About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

W is for WHITBY

Whitby is a seaside town in the North Yorkshire Moors, at the mouth of the River Esk that empties into the North Sea.  The area around this wonderful town is one of my favourite places that I have ever visited because of the history and beauty of the countryside.  My dear friend Jill lives in a small village about 3 miles inland from Whitby and, after two visits, has shown me so much of the area that I wish I could live there!  If I could drive standard shift from the right hand side of the car, I'd be there in a flash.  However, I did try it once and was totally upside down and twisted.  Although I do know how to drive shift, doing it with my left hand had me flummoxed!  So I guess I'll just have to make do with visits when Jill or her husband can drive me.

Whitby's history is amazing!  The earliest known settlement was in 656 when the Christian king of Northumbria founded the first abbey.  In 867 the monastery was destroyed by Viking raiders and another monastery was founded in 1078. It was during this period when the town got its name Whitby, meaning "white settlement" in Old Norse.  The town functioned as a fishing settlement until, in the 18th century, it developed as a port and centre for shipbuilding and whaling, trade in locally mined alum, and the manufacture of Whitby jet jewellery.  See my post on jet jewelry here. 

Whitby Abbey is the town's oldest and most well-known landmark.  Whitby also has a strong literary tradition and has featured in literary works, television and cinema, most famously in Bram Stoker's "Dracula."  There's a fascinating article about Dracula's birthplace in Whitby right here, well worth reading!

The actual town of Whitby has an "old" side and a "new" side so after we had seen Whitby Abbey and the Abbey House plus St. Mary's Church high on the hillside, we wandered down to the older area of town.  As someone who has lived in or near Whitby all her life, Jill knew all the little nooks and crannies.  Suddenly, she said "Come with me!"  And we crept down the narrowest alleyway I'd ever seen and at the other end was a spectacular sight.  We saw private gardens, little shops, artwork and crafts and sights that the other tourists would never see!  We went to the Jet Museum, but just as we were going to leave, a rain cloud dumped its load.  As tourists scattered, we crossed over to Marie Antoinette's tea house where we had hot chocolate and carrot cake beneath the most beautiful chandelier.  All I could think as we sat there was "Let them eat cake!"

When the rain finally stopped, we crossed the bridge into the newer side of Whitby and went into a modern grocery store to pick up a few supplies.  Then we headed back home to her village of Grosmont on the bus.  What a ride that was!  Bumpity bump along the winding roadway up the hills and down until we arrived home.  What a wonderful day!
There's a slideshow waiting for you to view, should you wish to do so.  The music is the theme to the movie "Black Beauty," very subtle as you view my photos.  Enjoy!
Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

9 comments:

MelodyK said...

at first glance I thought you would write about a James Bond movie.... the name triggered my brain

What a surprise to see...that not knowing about it, there is a place called like it.... seems a gorgeous place to visit.

Have a nice ABC-Wednesday / _ Week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc=w=team)
http://melodymusic.nl/19w/

Amit Agarwal said...

I loved the video on Wondrous Whitby..it looks like a professional documentary! The music created the atmosphere:):) Thank you Leslie for taking me around:)

Roger Owen Green said...

maybe you WILL live there someday
ROG, ABCW

carol l mckenna said...

Delightful place and great slide show ~ history and more ~ course love the ocean!

Wishing you peace in your week ~ ^_^

Joy said...

I love whimsical and punning shop names, so the Marie Antoinette tea shop had me chuckling. Nice trip around Whitby, its a long time since I've been there.

Trubes said...

I love Whitby and the surrounding countryside,
WE've had a few holidays in that part of
Yorkshire, once in the annex in an old farmhouse.
It was at Easter and it was very cold when we arrived.
The only source of heat was a huge open coal/log fire.
Ian would get up in the middle of the night to stoke up
the fire so we would awake to a lovely warm kitchen/sitting
room. The day after we arrived there was a huge snow storm,
we could see the farmer out on the hillside with his dog
bringing the sheep into the barn where they would be warm and
dry. Fortunately we had done a big shop when we arrived so we had plenty
of food.
The girls wer delighted because the farmer let them feed some new born
lambs without mothers. They also helped brush the paths to clear the snow away.
there was a Donkey on the farm called Peggy so they helped look after her then
were rewarded by the farmer's wife allowing them to ride her around her barn.
When they came back in for dinner they enjoyed some of my home made soup and then
a hearty beef casserole with herby dumplings.
i remember one of them saying it was the best cottage holiday ever.
When the roads were cleared we drove into Whitby for fish and chips,,,the best ever !

Thanks for bringing back some warm memories Leslie, I think it's time we had another
holiday in Yorkshire !
'God's Own Country'.

best wishes,
Di,
ABCW team.

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Unknown said...

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