Whitby

Whitby is the setting for much of the novel Dracula, so it was fitting that the day was suitably overcast and dreary. I made my way toward Whitby Abbey, enjoying the view of the ruin atop its headland from across the bay. The whalebone arch frame for the picturesque ruin is a testament to the town's past as a whaling port.

Whitby was once home to Captain cook, and a monument dedicated to him stands beside the whale bone arch. The statue often is bedecked in a (live) seagull hat. 

I witnessed people surfing in the frigid February waters, proof that I'm not the only crazy one out there.

The streets below the abbey are filled with shops selling gothic clothing due to Bram Stoker's influence, and the fare ranges from painfully touristy and/or angst-ridden to rather artful. 199 steps up stands St. Mary's church and its hauntingly and beautifully weathered tombstones. 

(obligatory Eurasian Hobo cemetery shot)

The headstones have longs since been rendered unreadable by years of corrosion by the wet salty wind, and now look as though they have wasted away as much as those below them.

Between the lilting tombstones and the crumbling pile it is no wonder Stoker chose his English holiday destination as the point at which Dracula's ship crashes and bewilders the locals with its lack of crew and the mysterious captain's log. 

After wandering in the graveyard and peering over the wall at the closed abbey, I met up with my couchsurf host, who took me on a great walking tour of the town and the surrounding headlands. We stayed up late discussing life, philosophy, travel, etc, and watching Circ de Soleil's Alegria, which blew me away. I need to see them live. 

In the morning I headed out, but on my way to the bus station noticed that Whitby was once home to the man who invented the crow's nest. I had assumed that it was an invention old enough that we didn't know its inventor, or that no single person was credited with it. Silly me.