A Morning In Whitby.

So... we have left home for the weekend while Mr MM is off practising his parallel turns and "working" on a ski trip while I have escaped to Whitby for the weekend with the boys.
After nearly getting blown off the cliff tops at the Abbey yesterday, today we have ventured down to the seafront to try a spot of geocaching. for those of you that don't know its basically treasure hunting with a GPS. There aren't that many in Whitby anymore but the few that are there are great fun. First up was one called The Hobbit. you won't know why its called that until you get get to the last set of co-ordinates.

This is where First set or co-ordinates takes you.

                     
We probably wouldn't have discovered some parts of Whitby without geocaching and that goes for a lot of other places we have visited too.
After starting here we had a walk out towards the harbour walls. The closer we got towards the sea the less protected from the elements we were and I did consider ducking into the local Mountain Warehouse shop for some climbing rope to attach the boys to so they didn't take off.
Here are a few pictures of our wander around the new town side of Whitby.

Boys wanted to visit Captain Cook Museum but it was closed.

Half the beach had blown onto the road and it wasn't even 11am.

Taking shelter in the Bandstand.

Choppy Seas

Checking out the Lifeboat.

After our wander around the old and new parts of the town of Whitby we headed up to the cliff top as the boys wanted to check out the whalebone arch and Captain Cook statue (Free parking here as well as other parts of Whitby till 1st March). This also resulted in a million questions directed at me about where the whalebone arch came from, what it was and questions on the life and times of Captain Cook! I managed to dredge most of the information from the dark recesses of my brain that weren't busy with ensuring the kids were kept safely attached at ground level and not flying through the air like the umbrella that managed to photo bomb my arch picture!
For those who wish to know the whalebone's are the second set to be displayed at the top of the West Cliff after the first set were deemed unsafe due to the weathering that has taken place over the years. The first set were a gift in 1963 from a shipping company in Norway to mark Whitby's whaling past and came from a 113 ton fin whale caught in the Antarctic. They were removed in the 1990's and replaced in 2002. The new whalebone's came from one of Whitby's twin towns - Barrow, Alaska and are from a Bowhead whale caught by native Inuit.

Whalebone Arch with Whitby Abbey in background.

The Boys trying to keep their hats on by Captain Cook.

Looking stormy.

After our adventure in Whitby gathering the final clues for The Smugglers Quest geocache situated in town it was off to see if our maths was correct and to see if we could find Ground Zero. I am happy to say our maths was indeed correct and the final co-ordinates were attained and the log book signed.

Goodbye Whitby. you have been windy but fun.

If you want to know more about geocaching check out www.geocaching.com its free and a great way to get kids out in the fresh air walking.

 

Our First Adventure of 2015

So its a New Year and new adventure in the Muddy Monsters household. Mr MM had disappeared on a "work" trip, which just happens to involve a few days skiing in France so I'm home alone with the boys. What is a mum to do?

Well... I didn't want to spend the whole weekend at home with the boys glued to the TV or various technical devices that suck conversation out of the room, so I plotted a trip away for us. Now as a family we love a spot of camping but its January... and there is snow on the ground... and its windy so getting the tent out is a no no. But I did find a fabulous alternative.

In some of my misspent youth, I did stay in one or two Youth Hostels in my day. So I decided to look on the website and see what they had to offer. Gone are the days of dark dorms with rickety bunk beds and chilly tiptoeing down corridors to visit the loo. Instead hosteling as a family we had a private en suite room which has key card access, sturdy bunks and room for our belongings. The Boys loved it!
We chose the hostel in Whitby because its only about an hour and thirty minutes from our home base in Leeds, it is right next door to Whitby Abbey and in fact our stay included free entry. There is free parking at the hostel but space is limited and on a first come first served basis. There are passes available for some spots a 2 minute walk away and the Abbey car park is a further 5 minutes away.

The boys chilling out on their bunk.

                                             
From the novelty of a wonky staircase, a large friendly playroom with lots of toys (and a new friend for my youngest) to the horror of having to wash and dry our dinner items by hand for the eldest, the whole weekend was great fun, and gave me and the boys some lovely quality time together. I "may" have been given a wifi code at reception by the friendly staff manning the desk, but I must have accidentally on purpose misplaced it as none of the tech was logged on for the weekend and instead we immersed ourselves in a few heated rounds of battleships.

Battleship Wars! Game on.

Near the top of the wonky staircase, it does seem to lean.

Hot Chocolate in the self catering kitchen area and practising our reading.

The hostel does have a restaurant for breakfast and evening meals but on this visit we decided to do it ourselves. You just plonk readily available stickers on your food and pop it in one of the fridges or freezers handily dotted around the kitchen. We had no problem finding room anywhere, although I did make the rookie mistake of putting all our fridge items in a freezer by mistake which resulted in ice milk for my cup of tea and having to defrost the hot dogs before serving up the boys dinner - oops!

As for Whitby itself we happened to visit on a VERY blustery weekend. On our arrival at the hostel after we checked in and dumped our gear we attempted a walk into town but Bear was blown over twice and we were in danger of taking off into the great unknown "Wizard of Oz Style" so quickly headed back into the safety of Whitby YHA. 

This is how close the hostel is to Whitby Abbey. Wrapped up warm.

Jake is holding on to the telescope to stop himself taking off.

We stayed at Whitby YHA at the end of January for one night and you don't need to be a member to book.

 www.yha.org.uk/hostel/whitby