Wednesday 25 April 2012

Whitby; April 23rd - 26th

Whitby is about 23 nautical miles from Hartlepool, but we managed another 5 miles of tide, the log showing 28NM when we moored on the new waiting pontoon in Whitby harbour. There had been bright sunshine for about half the passage, but when the sun abandoned us it felt very cold, and we were both very glad to see the entrance piers of Whitby approaching.


We expected to have to tie up to the fish quay to wait for the bridge opening ( HW +- 2 Hrs ), then spotted a chap on a yacht in the Whitby yacht club moorings, and asked to raft up against him, he told us that a new waiting pontoon had been installed by the council, next to the lifeboat station. This proved to be a good move, as the marina supervisor had this pontoon on his rounds, so we were able to discuss timing, and berthing with him before commiting to the bridge opening.


We berthed starboard to, facing up river, this gave us a great view of the swing bridge out of the companionway hatch.


There are two rowing clubs in Whitby, and these seemed to be very active during our stay, with a wide range of ages participating.


On Tuesday we had a good walk around the town, and up to West Cliff where the famous Whale Jawbone memorial is located - this gave us a wonderful view back over the town, with the marina in the background.


In the evening we walked the 199 steps to the ruined abbey on Whitby High, with superb views up the coast and over the harbour entance.



Wednesday was a day of contrasts. There wasn't much sign of the sun all day, but set off to walk to Sandsend at about 10-30 in a cold wind from the SE. After a wonderful lunch in a small but civilised cafe at Sandsend, we started walking back towards Whitby in a rising wind ( there was a F6 in the inshore waters forecast ). Just before reaching Whitby the first drops of rain were felt, and we were lucky to get back to 'NJ' before the heavens opened - It rained hard the rest of the day, and into the night! Writing this on Wednesday evening, the forecast for Thursday isn't very good ( wet with a F7 !!! ), so we will hold tight here, and hopefully set off on Friday with the promise of reasonable winds coming from points around North. If it is very uncomfortable we will go into Scarborough ( 15NM ) or if conditions allow, we might make a run for Grimsby, a passage of around 75NM.

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