Newcastle to Whitby

Bob says: we left Newcastle on Sunday morning with a forecast of light winds, rain and squalls and that's pretty much what we got. We were heading southish with the winds northish, so although the gusts were at one time up to 20kts we were on a nice broad reach and the windy parts of the day were comfortable. We had periods of very light winds when we had to motor, but overall it was a satisfying day's sailing. The nasty parts were the squalls when the rain fell like a monsoon. It was unpleasant getting wet, but it gave us some fantastically dramatic skies. Here's a shot to illustrate the point



We arrived in Whitby in time to get to the Magpie cafe for their famous fish and chips AND to get to see 'the big game'. We got chatting to a very nice Aussie couple sitting next to us in the restaurant, which meant we missed the first half. As we all now know, I didn't miss much. As John (Heath) rather aptly put it to me: 'did you see Italy's practice game against England?' Their 35 shots on goal to our 9, a bit of a gulf in class!

I'll leave Jean to tell you more about our day in Whitby today (Monday) but right now we're on our 24hr sail from Whitby to Lowestoft and it's my turn to go on watch and give Jean a break. I'll just put up one of the photos of Whitby Abbey, which was well worth the clamber up about 199 steps. Whitby is also worth a visit generally. Compared to a few years ago it has got a lot more sophisticated, there's even a piano bar, possibly the only one in Yorkshire (joke, haha)!



This isn't the piano bar, it's the interior of the church on the hill adjacent to the ruined Abbey. It shows a 3 tiered pulpit and the church's solid fuel stove!