A Nice Day Out......

Last Friday we booked a day trip to Whitby,  on the Yorkshire Coast.    Whitby's skyline is dominated by the ruins of St. Hilda's Abbey, high on Whitby's East Cliff.      Whitby is a maze of alleyways and narrow streets running down to the busy quayside and from the old town of Whitby 199 steps lead up to the parish church of St. Mary, whose churchyeard on Whitby's East Cliff gave Bram Stoker the inspiration to write the world famous book, Dracula.  

We didn't visit the Abbey as we've seen it before and the purpose of this visit wasn't to take in the sights it was to meet up with a fellow blogger the lovely Denise (Mrs. Nesbitt's Space). 

Denise and I have been trying to arrange a meet-up for quite and while, so when I saw that a local coach company were running a day trip to Whitby (Denise lives nearby) I couldn't resist asking if she could meet up for lunch.   We have been blog friends for a long time and friends on Facebook and have spoken on the phone a few times but never actually met.

The weather was miserable, drizzly and foggy but it was great to finally meet up with Denise.  MWM and I were hoping to meet John, Denise's hubby, but unfortunately he was working.    Denise took us to the best Fish & Chip restaurant in Whitby, where we sampled their best battered cod, chips and mushy peas, washed down with a lovely pot of tea.   Denise had brought me a gift

six freshly laid eggs from her gals and had even drawn on each one the name of the chicken that had laid them!


After lunch we went to the railway station, part of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which operates steam trains along an 18 mile line between the market town of Pickering and the village of Grosmont, through the heart of the North York Moors National Park, and also operate trains to Whitby on certain days of the year.

You know MWM loves steam trains and of course he had checked before we left home to find out if any steam trains were running to Whitby that day - they were.

Denise and I waited in the station cafe, with a warming cup of tea, whilst MWM took his photographs of the steam engines, then when he'd finished we ambled round the alleyways looking in the quaint shops and markets, catching up on what we'd been doing and where we had been.  

We decided to retire to a lovely little pub, where they sold real ale and had a real coal fire, for a couple of drinks before it was time to meet the coach for our journey home.

We had lots of laughs with Denise and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, but all too soon it was time to say our goodbyes.   We are hoping Denise and John will come over to see us soon so we can treat them to some Lancashire hospitality.