A weekend in Whitby.

With all the recent activity at 50th birthday weekend celebrations, Comic Conventions overseas and the Kate Bush event, it was really nice to spend a relaxing weekend with my wife.

We decided on the other side of Britain and booked a hotel room in Whitby, or Dracula fame.
We got very lucky with the weather, which is still unseasonably sunny and warm. Well, it is warmer than the seasons we've grown up with but maybe it'll be the norm for the next few generations.

Whitby is a great little seaside village, with a good history of fishing, a lovely beach and some really nice walks. The beach is a sharp decent from the hotel we were staying at, but this did mean that we had a great sea view from the hotel window.

As usual my photos focus mainly on objects that are rusting, I'm not really sure what is is about decaying metal that draws me to it, I think it's the colours and textures, but drawn I am.

And what with all that salt in the air, the seaside always provides lots of source material.
Jane and I spent Saturday wandering along the beach, popping into a Vintage Fair that happened to be on, and wandering around Antique and Curiosity shops.
Tea was a great Fish and Chips meal for me. I always get some Fish and Chips in when I visit the coast as it's always the best in Britain, with the fish being so fresh.

But I didn't brave the sea.
I think this is probably the first year in a long time that I haven't taken a dip in the waters around the UK. I jut never managed to get to a beach during the summer, and as warm as the sun was last weekend, it was not having the slightest effect on the temperature of the sea. Well, it felt freezing to me anyway.

On the Sunday we took a trip to Robin Hood's Bay, which is glorious but a challenge to get to as it's a steep walk down to and a steep walk back up from. It's well worth the climb though. A beautiful little village with some lovely little restaurants facing out over the coast. Wonderful.

Stopping off at Filey before heading home completed the weekend.
Very relaxing and lovely to get away from it all and just wander around and relax. It's a different pace of life on the sea front. All that energy of the sea never seems to make it beyond the waves breaking on the shore line. The towns and the people in them move at their own pace, a much slower and more relaxing one.
It is infectious.
You don't feel like rushing around.
You just feel like becoming part of it all.

It was a shame to have to leave it.
But it'll be a pleasure to go back to.
To recharge batteries and be able to remember that it is possible to just slow down.
Even if it is only for a short time.