Whitby & North York Moors Guide - Days Out Leaflets

MAKING TRACKS TO WHITBY
For Simon Calder, Senior Travel Editor for
The Independent, the journey to Whitby is
as thrilling as the town itself.
“enjoy the timeless landscapes of the
moors while drifting through the decades”
Clockwise from top: Steam train in newtondale, Cyclists on a
woodland track, Beggar’s Bridge in Glaisdale, Whitby Harbour.
You don’t go to Whitby by accident -
which, of course, is part of the joy of
this fascinating corner of England.
Due to the cuts applied to so much of
the UK’s railways in the 1960s, you can no
longer take a train from Scarborough or
Robin Hood’s Bay or Sexhow (the Yorkshire
hamlet between Potto and Stokesley) to
reach Whitby station. Yet thanks to the
railways that have survived, getting to this
beautiful port is half the fun.
Whitby is connected to the rest of the
kingdom by the marvellous Esk Valley
Railway, a line that works on all kinds
of levels. First, it works scenic magic,
the train quickly leaves Middlesbrough,
curving through lovely arcs of northern
England en route to the coast. Next, the
line empowers the hiker and the cyclist
to hike or bike between stations, creating
the kind of “green” synergy that the nation
needs. And it functions as a community
lifeline, binding villages together while
also bringing in visitors to stay for a day or
a week.
Remarkably, given its size and location,
Whitby has an alternative train approach.
The port is one end of the North Yorkshire
Moors Railways (also known as “the world’s
most popular steam heritage railway”),
the other end being the market town
of Pickering. Thanks to the efforts of
enthusiasts, you can enjoy the timeless
landscapes of the Moors while drifting
through the decades. Pickering itself
reflects the 1930s. Trundle on to Levisham,
and you journey back a century. Grosmont
is locked in the Fifties, when Sir Nigel
Gresley - one of the NYMR’s locomotives -
set the post-war speed record for steam.
And at the celebrity station of Goathland,
setting for TV’s Heartbeat and Harry
Potter’s Hogsmeade, the clocks stopped
at 1922. The bits in between are just as
impressive: great hulks of rock worn
down by time, draped with forest in
places, with lonely villages and solitary
farmhouses dotted sparsely across the
brooding moors. Crikey, perhaps that’s
the Monkman’s Slaughter Strong Bitter
(brewed at the local Cropton Brewery)
at work.
When the mighty locomotive sighs to a
halt at Whitby station, the adventures
are just beginning. The port was where
Britain’s great mariner, James Cook,
acquired the skills that would allow him
to chart the world: the house where he
trained is now the Captain Cook
Memorial Museum.
The lanes that straggle through the town
still echo with the past. The shape of the
dramatic harbour has not changed in the
past two-and-a-half centuries since Cook
ruled the waves. Countless ships have
sheltered from fierce nor’easters ripping
across from Scandinavia.
To peel back the centuries still further,
climb those celebrated Abbey steps (if you
are disposed to both counting steps and
round numbers, you may be frustrated by
the narrowest failure to reach 200). There
may be more atmospheric ruins in Britain
than the ghostly arches and soaring towers
of Whitby Abbey, but surely none with
more dramatic settings. These are the old
stones that inspired Bram Stoker to get his
teeth into the tale of Dracula - and now
attract a new Gothic generation.
The best way to experience the Abbey?
Stay at the UK’s best-located youth hostel,
which occupies part of the adjacent Abbey
House replete with medieval frescoes.
Being a guest at Whitby YHA also means
you are ideally placed to savour dawn and
dusk on the raw edge of our green and
pleasant land.
5 great...
things to do
in Whitby
✓ Count the 199 steps as you walk up from
Church Street towards St mary’s Church and
the abbey. Tradition says that you should
count the steps as you go, and if you get it
wrong you should go back and start again!
✓ Visit St Mary’s Church, next to Whitby
abbey. The church interior shows the work of
the ships’ carpenters and includes an unusual
3-tier pulpit.
✓ Walk to the end of the West Pier and look
back on Whitby as if you were a homecoming
sailor. if safe, continue to the end of the West
pier’s extension for an even more convincing
homecoming.
✓ Discover Blackburn’s Yard, a small and
almost unspoilt Yard typical of old Whitby.
Walk along Church Street from the swing
bridge towards the 199 Steps. Step off the
main street at the sign for Wash House pottery
and enter the 18th Century.
✓ Explore Pannett Park and Art Gallery.
Both were created by alderman pannett
about 100 years ago. They lie between
Bagdale and the top of flowergate.
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