14th August to the 17th August
Sunday the 14th August
A nice simple drive down to Whitby, the traffic wasn't bad at all and the van went well. The campsite was on the right, the last right turn before the A171 passes over the river Esk. The site is very small with mainly static vans but there is room for a few Motorhomes or Caravans. The toilet block is acceptable and clean but nothing special. Just over the A171 there is a path down to the town along the railway and it isn't very far to walk, although is is rather steep to get up and down from the A171.
Airy Hill Cottages, Airy Hill Farm
Whitby, North Yorkshire, YO21 1PZ
Web airyhillcottages.co.uk/
Web airyhillcottages.co.uk/
We arrived at the site and phoned the owner (who was out in his car), he asked just to park up on one of the hard bases where static caravans had been.
We had a sandwich for lunch and then set off into town. It was only a short walk down into town, we crossed over the railway lines and along by the river to the centre. When we got there Amber wanted to look in the shops on the north side of the river but we didn't get anything.
Next thing we did was pop into one of the jewellery shops on the other side, to have two of my gold rings altered, so that I could use them again. It was actually my wedding ring and my signet ring, both very old now and my fingers have grown. I have been wearing silver rings as a replacement over the last few years and usually forget to bring the gold ones whenever we come here. Anyway in The Black Market Jewellery Work Shop, it was only £15 to have them both made bigger, a bargain I reckon, they would not be ready until tomorrow though.
From there we wandered about the other shops on that side looking for a ring for Dot. Eventually though we wandered along to the beach.
After a sit on one of the piers, the kids decided that it was time for tea, even though it wasn't long since our lunch. Georgia and Emily even decided where we were going for tea, Hadleys Fish Restaurant, they like it there and so did we.
Dot, Georgia and Me all had fish and chips, Emily and Amber had sausage and chips, we also had mushy peas, all very good.
We walked back on the opposite side of the river to the way we came in, the climb back up to the bridge is worse on this side. The views from the bridge are pretty good though.
When we got back to the van, we set up for the night, watched a film and then the Olympics until we were all too tired to watch anymore.
Monday the 15th August
We had a nice easy morning in the sun and then after lunch, set off into town. We walked down the same way as yesterday and I took photos of the steam trains and the boats along the way.
As yesterday and headed straight to the jewellery shop to get my rings. After all these years my gold ring fit me again, Dot had another look at getting a ring but they didn't have one to fit her.
From there we headed to the beach for the girls to play in the sea. We crossed back over to the north side of the river and along to the pier, then down to the beach.
We spent the rest of the day down there, the tide we just starting to go out when we got there but was still fairly high when we decided to move on.
We wandered around to Spoons for tea but it was that busy in there I decided we would go back to the van and have a BBQ for tea. So we moved on to the Co-op, bought some thing we needed (beer for me) and made our way back to the site. There we had our food and sat out in the sun until we moved in to watch a film and the Olympics again.
Tuesday the 16th August
Quiet morning again then after lunch we set off for town, only this time we left via the back of the site and down onto the old train line. I had walked this line before, back in 2008 but that was a much longer walk we had done back then.
When we got down into town and after the girls looked in the shops, we decided to walk along the north pier (known as the West Pier). It was quite windy and cool along there but that didn't stop us, we did shelter behind the lighthouse for a while though .
After our walk, Dot made for the jewellery shop again and bought the ring she had been looking at, although it would have to be posted out to us later. After that I fancied beer so we popped into the Abbey Wharf, it was fairly full but we got a table ok. Only I queued for a while when a member of staff from the restaurant asked the barman to get the manager. So he wandered off and so did I, what sort of service is that.
We moved on to The Dolphin at the Swing Bridge, got a table in the window facing the bridge and I got served easily. In the passed we had sat there before and as last time the bridge opened up to let boats through. From there we moved on to the Spoons pub again, The Angel Hotel and got a table upstairs, it was a bit quieter than the first time.
We got served all right, the girls seemed to enjoy the food and drinks and it was very very cheep. Then it was back up to the van and the usual before bed.
Wednesday the 17th August
The one thing to report on our way back home, we stopped at Scaling Reservoir and got Hot Dogs and Burgers from the van there. I mention this as it only cost less than £6 for three big Hot Dogs and one Cheese Burger. They were well worth it.
