Whitby

Today the group headed to Whitby, a fishing village north-east of Nottingham (about 3 hours away). Whitby is where Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. In his book, Dracula first arrives in Whitby when he comes to England. I saw a Dracula store from afar, but didn't get a chance to go inside.

I think Whitby is the perfect sea side village, and is known for its fish and chips. I had a potato. There are two sides to Whitby and a river separates the old side from the new side. Unfortunately, the swing bridge was broken so we couldn't walk from one side to the other. Our only way across was by free bus shuttle, boat or cab. The abbey was on the other side so we had to get across somehow!

Whitby Abbey is situated up on a hill overlooking the city and the sea, and all that remains are the outer remnants of what the abbey once was. We decided to take a cab because of the broken bridge, instead of taking the shuttle bus and walking the 199 steps up to the abbey. The cab was a good choice because everyone is still feeling a little ill. Once we were got up there, it was quite an amazing view. The weather was perfect and the sea is always a lovely sight. I loved just sitting in the grass looking at the abbey and the sea. From the abbey, we could see the beach. Unlike in Dover, this was a real beach with sand and waves. I wish we could have spent more time in Whitby because I would have loved to go down and put my feet in the sand.

One part of Whitby that I loved were all the dogs. Everyone had a pooch with them and it seemed like all the restaurants and shops were very dog friendly. I saw 3 little wiener dogs (one just like Max and the other 2 had long hair). I loved them all. I miss my naughty boys.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time after the abbey because our bus was leaving at 4. We wandered around a few shops, but then grabbed a drink and snack and headed back to the bus. I slept most of the way there and home, which was nice because we'd gotten up too early. On the way to Whitby, Hank came across 2 hairy coos (long haired highland cows). I've wanted to see a hairy coo for quite some time, but I was sleeping when we passed them and Hank couldn't wake me fast enough. On the way home though, I planned to stay awake and see the coos. I waited and waited and no coos, so finally I napped because we thought we'd missed them. Awhile later, Hank woke me quickly and I got a glance of 2 sleepy hairy coos in a field. It was only a little glance from afar so I still haven't seen a proper coo.

I think Whitby has been one of my favorite places I've seen so far. Definitely a place to come back to.

Side note:
On the way to Whitby, we passed this very random large ugly building in the middle of nothing. The bus driver said it was used as a spy station to spy on the Russians. The sign on the road said something about a government building that was off limits. Don't know how true that is, but I thought it was pretty cool.