Val’s been hiking in Yorkshire with a bunch of her mates. She has a good room in a nice guesthouse, so I’ve driven up to meet her for a few days. Whitby likes to celebrate its local characters. Here’s Val with ‘Skipper Dora’. Dora Walker was the first female fishing boat skipper on the north east coast.

Captain James Cook needs little introduction; British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Famed for his discovery of Australia, Captain Cook is one of Whitby’s most famous heroes. He began his apprenticeship in the Merchant Navy in Whitby, and he gazes down on the harbour.

Here is a replica of Captain Cook’s ship the ‘Endeavour’.

Whitby is a busy little place, with lots of excursions for visitors on land and on the water.

There’s no marina here, but it is possible to moor a yacht in the harbour. Call the harbourmaster on the radio and he’ll open the swing bridge to let you in.

The oldest part of town is on the opposite side of the river from all the tourist attractions. Narrow cobbled streets.

199 steps lead up to the top of the cliff. It sounds a bit intimidating, but it’s only about as strenuous as walking from our house in Wengen to the Co-op.

At the top of the steps is a church and an abbey. The headstones in the churchyard are very close together. They are memorials to men who were lost at sea.

Whitby abbey was a 7th century monastery which became a Benedictine abbey. Things went well for 800 years until Henry VIII came along and confiscated all the English abbeys, following which it fell into disrepair.

A few more snaps from our walk back to town.

We’ve enjoyed Whitby; the weather has been reasonably kind, and these days the town offers much more than fish & chips and ice cream. Tomorrow we’re heading north to Northumberland.