We had a holiday and a half this month. We stayed in Whitby this time, rather than a running day-trip, booking the Lewis Room at La Rosa Hotel. What can I say. The whole hotel has a Victorian vibe to it. Vibe, hell, it’s like someone cleared the contents of a Victorian funhouse into glass cabinets. The red faced puppets from Punch and Judy glare out over the breakfast room and there’s a Madame Rosa fortune teller machine like the one in ‘Big’. Add leopard print carpet all the way up the stairs and the mirrors… it is overwhelming. But very atmospheric.
The people running the hotel were lovely – friendly and helpful. The residents of Whitby were great, too but – there were so many other people there. In early October? Even on the rainiest day of the week, the town was full of dripping tourists. I know, I’m a tourist as well, but I deliberately take my breaks outside the school holidays to get a bit of shuffling space on the streets.
Then again, this is Whitby. The inspiration for Dracula and the home of two Goth weekends a year – one at Beltane, one at Hallowe’en. I have seen photos of the buildup to the 2026 Hallowe’en event, and the streets are crammed full – shoulder to shoulder full – of people hoping to see the parade of Goths, and a few stray Goths as well. There is someone performing a fire-juggling act on the quay and the abbey is lit with purple and green light. There are events and gigs and displays, and complaints that there are no genuine Goths around. What, too many Vandals?
I was happy just to be wandering around the place in early October. It’s a beautiful town and it has kept its history without being too stuffy about it. The Whitby Jet Museum at the foot of the 199 Steps has been taken over by Ebor Jetworks and renovated, so you can wander through an original jet working shop. Ebor Jet has issued a helpful and hilarious blog post on what is and is not jet, by the way – sea-coal, BBQ charcoal and dog-poo make an appearance, and there’s a top class way to identify a lump of tar. Put it in your back pocket, sit on that car seat (switch the heating on) and dig your hand in to retrieve it at the end of the journey. Niiiice.
We visited Robin Hood’s Bay and walked the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole as well, and took a trip to Staithes. Both left us feeling somewhat sad. The best cafe at Robin Hood closed permanently a week before our visit, and only one cafe still opened on that wet and chilly day. The tide was too far in to leave any shore at all at Boggle Hole. And Staithes car parking machines left me wishing for a bulldozer. Why do we have to download yet another parking app? I have four on my phone – all have access to my debit card, and parking companies are the rough equivalent of highwaymen. We were once fined for displaying a parking ticket with the wrong day on it. Tomorrow’s date – because we’d paid for 24 hour parking, the ticket expired at 7.13 am on the next day.
We did have meals at the Fisherman’s Wife (great view, meals got three stars), lunch at the Abbey Wharf and a good pizza at Moutrey’s. Top prize of the week goes to Pizza West, a short walk along the West Cliff from our hotel. Looks like a glass nothing from the outside, but the place was great. All the staff were young and friendly, the pizzas were superb and the music was at the right volume to be atmospheric. The candles were lit and the place felt warm. After a week of walking everywhere, our legs needed that level plod home.
The whole holiday was a great week for walking; everywhere we went, up and down hills and steep cliff roads. Not one fossil found, one possible piece of jet (or maybe poor grade BBQ lump) and a few bits of sea-glass. My credit card is sobbing, and so will I be when the bill arrives. Whitby is… I don’t usually swear, but fucking expensive is the only term to use here. How else to explain that a person who has recently found a standard bottle of reasonable gin for around £25 can order two elegant little G&T’s in a Whitby bar and walk out £31 lighter?
So our week in Whitby was a once only trip. Next time we want to haunt the fossil coast of Yorkshire, it’ll be back to Filey. Which is where we finished our trip – weaving through the packed masses at the October Food Festival. Our beloved Filey Gin, searing hot chili sauces and another roll of Bee Natural wax wrap. You have to love Filey. They let you have Victorian promenading with elbow room.
