Tuesday travels. . . Whitby, Dracula and Captain Cook

While staying in Yorkshire we took the opportunity to visit Whitby, a coastal town that has a link to Australia.Captain James Cook served his apprenticeship in Whitby and when he set off on his voyage of discovery to Australia he set sail on the Endeavour, a Whitby built collier.  There is a Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby but unfortunately we didn’t get the time to visit it.

We had heard about the connection with Dracula and were interested to find that Whitby’s Dracula connections are the ruins of an abbey and a graveyard on the headland which provided the atmospheric backdrop for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

We were only in Whitby for a couple of hours so didn’t really get the chance to see all that is on offer so it is a spot that is on the list for a return visit.

 We had also heard about the famous fish and chips at Whitby with the Magpie Cafe being reknowned for the quality of this particular product.  We were not prepared to queue up outside in the long queues waiting for a table so we had fish and chips at another establishment and we were not disappointed.

While strolling along the quayside we came across this steam driven bus which is obviously a popular tourist attraction.

My husband was delighted with this very British beach scene.  The only thing that was missing was a gentleman with a knotted handkerchief on his head.

There were even donkeys and an icecream van.

On our way to Whitby we had stopped at Aidensfield,Goathland –

this is the home of the television series Heartbeat.

The car in the picture is not the police car from Heartbeat but the Ford Anglia from the Harry Potter films.  Goathland Station is Hogsmeade Station which features in the Harry Potter films.

This is a delightful part of the country and we will certainly return for a further visit as there is so much more to see.