Day 10: Jane Eyre vs. Dracula
RANDOMOSITIES
This is it, our half-way mark. We leave for home in 10 more days, which is probably a good thing because my head is going to explode from so much history crammed into every available space.
There's no better place to be stuck in traffic than in York.
I am always amused when I see a red telephone booth out in the middle of nowhere with a real working phone inside. Do farmers not have cell phones or what?
The moors are like being on a different planet . . except for the sheep. I didn't expect free-ranging sheep around here.
Biking on a thickly fogged moor rood is a bad idea. Don't panic. Wasn't me.
Fog billows, like a grey curtain in the wind.
It's shocking how full cemeteries are. Tombstone upon tombstone. I suppose thousands of years of history will do that for you.
I have nothing but the highest respect for all the lorry drivers in England. Well done, you little champions!
TIMELINE
10:30 AM Leave for the Ryedale Folk Museum. Yeah, it's a late start, but my driver was tired and I figured I'd better let him sleep in.
Noon-2:00 Tour the museum then leave for Whitby. Drive across the North Yorkshire Moor.
3-5:00 Nose around in Whitby, mostly gawking at the abbey. Note: don't take pictures of the tombstones in the graveyard. Oops.
5-6:00 Explore Robin Hood's Bay.
7:30 Arrive back in York and go in search of some chocolate.
10:00 Dessert in this town is nonexistent. Return back to our Air Bnb with a grocery store cake.
THOUGHTS
We drove through the North Yorkshire Moor on a perfectly misty and foggy afternoon. Soooo Jane Eyre! The sad part is the roadkill - dead sheep that've been hit by cars. The deeper we drove, the foggier it got, and if I looked hard enough, I'm pretty sure I could see creepy images, hence all the old folktales/ghost stories centered on the moors.
The weather was also spot on for visiting Whitby, known not only for pillaging Vikings, but for being Bram Stoker's inspiration to write Dracula. Seemed like the appropriate place for me to pick up a copy, especially since I've never read it. So I did. And hey, if you're ever in Whitby, get some fish and chips at Greens (yes, Mark had that for the 3rd day in a row). Super delish, though. Melted in my mouth, leastwise the bite I had. I opted for the potato leek soup.
We walked Robin Hood's Bay, putting our feet right where legit Vikings once came ashore. Again, the sense of history here is overwhelming. Me being a Midwestern girl, the whole tide thing kind of freaks me out. There are warnings to not walk certain areas when the tide is coming in -- as if I can tell. Maybe the stinky seaweed on shore is an indication it's out?
Driving back, we crossed the moors at sunset. Jaw-dropping gorgeous. Still mostly cloudy, but the sun broke through on the horizon, lighting up an orangey brilliance smack in the middle of the somber sky. It's a rugged beauty out here. Simply stunning. Yay God!
So, which area did I find to be more inspirational: Jane Eyre moors or Dracula's seaside town of Whitby? Tough call. Both conjured up intriguing stories. But (and I've always got a big but) the eerie beauty of the moors wins.
A word about the nightlife in York . . . okay, several. Last night we observed quite a fight between a woman and a guy, where she ended up dropping his cellphone down a sewer grate. Let's just say he wasn't too happy. Tonight we walked into city centre around 9 p.m. Drunk people everywhere. Staggering. Fighting. I had to step around a pile of puke and we watched a cop chasing down a fleeing criminal. It was like we were in a movie. What the heck?
And apparently going out for dessert just isn't done here. We ended up going to Sainsburys (a local grocery store) and picking up a small chocolate cake. Then we went back to our Air BnB and had cake and coffee with our host and his girlfriend, which turned out to be a way better evening than an uber expensive dessert (had we found one) in Crazytown.
Have I mentioned that Air BnB is the way to go? We've been meeting some great people and making new friends . . . which makes us sound like losers looking for someone to talk to. Not the case. It's just fun and interesting to get to know the people that live here and get their take on things.