Wandering Boots Tour: Day 34 Touring to Whitby

By the numbers

21,119 steps

15.57 kms

I thought I would get up early so I could meet the tour group on time after I had a leisurely breakfast at MacDonald’s since I found on in York. I just hadn’t visited it yet. I was actually up well before anyone in the hostel it seems. I went to fill my water bottle I still had from home that I had not washed out in that time. I found the kitchen locked as they must have been cleaning that area. I just walked on and went hunting Maccas. Since it was Saturday, I knew things might open late. I was looking at the sites as I wandered around streets that I had not walked before until I found my way to the one place that I knew I could get something. Along the way I stopped in a supermarket to get water and some soap as I was running out. I had a joke with the shop keeper as I had problems with self serve. Turns out you had to put your package on the next shelf up as thats where your bag goes. The whole shop was basically gutted with workmen working there. Sure it was the shop I wanted, but it was also a worksite for builders doing something. That was alright, I found my way at York Minster, where I turned around hunting a cafe that I had found, but thought I should have gotten food at the supermarket. I ended up with a coffee and two sausage rolls. As I sat at the meeting location a random dog wanted what I was eating and the owner said no as it had food at home. I thought it was funny as I know another dog that would do that.

The tour van turned up well on time as we had to wait for some people for a little while and turns out there were six Australians in the van and that included me. They were here for the cricket, which was pretty cool and they were from Perth and Sydney. The mother of one of the men hadn’t been back to Yorkshire for 50 years so was doing well to travel around the country even though she had trouble moving about properly, but she was there The first town we went to was Helmsley, which was a market town that would today have heaps of motorbikes floating through town. I was too early for the castle of the same name that was in ruins there and a place you could visit. Apparently there were lots of towns in the UK with the same names so they added words to it like Newcastle Upon Tyne as an example. That way you could find the town you lived in and they could either have Saxon names or even originate from Norse. Nothing is ever that simple. One of the towns we stopped in for a look had in its rules that sheep were allowed to roam the streets, which is different. We were slowly heading to Whitby and had to go over the Yorkshire Moors at the same time, which seemed to have attracted many walkers and drivers on a very nice day. We did stop at one stage to have a look around. I was happy to do a little bit of walking around.

By the time we made it to Whitby, we were told we would have 2 hours in town and then asked where we would like to be dropped off. When I heard there were 199 steps to Whitby Abbey, I decided that it would be easier to be dropped at the Abbey and walk down. Everyone else had the same idea too. I wasn’t sure if I should take my jumper or not. Common sense won as I took it with me and I never regretted it as I really did need the jumper. The breeze through the Abbey was cold. I had a Heritage Pass so could go on through without any problems. I was expecting not much would still be in existence and what I seem there was more surviving that I expected. There was more structure than I had ever realised. I wandered to the nearby cemetery with the really good view of the town and ocean. Apparently it also gathered inspiration with Dracula, but every man and their dog were there too. It got worse when I walked down the 199 steps as I then knew it was a great idea to walk down. I just wonder about the hostel next to the Abbey that have to go up and down. I ended up with Fish and Chips though it was Cod. I was running out of time when I found Captain Cook museum, which I didn’t enter as I didn’t have the time. There was something like 20 mins before we were picked up. Walking through the town was a little like the last time I visited Noosa. It was crowded with people doing the same thing and I was lucky once I got to the train station. The steam train did leave from there, but we were leaving from another location.

Where we were going to catch the train was at Goathland, which was nearby and that was actually where the largest group was leaving the train.  The scouts were going for a ride and getting off at Goathland. The town was once the set of one TV show known as Heartbeat set in the fictional town of Aidensfield. The station is the set for Hogsmead in Harry Potter. In the little village there are some vehicles from the show and then we had to walk out way to the station, where we would pick up the ticket from the tour guide who would meet us all in Pickering. He was watching the train by live stream on his phone so knew when it was going to leave even though he knew the times already. I had my ticket and it wasn’t a long wait as I stood on the bridge waiting for the train to arrive, which it did. Once in the carriage it was basically empty once the Scouts left as they had reserved the carriage. I was nearly falling asleep on the ride, but it was a great ride into Pickering as it showed a little bit of the country side and also the walking tracks that people used.

Once we were picked up at Pickering we were given a little tidbit of info as it was apparently the town of the guy who invented water colours. We did make one stop on the way home and that was to Kirkham Priory with some nice views of the remains of the Priory and also the country side. I was told about something that was going on at the York Minster as I thought I heard something about a free Evening Song at the cathedral. It wasn’t cheap the rest of the time to visit so I thought why not. Turns out it wasn’t what I expected at all. It was a daily thing called a Choral Evensong a prayer type service that included the Choir singing, which was nice and we could put money in the collection plates that were then blessed. I never gave anything as I needed the money. It seems that many regulars come to this event and it is interesting as there were a group of holy plumbers in the area too. At least I now know what I got myself into for an hour or else, I would not have gone, but I got pictures of the inside. It was after 6pm by the time the service finished and I was ready to walk on and head back to the hostel, where I would have to sort myself out for the next day as I am heading to Cardiff. It was the way I wanted to go so that I could reach Dorchester without having to go through London. The long way round.