Goodbye Resolution

One of Cook's ships represented on the plinth of his statue overlooking Whitby harbour. My resolution has failed, and this may be the last entry on this photo blog. It looks very much as though we will be settling in York (see JorvikDailyPhoto) and won't get to Whitby often enough to be able to maintain this blog. Thanks for your visits and comments. If any Whitby reader would like to take this over, please let me know!

The Captain Cook Experience …

but not including Australia or the South Seas. A small replica of the Bark Endeavour will, however, take you  out of the harbour towards Sandsend. Follow the link to find out about its construction by Whitby craftsmen and other related matters, including notes on Cook himself.

Captain James Cook not quite himself

The great man all alone and from the front. For the story of this extraordinary navigator and cartographer, follow the labels and links. 

Captain James Cook and the whalebone arch

Two of Whitby's West Cliff monuments seen from Spion Kop above Khyber Pass. Earlier posts contain more information.

New Year's Resolution

A long overdue picture of Captain James Cook, this first one from behind to take in the 199 steps, church and abbey. The Resolution is Cook's ship, sculpted into the pedestal. There was no obliging seagull perched on his head today, but plenty of evidence of their presence.

The sands of time …

Another of Catherine de Compiègne's holiday snaps, showing the long beach from Whitby to Sandsend, and the closer Tate Hill sands down below in the outer harbour.

The Captain Cook monument and whalebone arch to the right of the white Royal Hotel are unfortunately not clearly visible even in the enlarged version.

The road below the hotel and monuments is amusingly named Khyber Pass, and the elevated area which forms the other side of the mini-valley, Spion Kop, after a Boer War battle. The Boers had the best of it on that occasion.

Bakehouse Yard 2

Come up the yard from the Haggersgate end and pass number 9 on your left - see yesterday's entry. Make a mental note of the cottages that are up for sale and tell yourself to pick up a property paper before the end of the day.

The cobbles are slippery today, so hang on to the railing as you come up the steps - no-one has been out to remove the ice. Pause at the top of the second flight and turn to take in the scene.

This is what makes Whitby such a delight; the steepness of the valley means that there are frequent surprise views to the other side of town, to St Mary's and the abbey from the west, or to St Hilda's, the whalebone arch or the Cook statue from the east. In addition to these tantalising glimpses over rooftops or through vennels and archways,  panoramic sweeps of harbour, hills, cliffs and beaches  can be enjoyed from unencumbered vantage points such as the 199 steps on the east, and Spion Kop on the west.

Beach huts and pier

Not a very seasonal photograph, but people will soon be booking their holidays. This is Whitby, North Yorkshire, on the north-east coast of England, twinned with Whitby, Ontario, Canada. I hope we attract some transatlantic readers! We didn't make it to Canadian Whitby, or Pickering, or Scarborough while we were in Toronto some years ago; it was too short a stay.

Among the town's famous personalities are Hilda, Caedmon, Captains Cook and Scoresby and Bram Stoker's Dracula of which more at a later date. Lewis Carroll also spent some time here, and, of course, many Heartbeat scenes were filmed in the town. Nearby Goathland, or Adensfield, if you're a fan, is also the location for Harry Potter's Hogsmeade Station.

These huts are dismantled at the end of each season and stored in a tunnel leading to the West Cliff lift shaft. About three years ago they were smashed by extremely high seas shortly after reassembly. If anyone reading can give me a link to a photograph, I'll post it another day. Locals, as well as visitors, hire these huts, sometimes for the entire season.

So, welcome to Day One of WhitbyDailyPhoto, inspired by Eric Tenin's ParisDailyPhoto which I've had on my favourites list for some years.