Weekend Gateway to Whitby 08.06.2013

Whitby, a seaside town on the North Yorkshire coastline, which took about 2 1/2 hours drive from Nottingham. Unique for its sights and atmosphere, and one of the best places to visit during the summer.

The day did not start off bright and sunny, it was windy, cloudy but lucky it was pretty warm. Our first destination was to drive directly to a good rating seaside cafe "Sandside cafe" in Sandsend. I have heard good review of this from the tripadvisor, and decided this place for our lunch.

We took a breezy walk from the carpark along the coastline to the cafe. We entered seeing the place was almost full with people, and dog lovers had brought their dogs with them. As we rarely get warm days in UK, and this day was exceptionally good except for the cloudiness & seabreeze, we decided to dine at the outdoor extension with views of the ocean. We ordered the cafe signature dish - Seafood platter which served with fresh crab meat, smoked salmon and prawn on thick toast, and fresh crabmeat sandwich. The fresh crab meat was not to my liking, but dear liked the freshness. The coffee was not really fantastic. I went on to try the Yorkshire lemon curt tart (£2) , it did not turn out nice as well. Well, the overall atmosphere dining beside the seaside should compromise for these. I did enjoy.

A short drive of 10 mintues to Whitby town center shortly after lunch. We were attractd by this lovely seaside port town by first sight. The town retains much of its 18th century character, narrow cobbled streets, beautiful harbour. The city center is dominated by the ruins of Whitby Abbey which takes 199 steps to reach the top at the East cliff. These sights were amazing. No doubt the St Mary's churchyard setting which next to the Whitby Abbey provided the inspiration for classic novel "Dracula" written by Bram Stoker. Other famous inhabitant include the sea explorer-Captain James Cook, this was the town he mastered his seamanship.

 

 

The city center is divided into the East (Old Town) & West (New town), linking each side with a new electronically operated "swing bridge" in 1909 worked on the principle of swing leafts instead of drawbridge flaps.

Listen for the bell being rung to signify that the swing bridge is about to open to allow vessels to pass upstream. The Westside are where all the major shopping, cafes &restaurants, visitors center and supermarkets were situated. It also only takes a little walk to the lighthouse which stood at the end of the pier. During evening , the sun had shone, and it made the picturesque town, ports, quayside even much more beautiful.

 

The Eastside started with quirky shops, then 199 steps to reach the Church of St Mary's churh and the ruins of Whitby Abbey. I had heard good things about fish & chips in Whitby so I had eventually had a try in one of the take away shop -"Fish & Chips". There were many fish shops, we went to Mister Chips. We ordered small haddock with fries at £4.20 to share with. It really tasted good with its crispy batter and fresh fish flesh, accompanied by fries.

The day spent was so relaxing and lovely. We ended our day with cups of coffee at one of the cafe along the quayside. The coffee was nice, and view was fantastic.

xPerience Edinburgh

On June's summer month, we were heading North of UK to Scotland for a 3D2N short trip.. Scotland is well known for its scenic highlands, landscaping. Due to time constraints, we were only visiting the Capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, and the Ruin of Dunnottar castle at Stonehaven harbour.

It took 6 hours drive from Nottingham to Edinburgh. While reaching Edinburgh, we were greeted with downpour. It was really a bad day to start with.

We checked in at Salisbury Hotel as it offered free on-site parking, and yet accessible with 20 mins walk to the main attractions like Royal Mile (Old Town) , alternative we could take a bus from the main street. I was not impressed with the room decoration as it was dated, and chipped wall in the shower room. I did not feel comfortable overall. However , the hotel staff was friendly, and there are free wifi, so these two points plus the free parking would make up for the room's shortcoming.

After unloading our luggage, we took a slow walk down to city center-The Royal Mile (old town), Princes Street (which is the main shopping street). As it was still raining, we were not in really good spirit to hang around. So after a quick bite at the Patisserie for coffee and cake, we walked back to our hotel. We had our first night's dinner at the basement's cafe- Cafe Cassis. The food was delicious and of good quality.

Day 2,Again, its another rainy day. Our holidays mood really being turned off by the Uk weather. We walked down to the main road, and took a bus down to Waverly station for the Edinburgh hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus tour.

We booked the 24 hours' grand ticket at £16 per adult, which covers 5 routes- But we could never able to complete 5 routes even without getting off as the traffic in Edinburgh was quite bad, and the last bus was at 4:00pm. Our first stop was the Royal Yacht Britannia, the former floating residence of the queen and the Royal family. With mere purchase of £11.75 entrance ticket, you can experience what the life would be on board with audio tour of 5 decks. It includes the engine room, the laundry room, cabin crew room, sick bay, drawing room, state dining room, queen's office,  queen's bedroom, the honeymoon room which Prince Charles and Princess Diana used to stay during their sea cruise honeymoon. The visit was unusual and interesting, it is definitely value for money.

 

The next stop we alighted at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is the Queen's residence in Scotland. Around the corner of the main road, we can see the Scottish Parliament House.

 

Palace of Holyroodhouse







Scottish Parliament House

After a glimpse of the Palace from the outside, we hopped on the bus and headed back to the main station to walk around the city center. We should have visited the Edinburgh Castle, but by the time we reached it was already 3pm, and so we have decided to take a few pictures of the exterior, and then moved on exploring other nearby areas such as the Royal mile (old town), princes street. The view of Edinburgh castle from the Princes garden was magnificent despite misty rainy weather.

Edinburgh castle





Along Princes Street-Jenners is the departmental store

As rain continued and we need to seek shelter, We decided to go for early dinner at the famous "The mussel Inn". We read good comments about this restaurant from dear's colleague , and also the traveller's guide book recommendation. We were lucky to be early, as without making reservation, we would not be able to get a table during dinner hours. We ordered smoked salmon and seafood chowder as starter, the well-known half pot of mussels and seafood platter as main course, followed by cheesecake as dessert. The food was really deserve a good thumbs up.



Day 3, which was the finally day. Rise and shine. It was a bright sunny day. We were really happy, as we were to visit the last destination in Edinburgh-Calton hill for panaroma view of the city. The monument was built intended to replicate the Arthen Parthenon and to honour Scotland's dead in the Napoleonic wars.But funds went dry and left uncompleted.



Opposite view of Salisbury crags, Arthur's seat



After spending about an hour in Calton hill for the breathtaking view of the city center, we carried on our journey to "The ruin of Dunnottar Castle". It was about 180km from Edinburgh, which requires at least 2 hours drive north to Stonehaven.

At around 2pm , we reached the Castle. There was a small stone path leading to the castle. It took some walking down the cliffside and then further up to the castle, and the sea breeze was quite strong. But the view was amazing, and it does worth the additional two hours drive.




View of Dunnottar castle-the two tower house

 

"Whigs Vault"-This dark chamber was used as a prison in 1685 for 122 men and 45 women. Some escaped and fell to death, some died of starvation, disease. A place of torturing and suffering

Inside the "Whigs vault"-the dark tiny room used as prision



Remains of barracks and chapel



The site was now a ruin. There was really nothing much to see, but the view was fantastic. This place was quiet, breezy, and I believe it would be quite spooky at night. After walking around the ruins for about 1 hour, and quick bite of the take away pie as lunch, we headed back home. There was about 7 1/2 hours to reach home.

Overall, our first long highland drive journey was great, and we are looking forward to visit all other beautiful highlands & isles within Scotland. Scotland experiences more rains and coldness than southern part of UK, so the next visit would probably be another Summer.

   

Hubby 21.10.2012 memorable birthday celebration @ The Lake District

The same month last year, hubby was in UK as he was on a 2 years' secondment contract. Though we had an early birthday celebration, he was alone on the actual day. This year, since his birthday fell on a weekend,  I decided to book a short weekend's trip as celebration, and treat it as a retreat after his long tiring and stressful training in Bonn a week before.

Lake district (The Lake) is the mountainous area in north west England which is also a popular tourist attraction, well known for its breathtaking landscapes, lakes, forests, picturesque village towns. The Lake has become the 2nd National park after the Peak district in Derbyshire. It lies within the Cumbria county. There are 4 main towns around the Lake district, namely Keswick, Windermere, Bowness-on-Windermere and Ambleside.

Set the sat nav as LA23 1LJ to first stop-Brockhole visitor information center to get copy of map and some local tourist information. The estimated travelling time was 2 1/2 hours from home. Saturday morning was misty and temperature around 13C. However, weather forecast predicted sunny spell on Sunday. We departed around 8:30pm and reached our first destination-Brockhole visitor center at noon time. When the car drove through The Lake district, we were really amazed with the picturesque lakeside setting, english country style stone houses, sheep across the hilly field with unique stone fencing, valley roads with beautiful multicoloured autumn leaves. After a short stay in Brockhole where I bought the famous Kendal mint cake (it tasted terrible to both of us), we took a stroll within the garden then we headed to next destination-our hotel at Bowness-on-Windermere. It was merely a 8-10 minutes drive.

The hotel we booked-Lindeth Fell Country House Hotel was like a hidden gem in the valley. It is of great location (if you have a car). It is only 5 minutes drive to the Bowness-on-windermere pier, or by foot a 30 minutes walk. It offers spectacular view of the lake windermere and the fells. The room we stayed are tastely decorated with country style, clean, lighting with adjustable dimness, and comfortable heating.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the friendly owner's daughter-Sheena. She showed us to our room. She made us feel welcome with great smile and friendliness. We have also make our dinner reservation as based on tripadvisor review, the food served in this hotel are tasty.

It was after 2pm after we checked in and unloaded our luggage. Without any more delay, we drove out to Bowness-on-Windermere pier point. The Windermere Lake cruise is definitely not a miss as we will be able to sit back, relax, and yet enjoy the lake view. We parked our car at the nearby long stay carpark. Bowness-on-Windermere is a small village town with quite a number of small ice cream shops, cafes, souvenier shops, and it is bustled with tourists. At the ticket office, we purchased the "freedom of the lake" lake cruise ticket of £24.20 each with round trip of the entire Windermere lake that allows to hop on and off at any 3 piers-Ambleside, Bowness on windermere, Lakeside, and with entry to the Aquarium at Lakeside.

The entry ticket to Aquarium must be consumed on the same day. So we took the Yellow Cruise heading South of Lake Windermere. Further, the weather was quite cloudy, and approaching dusk, it might also be good idea to just visit "Lakeside" first. The boat trip takes 35 minutes to reach "lakeside". We first sat on the first row of the upper deck thinking to enjoy the best view. But during half ride, we decided to move to sheltered lower deck as the breeze was too strong and chilly. At "Lakeside", other tourists chose to take the steamer train to another small village. The train I found resembles "Thomas & Friends" :)

  

 The visit to the Aquarium was such a let down. The boat reached the pier at 3:35pm, and last boat departs at 4:50pm. Originally, I had thought we may not have enough time. It turned out, we were out within half an hour. There were not many fish to see, the so called "tunnel" were just have few ducks diving in and up (the only interesting thing to see, I think), and few big fishes swimming across. We may see more tropical fish in the fish tanks in fish shop than in this Aquarium.

However, thanks to the disappointing Aquarium, which takes us only less than half an hour. We were able to have our aromatic coffee at the Lakeside hotel, while enjoying the lake view at the hotel 's conservatory cafeteria.

It was almost 6pm by the time we back to hotel. Dinner was to start at 7:30pm, so we took a good shower before dinner. At the lobby, we first met the late owner-Mr Kennedy's wife. She was a very warm and friendly lady. She welcomed us to one of the reception room while the staff were arranging our table. She had a short chat with us, and told us about her plan visiting Australia for holidays. We ordered wine to start with, and the staff brought us a plate of cheese puff and fried fritter. Both were delicious, but not to dear's taste bud. We were given the dinner menu. For the 3 course dinner, mine was Risotto-Lemon sole-Lightly poarched pear, whereas dear started off with Carrot & coriander soup, followed by Duck breast and finished with Sticky toffee pudding. We have also tried Mrs Kennedy's home made raisin bread. It was delicious. Between the course, the staff brought us passion fruit sorbet, which was refreshing and appetizing. To complete the dinner, there was free flow coffee and kendal mint cake served on the table at the main lobby area. We were delighted we chose to dine at this hotel as the food was of quality, great atmosphere, good service and most importantly save us the hassle looking around the town center for good restaurant. No queue at all.

The next day, rise and shine. We woke up around 8am. It was a foggy morning, appearing like we were on the highest peak of mountain. Breakfast was good, with a pot of hot aromatic coffee to kick off.  Newspaper we ordered was already placed on the table. I ordered hot porridge with honey , whereas dear ordered the Lindeth English breakfast from the ala-carte menu. We were offered toast bread with homemade marmalade too. We had a relaxing morning breakfast with all time service from the staff.

We checked out straight after the breakfast, as we had to catch the lake cruise round trip Ambleside-Bowness-On-Windermere, and to visit the Castlerigg stone circle at Keswick. It was a day with no rain, no cloud just a bit chilly and foggy in the morning. We parked our car at the carpark opposite Ambleside pier. The morning lake view was amazing. You feel sense of tranquility, serenity. It is just simply beautiful.

After the lake cruise, we set off to our final destination-the Castlerigg stone circle at Keswick. It took about 15-20 minutes drive. Along the way, we passed by Ambleside village, scenic road with mountain views and lake. The stone circle is on the level top of a low hill. There are 38 stones, and was believed to have built around 3000 B.C. The origin was unknown and left as mystery, so we were both excited to see it. We drove up the narrow hill, and pulled our car by the road side, and we could see the circle stones. We both laughed out, as these stones are not as magnificent as we thought it should have. Well, we just stopped for less than 15 minutes and headed home.

Lake district is truly a wonderful place to visit. There are many other lakes, towns which we should visit but didnt as due to time contrainsts. Mountain trekking might be a good idea next trip? maybe, but it will pose a challenge to someone like me who has height phobia and weak stamina.