boat returned to the harbour, I watched the skipper demonstrating how to fillet a fish. 

Meanwhile there were a few rod and line hopefuls fishing on the breakwaters.  Not sure whether they caught anything...

It was lovely to be by the sea for a change. I can sit for hours just watching the waves breaking, though, with no wind, the waves were rather tame.