Whitby!

[lnr]

Wednesday: train up, settle in cottage, dinner at Magpie, waves and bats at East Pier, champagne to celebrate Clare's new job.

Thursday: up early to enjoy sunshine, sit on East Pier with books, watch and identify turnstones on Tate Hill beach, find fossil ammonites and go for a paddle. Huge breakfast with Clare, David and Heather, then potter round and shopping (books, rocks, new jacket). Walk on beach with Clare with a drowned car, paddling, a harmonica and fulmars. Goth icecream (blackcurrant and liquorice flavour). Bought assorted daft cheap presents for people (starting with a sheep for Heather). Picnic tea in the cottage with Mike and much reading.

Friday: reading and then a potter up to the Spa with Mike in the morning, then craft shopping with Heather and Clare, afternoon tea with Mike at Botham's, dinner at Quayside (good haddock and OK chips, mushy peas were less good), bands at the Spa with much dancing especially early on and some CDs bought.

Saturday: trains! Headed off on the NYMR - though mostly actually on diesels. A brief wander in the woods at Newtondale: stepping stones, no falling in the river, tree climbing and a bit of a run about. Ian joined us on the way back and we did get to go on a steam train! Goth shopping at the spa and bought a cheap and cheerful but excellent corset and talked Heather into a rather nice dress, a potter on the beach the other side of the East Pier with Mike where we picked up several stones with holes in, sandwiches and no icecream for lunch, dinner at the Shambles. More bands at the spa, though I did something to my knee and couldn't dance as much as hoped. Walked back along the beach with Clare and David, and played football with a semi-invisible tennis ball the whole way - great fun.

Sunday: another big breakfast at the caff, followed by milkshakes, then off to watch the football. The lads lost both the match itself (3-1) and the contest to see who could lose the most footballs (3-2), but the lasses won the penalty shoot-out at half time so all was well, and much heckling was had. Stopped for coffee and cake on the way back to the cottage to change, and then out for dinner at the pub - though didn't have much room. Then out to the Laughton's memorial service where a bottle of wine was drunk in the queue, sad words were said, flowers were laid, and a conga-line to the Locomotion discovered how hard it is to conga and sing along up Flowergate. This was followed by roughly 6.5 solid hours of dancing at the Resolution to assorted cheesy 80s pop (with thanks to Landmine and Hamsterboy for the music, and to Clare and Karen for the company on the dancefloor), before we staggered home for 5.5 hours sleep.

Monday: up and off for the 8:52am train and a safe journey home, unsurprisingly sleepy, but happy :) Account is probably full of errors and inaccuracies but gives you the right idea. We didn't see much of anyone other than Clare, Heather, David and later Ian, which was a shame, but we did have a really good time, too much food, and not enough icecream.

Comments

[dave holland (from livejournal.com)]

Sounds fab :-)

We were at Whitby last year for the folk festival and could only do the NYMR as far as Grosmont due to lack of time. We're going back in a couple of months and I'm planning to travel the whole line. Oh, and Child3 insists we will go up the lighthouse again!

[lnr]

Pickering Castle is quite good, if you want a whole day out with the trains, though I've not been for years. And I don't think I've *ever* been up the lighthouse, which is a bit of an oversight really.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Woo :) Sounds like a good one... was it noticeably quiet compared to usual?

[lnr]

It's a while since I've been, but I'd say it was perhaps a bit quieter. It certainly didn't give the impression of being sold out, but it was fairly busy still. I do wonder how much of a success Dark Daisy will have next weekend!

[emarkienna.livejournal.com]

The main Spa event itself didn't seem quieter to me (at least compared with recent Aprils), but I thought it seemed significantly quieter around town. The Elsinore was much less busier during daytimes; thursday evening at the Resolution seemed quieter than previous years too.

It also didn't help there being a split 80s night... I was at the other one, at the Met. There were enough to keep the dancefloor occupied, but far less than recent Laughton's 80s night (and I'd say the Monday nights at the Met I've been to in the past seemed busier). Not sure if I picked the wrong one, or whether even both together in total had fewer numbers. (It seemed liked everyone I'd asked was going to the Met event, and the DV8 event on the Thursday barely managed 10 people presumably due to the late advertising...)

[lnr]

The Resolution 80s night was pretty quiet for the first couple of hours, but I turned round at one point later on and it had got busy, and by the end it was packed - presumably because of the later licence.

I didn't mind the quiet too much early on because I was too busy dancing :) And we never made it to the pub other than for a couple of very brief meals, so I'm as guilty as anyone there.

I think it is a shame there was a split, and worse there seems to have been Politics involved rather than just disorganisation. Hopefully less so in future.

[twigletzone.livejournal.com]

Oh no! What happened to Laughtons?

[lnr]

It's closed, and apparently had a serious water leak - those who've seen inside say the ceiling has collapsed and it is currently colonised by pigeons. So perhaps marginally less pleasant than usual :) The 80s night did pretty well upstairs at the Resolution though, thankfully, even if it wasn't quite the same.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Ah - you will have passed the house I was born in, somewhere between Nunthorpe and Gypsy Lane stations.

[lnr]

:) We also passed Northallerton, where I was born, but not in view of the house where I lived.