Christmas in England 2006

DAY 7: Thursday 28 Dec

Middlesbrough to Chesterfield

After staying the night at the Travel Inn on the outskirts of Middlesbrough (The Cross Keys), we headed south towards Whitby. The Cross Keys is a very old stage coach inn, modernised and extended. We found it very comfortable, the food and drink By 9am the sun was beginning to appear and the deep blue sky was flecked with clouds. We had hopes of fine weather.

Sunrise in Middlesbrough

The sun cutting through Roseberry Topping

The Cross Keys Inn on the A171 at Middlesbrough

Staithes

A few miles south of Middlesbrough the A174 returns to the coast. Alongside the road as it heads down a long hill is the Boulby Mine, one of the world's largest producers of potash. A mile or so further on you reach Staithes, a small village crowded into a steep narrow valley and around the edge of a small harbour. Staithes has a Heritage Centre

The A174 at Boulby	The Boulby Potash Mine, just west of the highway	The Boulby Mine from the south, the highway can be seen behind the mine
Looking down into Staithes.	Staithes Harbour looking across to the headland of Crowbar Nab	Staithes Harbour
Paul standing in front of James Cook's Cottage	The lintel over the door	Plaque on the cottage
Looking out across the harbour

Sandsend

A few miles south of Staithes you meet the long sandy beach with Whitby to the south and Sandsend at the northern end against the rocky headland. The source of the name is obvious....

Looking north towards Sandsend

A closer view of the seaside village of  Sandsend

Looking south with the headland and breakwater of Whitby in the distance

Whitby and Captain James Cook

The attraction of Whitby (apart from the charming fishing village) is its intimate relationship with Captain Cook. All New Zealanders know the history of James Cook and his voyages of discovery to the South Pacific and New Zealand. Whitby has special mention in this history, and there is a large suburb of Wellington bearing this name. We arrived in Whitby on a clear, cool morning, but not nearly as cold as our previous visit in September 2003.

The breakwater at the entrance to Whitby	Whalebone arch above Whitby, with the derelict monastery behind	The statue of Capt James Cook
The Australian plaque on the statue	Plaque to commemorate the men who built and sailed in Cook's three ships	The New Zealand plaque
The Canadian plaque	Looking out to sea past the whale bones and the Cook statue	Cook looking out to sea

Whitby town

Below the headland with the statue lies Whitby town, built around the port and wharves..

The Cook Museum building beside the harbour. Note the brilliant morning sun in late December!	The jeweller beside the Cook Museum, that sells Whitby Jet jewellery.......	The Museum from across the harbour
The lane beside the Museum		Replica of the Endeavour
Whitby Harbour looking east towards the entrance	Fishing boats....	and their nets and pots
The split bridge over the harbour that opens to let boats through	Our final view of Whitby from the hills to the west on the A171.

The Humber Bridge

From Whitby we drove west on the A171 then south on the A169 through Pickering, past York adn eventually reached Kingston Upon Hull. Here we stopped to walk onto the Humber Bridge, the large suspension bridge over the Humber River.

The wire suspension bridge over the Humber River

The footpath over the bridge

Part of the pillars and suspension cables

Chesterfield

Our destination for the day was Chesterfield in Derbyshire. We chose this town as it was close to the M1 from Kingston, and also close to Matlock, our first destination the next day. By mid-afternoon the weather had deteriorated to a grey overcast cloud and light drizzle.

Chesterfield's famous church spire

The crooked spire photographed through steady rain.

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Last updated: 30/06/2017