{"id":2135,"date":"2014-01-26T18:14:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T18:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennywilsonmusic.wordpress.com\/?p=2135"},"modified":"2014-01-26T18:14:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-26T18:14:00","slug":"road-trip-to-whitby-u-k-december-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/2014\/01\/26\/road-trip-to-whitby-u-k-december-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Road Trip to Whitby, U.K. December 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"WP_20131216_006\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Late December I decided to go on a road trip to Whitby, North Yorkshire with my friend and fellow musician Steve Cartwright. It was a strange time to go perhaps. Not only was it very near Christmas but two weeks before we got there virtually the whole east coast experienced a \u201ctidal surge\u201d which left floods and destruction in it\u2019s path. Whitby was quite badly affected with businesses closed down and houses flooded. Still, it was an interesting time. We spent five days playing, busking and attending pub sessions. I also had a walk up the steps to the famous ruined abbey and along the cliffs. Very interesting. As it turned out the abbey was closed but you could see it well enough from the footpath. Here are some photos I took of it:<\/p>\n\n

We stayed at an apartment block that had been converted from an old windmill. It was quite posh and we spent most of the time worried about spilling things or leaving dirty marks on the walls. The locals called it \u201cTeletubby Towers\u201d on account of some strange bobbles on the roof and it\u2019s generally ridiculous look. Very appropriate and amusing I thought. You could see it from all over the town. It didn\u2019t look anything like a windmill!<\/p>\n

\"Teletubby<\/a>
Teletubby Towers!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As it turned out the weather wasn\u2019t too bad and the busking was fun although their weren\u2019t many people about. We were joined by local musician Jonty who played the fiddle, guitar and ukelele and ran quite a few pub sessions in the town. One of the best ones was at the Dolphin and we had a really good time there. A bit stranger was a folk club at the Elsinore pub. Somehow I managed to get my guitar tangled in the Christmas decorations which caused the landlord to be deeply upset. The crowd running it seemed a bit cliquey as well. We left there in disgrace and went to the Angel and had a good time without upsetting anybody! I think most of the folk club crowd followed us to the Angel though and we were laughing, drinking and singing into the night!<\/p>\n

I like Whitby. It is an authentic fishing town mainly unspoilt by tourism. The beach and cliff walks are amazing. I also like the fact that there are hardly any big shopping or cafe chains there like Tesco or McDonalds or Subway etc. There are some really nice old fashioned shops and cafes like Botham\u2019s Tea Rooms which served some lovely tea and cakes. There are also TWO music shops where I bought some cheap harmonicas that worked pretty well. I played them at the sessions and really enjoyed it. Of course, Whitby is famous for having two successful folk festivals! It also has many fish and chip shops that are the best in the World, or so they say!!<\/p>\n

Worth a visit is the Museum in Pannett Park. It is a private museum which has the same macabre Victorian atmosphere as the Pitt Rivers Collection in Oxford. There are weird dolls and some gruesome stories about whaling and a rather interesting fossil collection. Throw in some Samurai armour and moth-eaten stuffed birds and you get the idea!!<\/p>\n\n

On the way back to Leicester we stopped off in Holmfirth and had a great session at a pub called The Nook. Jenny Carter joined us for this on fiddle and I\u2019m sure we will be back to do some more gigs there. Great atmosphere!<\/p>\n

Steve wrote a poem about a strange bush with blossoms growing in Pannett Park.<\/p>\n

“WHO WERE YOU
\nWho were you whose sweet and aromatic scent
\nPervaded Whitby\u2019s winter lanes
\nWhen last we went aplodding
\nDown into her cosy town
\nAnd sought her roaring,crackling fires.
\nLike Spring you came upon us as we trod
\nAnd called us o’er to find your source.
\nAnd there behind the water pump and tucked behind the four by four
\nYou stood,
\nPink blossoms hanging on a waxy crown of stem
\nAnd
\nWhen you\u2019d drawn us in
\nYou cast your scented nets
\nAnd caught us in some wondrous trance
\nAnd hauled us in.
\nBemused we took your sprig
\nAnd thread it through our buttonholes
\nTo keep the spell
\nAnd linger lost within your gorgeous scent.
\nWhat prompted you to come so early in the year?
\nOr are we duffers
\nUnaware of who you are or whence you came
\nOr when you should
\nOr are you early are you late?
\nWell not for long.
\nFor I shall seek you out tonight
\nWithin my library of floristry
\nAnd keep this memory of you e\u2019er close within my heart
\nTo be repeated often
\nLike a favourite poem
\nOr a very special song.”<\/p>\n

My photo gallery of Whitby:<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late December I decided to go on a road trip to Whitby, North Yorkshire with my friend and fellow musician Steve Cartwright. It was a strange time to go perhaps. Not only was it very near Christmas but two weeks before we got there virtually the whole east coast experienced a \u201ctidal surge\u201d which left […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,66],"tags":[269,317,366,437,491],"class_list":["post-2135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-travel","tag-kenny-wilson","tag-music","tag-poetry","tag-steve-cartwright","tag-whitby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennywilson.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}