Blogs from Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 3

We where again blessed with fine weather as we headed off to Whitby. Whitby was founded under its Old English name of Streonshal in 656, when Oswy, the Christian king of Northumbria, founded Whitby Abbey, under its first abbess Hilda. The Synod of Whitby was held here in 664. In 867, the monastery was destroyed by Viking raiders, and was only refounded in 1078. It was in this period that the town gained its current name, Whitby, (from "white settlement" in Old Norse). In the 18th century Whitby became a centre for shipbuilding and whaling, as well as trade in alum and jet. Tourism and fishing now form the mainstay of the town's economy. There are rail and bus links to the rest of North Yorkshire and North East England. Whitby has featured in literary works, ... read more

Me and some of my colleagues have visited at Whitby Gothic Weekend. One of us said farewell to our job couple of days earlier. We dressed up as well, some of us pretty well, some not at all. Firstly we had a look over the ship from capitan Cook times. Really tiny nut crust if compare with greatness of ocean, but despite of this miserable sail they discovered big number of the new lands. We went into Dracula Experience to feel how to being scared and after that nice experience we found Whitby has someting particular... I like Dracula but I'd rather don't prefer different vampire stories. Plenty people were dressed like blood thirsty vampires and I think some of them quite well. Some different people were clothing from victorian times and some mixed up a ... read more

Thursday 25th June In the footsteps of Captain James Cook RN We Kiwis should consider ourselves very lucky that Capt Cook spent time charting the waters of New Zealand and returning to England to tell of the country he had mapped and explored.If it hadn’t been Cook then who knows perhaps we would have been speaking and living some other European language and culture today!! We have both looked forward to this day for years as Cook in a way is a bit of a hero to us and having been to many of the places he landed in New Zealand over the years it was going to be interesting to see where he grew up and learnt his trade. So it was an early start to the day and full and hearty breakfast after our ... read more

We also traveled up to the coast on the 4th of July as well as visiting Castle Howard. We visited the town of Whitby which is nestled on the banks of the North Sea. There is an abbey there on top of the hill. You should be able to see it in some of the photos. I didn't feel up to climbing the 199 steps to the top to see it. We took a different path on the way back from Whitby on our way to York to visit Castle Howard. We traveled through the Moors on the way to Whitby and drove along the coast on the way back. The Moors are northwest of Harrogate.... read more

We had a nice "lay in" on Sunday morning we got to sleep in till 9:30, but then we were off to spend the day in Whitby. Its a famous fishing town. Its known for Whitby Abbey (http://www.whitbyabbey.co.uk/), making the boats that Captain Cook sailed the world with, the Scoresby's inventors of the crow's nest and for its Fish and Chips. the later we got to taste, the other two we got to see. On the way to Whitby we come over the moors which I had read about in books like the Hound of the Baskervilles but never had actually seen until now. They certainly are desolate. Not many people live up on the moors, but the moors can be quite scenic when the heather is in bloom. Once in Whitby we started out by ... read more