The Yorkshire Coast

In order to recover from the walk and as the first non-walking day coincided with our 45^th we decided to stay on the Yorkshire coast for a couple of days. The glorious weather continued and the warm and wet weather gear remained in the back pack.

The view from the Victoria pub over the gardens to the bay was glorious.

The main street in Robin Hoods Bay is steep with the buildings colourful and close together with alleyways similar to some Mediterranean towns. Our timing was great as the colour and atmosphere was suddenly enhanced by Morris dancers doing a jig down the street.

During the last three days of the walk we had seen the distant Whitby Abbey slowly increasing in size so we thought a closer look was warranted. Our arrival coincided with a play about Dracula with the players moving periodically through the Abbey with the audience in tow. All very amusing.

Helen had arranged for us to stay at Wrea Head hall, a country mansion just out of Scarborough. We had thought to play croquet but we were so busy doing nothing that we ran out of time……

The room was spectacular although the bed was quite high – not one to fall out of! The bath albeit in the bedroom also got a long work out.

Dinner in the 1881 restaurant was wonderful. I could not imagine a more mouth watering meal - a starter of Yorkshire pudding with beef strips and horseradish followed by Duck all washed down with a 10 year old bottle of Tempranillo.

The next day (after a particularly leisurely start) we visited Scarborough castle.

The view from the top over the town was commanding and the castle entry which incorporated a bridge with Barbican would have been a testing experience.

The grand hotel which dominates the sea front is now run by Butlins – not quite as grand as its heyday.

Once more our timing was great as a jousting tournament got underway shortly after our arrival. Getting the riders on their horses took quite a bit of time as they were very heavy in their chain mail and other regalia and had to use steps to access their mounts.

The jousting was skillful with rubber rather than steel “points”. The winner was the one that broke their lance as it meant they had had a solid hit.

This was followed by a melee where I think the winner was the one who struck the most blows on an opponent (either on the sword or shield). This was a pretty skillful exercise. Holding onto a twirling mount with one hand while hefting blows onto your opponents with a large sword was no mean feat. All were pretty exhausted by the end. An entertaining spectacle.