If you go to to Whitby, a fishing village on the north east coast of England, and climb the 199 steps towards the Abbey (behind the church in the background), you will reach a graveyard at the top. If you turn right, walk a couple of paces, and turn right again, you will see the weather-worn tombstone of one Edward Pennock, Master Mariner. Now, I don't know if Edward is an ancestor of mine, although there must be some relationship -there are not that many Pennocks in the world. In any case, I like to think there is. More on the Pennocks.
Some of you might remember that Whitby is the place where Dracula landed in England. In fact he slept one night in the very graveyard where Edward sleeps the big sleep.
24 July. Whitby.--Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and lovlier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in which they have rooms. This is a lovely place. The little river, the Esk, runs through a deep valley, which broadens out as it comes near the harbour. A great viaduct runs across, with high piers, through which the view seems somehow further away than it really is. The valley is beautifully green, and it is so steep that when you are on the high land on either side you look right across it, unless you are near enough to see down. The houses of the old town--the side away from us, are all red-roofed, and seem piled up one over the other anyhow, like the pictures we see of Nuremberg. Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of "Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits. There is a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows. Between it and the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been destroyed.
Mina is right. The cemetry is the nicest part of the town especially on a cold and windy day, far from the madding crowd!
After visiting Edward's tomb you will probably take a walk around Whitby Abbey, or what is left of it. One of my sons, also called Eduardo (Edward in Spanish), really likes this Abbey and Fountain's Abbey, which is not far off. There are a couple of tombs in the Abbey grounds. You might like to lie down in one like he did, this is the one!
There's something about walking around columns of naked stone set in a green meadow. Far from disliking Henry the 8th for destroying the abbey, he is somewhat of a hero for young Eddie. Don't ask me why. What? You think I understand the kid! No chance. I'm just his father, what should I know -already!
A short distance from the abbey is the cliff-side. You can walk along it to Robin Hood's Bay, or further if you wish. About a mile along the cliff from Whitby, if you don't want to go too far, is a place called Saltwick Bay. If the tide is out, you can walk along the beach and listen to the shale falling off the cliff. You can also go winkle picking. I wouldn't miss it if I were you. Look out for the Fulmars (relatives of the Albatross) flying stiff-winged parallel to the cliff face. You will also see Herring Gulls, Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, Kittiwakes, Oyster Catchers and Shags (a kind of Cormorant). It's not Benidorm but it has its own quaint English charm.
Before going up to see the Abbey, you can walk around Whitby proper. Even when you are in the Abbey grounds, you know the town, and all its dubious pleasures, is there because even though the Abbey is on the other side of the harbour from the town, you can sometimes catch the dulcet tones of the bingo cryer shouting through the mike "On the blue, fifty two" or some such gibberish. That, mixed up with the siren tones of the one-arm bandits and the strident calls of the Herring Gulls, is a heady mixture which may play havoc with your body which may already be reeling under the influence of a grease ridden bag of fish and chips, three cups of tea, a packet of crabs legs, a bar of Whitby rock, and a couple of pints of Tetley. I think Blake must have written all that about "the road of excess leading to the palace of wisdom" after a day out at the sea-side. But that is what makes Whitby such an enjoyable place to visit -the mix of vulgarity and the picturesque, tame urban landscape and the menace of the North Sea, which has claimed so many, Edward included.
This always reminds me of Byron's poem The Sea. Here are the first few lines.
Nowadays Whitby -because of Dracula- has become a magnet for Goths. I am not a Goth myself but it looked like this lot were having a lot of fun. I am not into the big boots but the rest of the gear looks really good and the funny thing is that the older goths or neo-goths or whatever they call themselves actually looked better than the young ones. One bloke was dressed up like Dracula in the Coppola film when he was walking around London with those blue glasses on. He looked really good. Here are a couple of photos so you know what I am talking about.
