North West England: Moors, Whitby and Newcastle

After exploring York we set off for Newcastle on Thursday. Newcastle upon Tyne that is. Not the best kind of Newcastle, but Newcastle none the less. Keen to stay off the motorway we selected what we thought would be a scenic route through the North Yorkshire Moors and aimed for the seaside town of Whitby (mainly because Matt thought the town rang a bell).

Well our route proved a winner because not long into our trip the scenery began to change. First a hill ortwo, a significant contrast to some of the flatter areas around London. Then rolling fields surrounded by drystone walls and full of grazing sheep and cows. Finally, as we came to the crest of a hill we both gasped in awe. Before us lay a magnificent sight. It's hard to describe but essentially we were surrounded by treeless rolling hills, craggy outcrops and deep gullies all covered in the most spectacular purple flowers. Everywhere we looked the land was bursting forth in the most magnificent lavender hue. The most amazing thing is it was not a brief occurrence. We drove though this landscape for over half an hour and emerged on the other side of the Moors at Whitby.

When we entered the town of Whitby Matt realised why the name was familiar - it is where James Cook grew up. Who knows, if things had gone slightly different in this town we might all be speaking another language. The town has taken advantage of this claim to fame in endeavours such as the First Fleet Pub and is home to the James Cook Museum.

Another drawcard is the ruins of Whitby Abbey, which dominates the skyline and menacingly stands overlooking the town on a hill right by the sea. It truly is a powerful sight. So powerful in fact that Bram Stoker set Whitby Abbey and surrounding areas as the backdrop for several scenes in his famous novel Dracula. We were unable to find a park in Whitby itself (apparently all the tourists had followed us from London), but we parked up by the Abbey and enjoyed a lovely walk. Matt and I stopped in our tracks when, across our path, crossed THE CAT we had seen the previous day in York. It wasn't just a little similar. It was EXACTLY the same. And we have the photos to prove it. We joked that he must have hitched a ride, clinging to the underside of our motorhome for dear life.

We set aside the thoughts of our stalker and continued on our way, soon finding ourselves on the outskirts of Newcastle, with places like Gateshead, Jesmond, Morpeth, Wallsend and Dudley popping up on our map. Saving Newcastle for the following day, we picked a caravan park on the map and found ourselves in Derwent Park, right on the River Derwent in the cosy suburb of Rowland's Gill. It was refreshing to enjoy the peace and quiet and we sat by the river skipping stones, listening to the bubble of the water and the whoosh of the weeping willows in the wind.

Our peace was somewhat disturbed when, on the way back from the river we saw THE CAT, for the third time! I kid you not, now it's just getting creepy. We stopped in shock as he turned his little head towards us and stared. We'll have to start charging him soon. No one hitches a ride in our motorhome for free.

On Friday morning we set off for the city of Newcastle. It's quite interesting, both the caravan park owner and corner shop owner asked us the same thing almost immediately when they realised we were foreigners - "so you have family here in Newcastle?" They looked slightly confused when we answered no. Apparently Newcastle is in a no way a tourist town, with nothing to see, and nothing to do. We felt right at home :)

We drove through the city centre, past the impressively large football stadium and parked by the river to enjoy a leisurely stroll on the foreshore and take in the view of the seven bridges. While quite unremarkable to a passerby, I have no doubt that Newcastle upon Tyne, just like our wonderful city back home, has many secret gems and is a great place to live, they just keep them quiet from all those pesky tourists.

From Newcastle we crossed the border into Scotland, taking a detour to the amazing town/island of Lindisfarne along the way, and are now staying with my Aunty Ishbel's mum and dad in Glenrothes. But that is another story for another day.