After being served a Good English Breakfast at our B&B – bacon, egg, tomato, baked beans & sausages – washed down with a pot of tea – we headed south down the coast to Whitby. The town had lots of character and charm, but was overrun with tourists who were visiting all the touristy shops that the beautiful old buildings had been turned into.

Couldn’t get out of town fast enough.  Kept heading south to Scarborough, very pleasant beach area on the north side, but again the original township has been turned into one great big amusement parlour.  So we drove around and didn’t even get out of the car.  Headed west towards York but it was running and a bit late so got as far as Malton then turned north to drive up inland.  Passed through some lovely country side and beautifully maintained old stone villages.  Much more interesting.

On our return journey the navigator told us to turn off a perfectly good motorway into an industrial area.  We followed it dutifully thinking it must be a shortcut.  We came to a dead end with an enormous high bridge with a gondola hanging underneath it.  There were no cars waiting and the gondola wasn’t moving, so we turned around to head back to the motorway.  Ever tried to tell a navigator that you don’t know where you’re going but you don’t want to go that way.  Turns out the bridge “The Tees Transporter Bridge” was closed for renovation, but the navigator wasn’t told.

When we arrived back in Hartlepool in the early evening we strolled down the beach front to the local fish & chip shop The Almighty Cod for dinner.  We figured it must be good as there was a queue out the door and down the street.  When we were almost at the head of the queue we asked the couple in front if they could recommend what to buy.  Without hesitation, in their broad Hartlepool accent, they said ‘O I yu’ll ave cod & chuups an a bit u butty’. Didn’t know what the butty was but we decided to give it a go.  Before they left they put our order in for us and for ten pounds we had two of the biggest serves of fish & chips with the scraps of batter that they scoop off the top of the oil on top, two slices of white butter bread (butty) drowned in large splashes of vinegar and salt.   We went sat on a seat at the beach while the sun started to settle behind us to enjoy our meal.  Incidentally, we only made it through one serving.  The second one went into the freezer for another day.