We had a rest day in Scarborough so had our first breakfast off the boat, a full monty, we didn’t have to eat anything else all day. We strolled around the town for a bit, doing some window shopping. Scarborough is a traditional seaside town with its own Ferris Wheel. There are five types of shop along the seafront, fish & chips, Ice cream, amusement arcades, cafes and pubs, but go back from the seafront and up the hill is a huge pedestrianised shopping centre selling everything from stuffed birds to wedding dresses, but sadly nowhere can you get a set of hinges for a loo seat. Guess what we need?

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Saturday and we’re off to Whitby. It is a relatively short hop of 20 miles or so, but a frantic dash to get out of Scarbo’ as soon as the tide is high enough to leave and get to Whitby before it runs out again. It means keeping up a good average speed all the way, but not too hard to achieve.

It was a bright, clear day and we set off at 0615, far too early to be awake but there it is. Time and tide wait for no man. There was soon enough wind to help us on our way but we still had to motor-sail to keep the average speed up.

The coast line was stunning with dramatic Jurassic Cliffs much like those in Dorset. Passing headlands such as Hayburn Wyke, Blea Wyke point, Beast Cliff, and Whitby High. before spotting the ruins of Whitby Abbey on the headland and then the breakwaters at the entrance to the River Esk.

On entry everything went calm, w called up the bridge master and were told to hold station for ten minutes until the next opening. “Wait there mate” the official parlance in these parts. Once the bridge was open and we slipped through, a couple of things went wrong. First I missed the chap waving at me and telling me where to go and went down the wrong set of Pontoons. Then a James Martin lookalike was shouting do you know there’s a trawler behind you. ” You hum it, I’ll sing it, I thought. but sure enough there was a big fishing boat looming up behind as I was turning round…. in his way! Oops. Overtaking boat should keep clear eh!

Well we got to the berth eventually. Two guys there to take our ropes, all very friendly and it was only 10.00am.

So much to do today. First up to the Abbey and do the tourist thing..doing the 199 steps mentioned in Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, round the Abbey, back down 199 steps, and into town. Fish and chips from the recommended Magpie cafe. Some shopping, then back to Watanga to decide where our next port of call was to be.

There’s some marginally bad weather coming which may prevent us visiting Lindesfarne Holy Island, which would be a great shame. but we must keep plugging North.

We have decided North shields for tomorrow