Day 19 - Friday 18th July

Linda and Mum met us in the Market Square and we set off in the trusty Volvo. We took the longer scenic route to the Coast. We had marvellous views around the Pennines. At one point we stopped at a lookout and were blessed with a rare steam train going through the valley ... timing is everything! It was very windy and quite cool.

Linda kept us entertained with one liners and sound effects!! At one point Wen and I were almost hysterical with laughter!!

When we came over the hill and there suddenly was the sea and ship it was brilliant. We drove past Whitby and on towards Staithes. What an amazing, quaint village. Only locals can drive into Staithes and there are even some locals who can't drive to their door! We parked at the top of the hill and walked down. There were seagulls everywhere. As we walked down you could see all the house roofs had been painted with seagull poop.

On the way down Linda and Wen were fooling around and making a handseat to carry Mum down (joking), but Mum sat on and they all collapsed - photos below. Linda hurt her back a bit but no other injuries!

Once down Mum wanted to get a pic from Church Street so she could do a painting. Wen and Mum headed up Church Street which is the steepest street in Staithes, while Linda and I went and sat on a bench on the harbour wall. The sound of the seagulls was almost deafening!

The walk back up was a bit of a challenge. Mum suffered a bit, but I suprised myself by putting myself into overdrive and powered up the hill.

After Staithes we went further up the coast towards Middlesborough. There was a huge windfarm just off the coast which was an amazing sight. We stopped at a place for lunch that Linda had been to before. After this it was about 2:30 so we took the short way home. Wen had a long day of driving.

We settled down for a few glasses of wine and David joined us. I was getting a little hungry and was thinking about what to eat and David wanted us to come down to a bbq at the local park so we could meet his daughter. Well we went down ... it was one of those beam me up Scottie moments. The bbq was a hotdog on a breadroll and it was a boy scout do. As soon as I could I made an excuse and escaped. It was very kind of David, but it was not our scene.

Worst thing was after we got back Wen realised she had left her tobacco tin down there and had to walk back!!

Anyway we had a lovely, but exhausting day. We are fitting in as much as possible.

Click on the images below for larger images.