...and then the sun came out

In the middle of the afternoon the clouds cleared and the sun came out.  That doesn't mean it was warm, of course (being Yorkshire) but everyone started behaving as though it was anyway.  We never did manage to get to the beer festival...

Because the middle of the town was heaving with people, Amber and I wandered onto the West Pier to escape the crowds.  This is a great place to observe traditional seaside behaviour on the beach below.

There were several pleasure boats steaming around the harbour, including an appropriately named speedboat and Whitby's old lifeboat which now gives pleasure rides.  The speedboat driver (pilot?) seemed to be in the middle of a late lunch, as I discovered when I looked at the pictures when I got home!

The pier itself is always a good place to watch the world go by.

The final two pictures from Whitby, looking back towards the town from the pier.  What a magical place...

People Watching

More from Whitby, illustrating some of the human specimens I observed while wandering around.  It was cold when we arrived, so there weren't very many people on the beach.  This person seemed to have the right idea.

The next group struck me as "three of a kind".  I'm not sure I'd want to meet any of them on a dark night...

Others were sitting, watching the world go by.

Shops and Cafes are always good places to observe human behaviour.  The Cafe, in this instance, is the world famous Magpie which serves the best fish and chips ever!

The centre of the town became really busy towards the end of the afternoon, so I retreated onto the West Pier where the last two shots were taken.

Not quite sure why, but I seem to be going through a bit of a monochrome phase at the moment.

Trip to Whitby

Whitby is a place of which I am extremely fond, having gone there on holiday as a kid pretty well every year since I was six.  I always make a pilgrimage whenever I'm in the area, and this time was no exception.  First port of call is one of my favourite shops: the Carlsberg of bakeries, E. Botham & Sons.  A magical place which produces the best sandwiches and scrummiest cakes in the world.  On this occasion I was banished outside as I had Amber with me, but the "Queen Of Hearts" made this an entertaining experience while she replenished the window display.

Whitby was extremely busy with tourists, in contrast to the sleepy fishing town I remember from the mid sixties.  The narrow streets of the East Side, in particular, were heaving with people, so Amber and I headed for the 199 steps up to the Abbey and St Mary's Church.

Amber then proceeded to pull me up the steps at break-neck speed, much to the amusement (and envy) of some onlookers.  It was mercifully quieter at the top, and as an added bonus the sun came out!

We took the descent at a rather more leisurely pace (thankfully), and watched the world go by as we went.

The final shot on the steps was of a fellow tourist attempting to balance a camera and rapidly melting ice cream while taking a shot of the view.  I was struck by the similarity in colour of her dyed hair and the pantiled rooftops.

Monochrome in the Morning

The Yorkshire Wolds are beautiful in their own way: gentle rolling countryside rather than the more spectacular and bleak scenery of the Dales or the North York Moors.  I walked Amber early (well, early-ish) each morning, and if the light looked at all promising I took my camera with me.

More often than not it was cloudy and overcast, so I've decided to convert this particular set of pictures to monochrome.  It seems to bring out the texture in the crops, fields and trees, even though the lighting was pretty weak most of the time.

I was particularly taken with the straight lines formed by the tractors, presumably when spraying, and their interaction with the hedges, trees and cloud shadows.

The landscape is dotted with farmhouses, usually nestling in the valleys like this one.

Flotsam, Jetsam and Then Some

I've just got back from a week in Yorkshire, staying with my sister near Driffield.  One afternoon we took Amber for a burn on Fraisthorpe Beach, between Bridlington and Hornsea.  A huge expanse of sand, famous locally for being a nudist beach until relatively recently; there are signs in the car park reminding visitors that, in 2010, they need to keep their clothes on!

Amber spent a very happy time on the beach eating anything which had been washed up, including the remnants of a filleted fish which had been thrown overboard by one of the trawlers.  Labradors!  We were also treated to a fly-by from the local Air/Sea rescue helicopter.

Although the sun shone for a bit, it was perishing cold on the beach - typical for Yorkshire in July.  I guess the word is "bracing"; or is that only Skegness?

More from the Lowry Outlet Mall

After visiting the Lowry Centre, it was back to earth with a bump as I needed to meet up with the rest of the family in the Outlet Mall.  Quite an impressive place (if you like that kind of thing) but it's clear that there were several empty spaces remaining to be filled.  I love the euphemism involved with such announcements: Exciting New Retailer Coming Soon sounds so much better than Boring Old Retailer Went Bankrupt...

Everything had a "Sale" on, including a rather large kitchen and household goods store.  A bit like a warehouse, with all the charm which that entails.  At least the escalators were rather more aesthetically pleasing!

My final view of the Mall, which seems to sum it up for me.  Several people wandering aimlessly about, buying "stuff" which they don't need and eating fast food which is bad for them.  The bin just about says it all.