Day 246 - Finley arrives

Phil finds a wind break to enjoy his morning latte.

When we awoke today, the BBC was claiming we would have wind gusts of 20 mph, but they were much, much higher than that. We set out for our usual breakfast from the bakery and coffee from Clara's, and found that the wind whipping down the street between the Georgian townhouses felt near gale force! We had to grab a seat around the back of Clara's as a sort of wind break rather than sit on a bench closer to the cliff edge as we usually do. But it was still delightful!

The winds were causing some magnificent wave action, and as the tide was in, we took a walk to the pier to take some photos. We couldn't stay out too long as the wind was whipping up quite a sea mist...not good on the camera lens.

A lone person braves the wave action on the pier.

Despite strike action on the Northern Line, our guest managed to make it to Whitby today: Lord Finley of Long Island. He joined us about mid-afternoon, in time for a bit of wine and cheese before setting out for dinner.  Of course, the first meal anyone should have when in Whitby is fish and chips, so we settled on a meal at The Fisherman's Wife with its wonderful views over the Whitby pier and coastline.

From here we took a walk to the pier. The waves had calmed down quite a bit, and the winds had sculpted some beautiful lines of clouds.

We went back up the Khyber Pass (yes, that's actually the name of one of the roads up the cliff side), and then took a walk around the west side of Whitby. We hadn't been aware of a park on this side of Whitby, so were delighted when we came up on Pannett Park, home of the Whitby Museum, Pannett Art Gallery, and beautiful planted gardens.

Phil attempts to appease the wind gods in Pannett Park's stone circle.

View over the roof tops and across to the East Cliff and Whitby Abbey.

The sun was beginning to set, and with the great cloud formations, I didn't want to miss the chance to get a few sunset pictures. So, Phil and Lord Finley were kind enough to indulge me ... as long as they were permitted a night cap at a local pub. The Ship Inn proved the perfect solution to their request, particularly the window seat we managed to get with its view out over the activity in the harbour as Whitby began to come alive with the Saturday night crowd.