SCARBOROUGH, CAPT. COOK AND EARLY WARNINGS. We arrived in Scarborough at 11:30 on yet another cold, overcast day and drove through the town to the sea where we spent an hour or so wandering around amongst the ruins of Scarborough Castle which occupied the large headland between the South and North bays. The site has a long military history going back to Roman times when a signal tower was built there to provide early warnings of invasion.
When we left Scarborough, we drove north up the coast to Ravenskar on the southern end of Robin Hood’s Bay. We drove around through the town of Robin Hoods Bay and into Whitby, the thriving fishing port when Captain James Cook first joined the Royal Navy and where his ships Endeavour, Resolution and Discovery were built.
We spent 3 hours in the fascinating little town which unfortunately was crawling with the most horrid English daytrippers. On the headland above the port, a statue of Captain Cook looks out over the North Sea watching over the entrance of the harbour as seagulls wheel and cry on the stiff north wind.
When we left Whitby we drove up over the moors to Beck Hole. The clouds had cleared and the sun created a beautiful picture as we drove down the steep road leading to the village which was really only a pub, a bridge and several houses. The road then took us past the early warning radar station at Fylingdale. The three radomes made a strange and sinister sight, clustered amongst the heather with a bright afternoon sun shining on their perfectly symmetrical surfaces.
We left the moors and once again got onto a main road which took us back to Thirsk and Sutton Hall.
CurseOfTheTraveller 