Travel UK

Travel || Whitby

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post; we decided that my guests just hadn’t seen quite enough of the English coast, so early one afternoon we piled onto a bus to take it out to Whitby. The bus was slower than expected,  because, and I’m not kidding, we got stuck behind a tractor. 

I was really excited about Whitby because I’m a huge fan of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and fellow Dracula-lovers will remember all Lucy’s dramatic cliffside wanderings at St Mary’s and the special role the Abbey plays in the novel. Sam was really excited about fish and chips. In particular, going to Magpie’s Cafe, aka probably the best known fish and chips shop in all of England, let alone North Yorkshire. 

You can’t really separate Whitby from its history of seafaring and it’s abundantly evident, even today. The streets are windy, the port is beautiful and the winds are cold. After lunch was scoffed down in the blink of an eye, and there was a lovely stroll along the seafront, ice creams were in order. (Because you can’t wander along on the English coast in the summertime without an ice cream.)

Absolutely stuffed, we set our minds to climbing the surprisingly steep hill up to Whitby Abbey. (Plus climbing the famous 199 Steps.) The 13th century Benedictine Abbey fell into ruin after Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. Once you glimpse the Abbey, you can completely see why Stoker chose it as the setting for his gothic epic. 

It was a great day out and the perfect reminder that the time around your wedding doesn’t need to be stressful at all! 

bay examining water friends on the pier ladder lighthouse north sea pirate ship spotting the seal stairs water whitby group whitby pier whitby sea front whitby
graveyard
whitby abbey cloudswhitby abbey b&w creepy abbey

Have you ever visited Whitby?

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