I’ve vowed to never return to Whitby!
Copped several stitches to the back of the melon and one of my cousins lost a piece of his ear in a brawl there many years ago.
And then there are the vampires…
I didn’t stay there long enough to enjoy the “nightlife”. I loved the Yorkshire Moors and the Dales areas, but some of the seaside towns left me underwhelmed.
Much preferred the South Coast through Devon and Cornwall for picturesque, charming seaside villages.
During the lost days of the 1989 Edgbaston Teat, I drove up through the Dales as far as Scarborough. Middle of summer, but colder and more miserable than any day you’d spend in Melbourne, or even Port Fairy.
Stopped in at York on the way back to check out where an ancestor got transported from. That ancestor probably explains the 2% Norwegian DNA my sister got diagnosed with. York was the capital of the Danelaw of pre-Norman England.
Some of my fathers ancestry is Cornish and I have to agree that Devon and Cornwall have some stunning coastline. Beautiful part of England
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Missus was born in Whitby, went there several times when living out of Manchester for 6 months. Thought it very pleasant. Whitby crab, Whitby jet, The abbey ruins from German naval bombing in WW1, Captain cook’s home town, etc.
Nothing though beat cod and chips and mushy peas at the Magpie cafe.
That’s Robin Hood bay?
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You got it.
Did the Coast-to-Coast walk from St Bees Head on the Irish Sea to Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Sea a few years ago (Lake District, Yorks Dales, Nth Yorks Moors). Tradition has it that you carry a pebble from the beach at St Bees & throw it into the sea on arrival at RHB…
The old man (in his mid-70’s) did the same walk and executed that very tradition just last year…
Wow, impressive. It was no walk in the park at 314km.
Yeah, three of them did it (all roughly the same vintage), with one other who joined them for part of it. Dare say, he probably would’ve fared better than I (I’ve got a fair few kg’s on him…)
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Kyoto?
Nup
Looks like the Milad tower in the background and with the stunning mountains I’m pretty sure it’s Tehran
Yep, Tehran! Remarkable how as you get up the high end of the city it gets cooler with lots of trees. There’s skiing in the mountains in winter, too.
Keen to travel there next year - any advice / thoughts?
Can’t claim any great knowledge, went on business in 2008 for a 3-4 days. Stayed in what had been the Waldorf in Shah days but was a falling-down shambles by the time I got there. Great atmosphere lots of people out in the street with bustle and colour - everything seemed to be held together with glue and string, cars broken down everywhere. Relatively laid back with lots of women wearing standard western clothes with perhaps a scarf. Had a local driving us around which made it easy. Got taken up to a park full of sculptures at the high end of town, pine trees and pools/fountains, huge mountains behind. Great vistas -look out over what looks pretty barren but does include lots of market garden fields watered from ancient Qanats (underground waterways from the mountains that run through the alluvial fan underlying the city/surrounding area). Food was great if you like kebabs and pickled veg etc etc. they’d serve you plums and salt! I thought it was a really vibrant and interesting place. Felt like a bustling Mediterranean city that was falling to bits, with added martyr murals on buildings to keep you a little unsettled. Saudi by contrast felt like Mordor.
Visas were really difficult to organise- luckily someone else did all that. My main advice is don’t go there and Saudi on business and then Bali on a family holiday and THEN a few months later try explain that you are on an innocent conference trip to the suspicious border guys at LAX. They look at you real funny and ask so many questions your connection to Monterey starts looking unlikely!
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Don’t expect an easy entry into the US if you ever want to go there later.
Amazing place with wonderful hospitality. Piece of cake to enter with VOA for Australian’s at all major airports. Tehran is just chaotic and the traffic is non stop so allow plenty of time if going anywhere via taxi. Accommodation is reasonably priced and very comfortable. The shopping in Iran is cheap and the food is wonderful. There are religious police everywhere but they tend to steer clear of tourists and overall its a very safe country and the regime doesn’t seem as oppressive as in other ME countries. The snowfields are about 2 hours out of Tehran and have a very good coverage for about 6 months a year and is very well priced.
You will need to take enough cash for the trip as overseas CC’s and bank cards will not work there and for clothing men can’t wear shorts and women must wear a head scarve that covers all of their hair
Yeah, my brother can attest to this. Copped a big grilling about his previous travels (had been to North Korea too).