Impressive from any angle

St Mary's again, from the Flowergate end of Cliff Street, just above Somerfield's car park. In front of the houses just below the church is the terrace from which Wednesday's picture was taken.

The 199 steps are visible, snaking up from Church Street, as is the cliff, down which have hurtled the contents of more than a few graves over the years. Future occurrences have been avoided by resiting those at risk.

Zoom!

The zoomed version of yesterday's picture.

I made a virtual visit to Stavanger yesterday as well one of my frequent calls to Eric Tenin's Paris site. What a lot I have to learn about photography!

For the moment I'm concentrating on composition and using a digital camera bought for us by our children. Despite its relative simplicity, it has given us a great deal of pleasure.

Well, back to this view from Cliff Street over to St Mary's and the east side of town. You can make out some of the 199 steps centre top. In another post I'll talk about the book, "Whitby one nine nine" of which we have a signed copy, received as a gift while we were in France. Some longstanding, loyal friends thought we needed a good dose of Streonshalh (later called Whitby by the Danes)  to make sure we came back one day - and we did!

Bakehouse Yard 3

This is the railing you had to hang on to yesterday, just outside a couple of more recently-built cottages. We are looking up towards Cliff Street, with the abbey behind us to the east.

Visitors often find these directions confusing; it took us a while to get used to thinking in terms of East and West Whitby rather than North and South.

In fact the coast here takes a turn to face more or less north, and this provides June visitors with the opportunity to watch the sun both rise and set over the sea. Set your alarm early if you must! I've often intended to do it but …

Bakehouse Yard

This is Bakehouse Yard on the west side of the harbour, but don't go looking for a blue door - it's been repainted since this picture was taken.

Like most of the old Whitby yards, including Blackburn's (see Friday Dec 18th), there is only pedestrian access to the cottages. Imagine negotiating the steps and cobbles laden with a fridge or washing machine during a downpour!

This view is from the bottom looking up towards Cliff Street; Don Burluraux has a shot from the other direction, looking down towards Haggersgate, on his North York Moors Cam site. I was a frequent visitor to his site whilst in France, both for nostalgic reasons, and also to show off the region to our Gallic friends. I'm happy to say that they were always impressed. For an artist's interpretation of the same view, visit Anne Thornhill's site.

Tomorrow I'll post a view of the abbey from the top of this part cobbled, part flagged yard, where most of the dwellings are holiday cottages.