Forgot to mention this last week, but at the weekend (10-12 July) myself and my brother Chris went on holiday, to a place that we both remember very well from our childhood - the seaside town of Scarborough, in North Yorkshire. Here's what we got up to:
Day 1
It was an early start for us both as we made our way to Durham to take the hour long train journey down to York, where I'd visited for the first time in April for a DA meet-up (you know who you are!), and also where we had to change trains, though not without having another wander around the city of course. It was Chris's first time visiting York too, and he very much approved.
We'd picked a busy day to visit, as it was race weekend at York Racecourse, so the station in particular was chock-a-block - that didn't put us off one bit though. We checked out The Shambles and quickly popped into HMV so I could buy a memory card for my phone, as I'd ever so slightly forgotten to being my camcorder with me, followed by paying a visit to the grand York Minster, looking glorious in the sunshine. After that, we wandered through York's medieval style streets some more and had some dinner down by the River Ouse, watching the boats come and go.
Before long we were on our second train of the day, and even though we had to stand for the whole journey, we were still able to appreciate the views of the Yorkshire countryside flying past us, the unfamiliar ground that it was, but once we stepped out of the train at Scarborough station, we knew we were in familiar territory, and once we got our bearings, we made our way towards the hotel to be greeted by an awesome view of the North Bay, and all those childhood memories came flooding right back. The last time either of us had visited Scarborough was in 2000, and we both agreed that it had been 15 years too long.
We checked into our hotel, the Miricia Guest House - the hotel owner Joanne was very down to earth and welcoming, and we'd been given a room at the very top of the house, which was more or less in the attic, so there was no spectacular sea view, but that didn't matter as the room was spot on, clean and complete with telly, tea and coffee, and enough room for both of us. The only minus point was that the hotel's wifi was sketchy at best, so I had to rely on my phone's 3G to get online - but we weren't there to go online at the end of the day, we were there for adventure.
No sooner had we arrived in Scarborough though, we were already leaving! Even though it was late in the day, we took a very scenic bus ride through the North Yorkshire Moors and the picturesque coastal village of Robin Hood's Bay, down to the harbour town of Whitby. This was another place we both wanted to revisit - my last time there was in 2007, for Chris it was 1996, and much like Scarborough, it was good to be back there. We made our way up the cliff to Whitby's iconic landmark, the ruins of Whitby Abbey, along with some simply amazing views of the town below, which we headed back down into via the famous 199 steps, complete with a certain Captain Jack Sparrow hanging around at the bottom, and he was certainly right at home with the oldy-worldy architecture of Whitby and its harbour, which was of course very busy, with both people and seagulls (I swear, they own the place!) We walked along the harbour, all the way along its lengthy pier, checking out the town's lighthouse (I'd been to the top of it previously, however it was closed) and taking in the windswept views out towards the North Sea and the North Yorkshire coastline. Finally, we walked up the cliff across the other side of the harbour to visit the statue of Whitby's most famous son, Captain James Cook, as well as the famous whalebone arch overlooking the harbour, before once again enjoying the scenic bus ride along the coast back to Scarborough, where we ended the night with a meal at McDonald's and an evening walk along Marine Drive, from the South to the North Bay.
Day 2
You don't want to start a day sleep deprived - however, noise from a couple across the hall from us and the resident seagulls outside through the night, as well as sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings meant that me and Chris did, but it didn't stop us one bit. After a lovely breakfast of cereal, tea and toast, we headed out to our first stop of the day, and a place in Scarborough that we hadn't previously visited - its most famous landmark, Scarborough Castle. We explored the sprawling headland on which the castle was located, checking out the ruins of a signal station, the castle walls, the King's Hall and the guard towers along the walls, and enjoying the views of both the North and South Bays from the headland. Of course, we couldn't visit the castle without exploring its iconic keep, which despite being blown in half centuries ago, is still standing strong after 3000 years.
It was then time to visit some more familiar places, in Scarborough's North Bay - the first was Peasholm Park, famous for its boating lake and Oriental themed island, including a waterfall, garden and a pagoda overlooking the park. We opted to return to the park later on in the day to see something else that it's famous for (more on that in a bit.).
Across the road, it was memories of attractions gone that we were after - the Northstead Manor Gardens, that used to have three of Scarborough's big attractions, a waterpark named Water Splash World, a playpark named Kinderland, and on top of a hill behind them, an amusement park called Mr. Marvels. All three of them are now long gone, however it was nice to relive going to those places, and it was also interesting to see that there were reminders of there existence, such as an abandoned station for the chairlifts that used to take people to and from Marvel's. However, there were also some attractions to see there that were still around - the Open Air Theatre, which was derelict back in the day but has been restored and is now a concert venue (we couldn't check it out as there was a concert going on); the North Bay Railway, a miniature train that runs from Northstead Manor Gardens to Scalby Mills; and Scarborough's famous Water Chute that was once part of Kinderland. There was also a new attraction there, called a SkyTrail, which was bascially a giant climbing frame/obstacle course.
We then took a walk along the North Bay Beach, which was absolutely packed, to no surprise, because the weather was glorious. After stopping for a burger and chips, we planned to take a look inside the white pyramids of the Sea Life Sanctuary, however we changed our minds once we saw how much the admission was, and instead headed back to Peasholm Park, thugh not before revisiting the hotel that we stayed in on every trip with our family back in the 90s - there were good times there.
Now, that something else Peasholm Park is famous for? Every year they hold a "Naval Warfare" show, which involves a fleet of model battleships taking to the boating lake and re-enacting a famous battle. This was our first time seeing the display, and it was an absolute treat, complete with a pun-dropping and movie medley-playing commentator, model aircraft "flying" over on wires, and a lot of gunfire. What made this show even more impressive is that the ships weren't remote controlled, there were actually people inside the boats, steering them and firing the ammunition (it wasn't live ammo, but some of the ships did actually take damage). It was an absolute blast to watch, to say the least.
Following the show, me and Chris took to the lake ourselves on board a dragon-themed pedal boat, taking a cruise around the island, watching the park's population of Canadian geese waddle around like they owned the place, and getting a close view of the ships from the Naval Warfare display. There were also people boating around the lake on canoes and rowing boats - we remembered our late grandad taking the two of us around the lake on a rowing boat back in the day, and on one occasion almost capsizing the boat!
From boats to buses after that - we took one of Scarborough's many open-topped buses along Marine Drive to the South Bay, which really hadn't changed very much from back in the day, with its seafront full of shops, cafés and arcades, as well as its ever busy harbour full of fishing boats and cruise boats. We popped into Olympia Leisure for a couple of arcade games (The House of the Dead 4 and Jurassic Park) before visiting a shop that :devWhiteBlazingPhoenix: had been recommended to visit - Ancient Warrior, a gift shop with a difference, its specialty was selling weapons, real weapons, most notably swords and pistols, along with ornaments, figurines and lots of other stuff - definitely not your average shop. After that, it was beach time, I took a cold yet refreshing dip in the North Sea, because you just can't have a beach trip without a dip. Me and Chris remembered taking a ride on the beach's resident donkeys back in the day, those donkeys were still on the beach.
After making a pitstop at the hotel, we made our third visit to Peasholm Park, this time to visit the island, it had been closed earlier because of the Naval Warfare display, however it was open, so we were able to check it out. By now it was raining a little, which dampened the atmosphere a little, and seeing some shifty looking people hanging around the park didn't really help much, but we pressed on with exploring the island regardless, seeing all the geese hanging around and getting an even closer look at the model dock where the Naval Warfare ships were based. What we really wanted to see though was the Japanese gardens and pagoda at the top of the island, so we made our way up there, only to get an unexpected surprise - there was a security guard in the garden, and as soon as he saw us, he told us to leave the island. It turned out that the island was still closed, and we weren't supposed to be there, so we quickly left, a little embarrassed about it, but no harm was done.
By now we were all adventured out, so we headed back to the hotel for some rest, not before grabbing another meal from McDonald's though - however the atmosphere around the North Bay seemed lass sunny, and not just because of the weather - both nights we stayed in Scarborough, the entire North Bay half of Marine Drive was overrun with an organised street racer show, with dozens of modified cars and their drivers lining the promenade. There were some cool cars to see, but I wasn't really digging the atmosphere of it, plus there were inevitably some idiots who were speeding around the drive showing off, and the whole show was causing traffic to slow down all along the seafront. For me, that was the only major minus point of the trip, I much prefer the seafront when it's quieter - it was still a good day on the whole though.
Day 3
Another early start, and that inevitable feeling of having to go home had very much kicked in, but me and Chris didn't let it get us down. After another nice breakfast, we quickly packed up our luggage and said our goodbyes and thanks to Joanne, and I couldn't resist making a thank you sketch for her, involving a certain blue bug.
We still had a fair bit of time left before we had to catch our train, so we headed back down to the South Bay for some more beach time, as well as picking up some souvenirs and a tasty meal of chips. I also decided to take a boat ride around the bay on a miniature pirate ship called the "Hispaniola", which gave some great views of the seafront. There was also the option to take to the waves on a high-speed jet boat, but we both decided to pass on that one, maybe next time though.
We chose to take the scenic walk back along Marine Drive to the North Bay, and again it was great weather for it, and it was a lot more pleasant with the aforementioned car show over and done with. It was time to head to Peasholm Park one last time, and this time the island was legitimately open, so we were able to take a full walk around it, and go right up to the Japanese gardens at the top, which looked beautiful, along with the colourful pagoda, which had a great view of the boating lake and park below.
After a little bit of persuasion, we headed across to Northstead Manor Gardens so I could have another first - after all those past trips of never doing so, I finally got to take a ride on the water chute, and it was short but very sweet, and I didn't get nearly as soaked as I thought I would! Following that, time was starting to get on, so we jumped on the bus for one last scenic drive to the South Bay, where we decided to go for the quicker option and took a short ride on one of the two remaining cliff lifts that ferry people from the bay to the town above - and before long, we were at the station, waiting for our train, complete with a curious seagull hanging around the platform. About two and half hours, another changeover in York and two train rides and a bus ride later, and that was our holiday done and dusted.
All in all, both me and Chris had a great time, spending some quality bro time together, and of course revisiting all the places in Scarborough that we knew and loved as kids, as well as the bonus visits to York and Whitby - and I can't recommend taking a visit to all three places enough.
You can see what we got up to, also - click on the links below and have a gander:
A Yorkshire Adventure - July 2015: Part 1
A Yorkshire Adventure - July 2015: Part 2
A Yorkshire Adventure - July 2015: Part 3
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