What about Whitby? 11

In Yorkshire you will often see references to 'Whitby jet', but it's not an aeroplane that you'll see at the airport. Instead, jet is a semi-precious stone found here in abundance which has been mined for thousands of years. The Romans thought Whitby jet had magical powers and Pliny the Elder said it could be used to drive off snakes.

Whitby jet's popularity most recently peaked in Victorian times when the newly-widowed Queen Victoria began wearing black jewellery made from it in mourning. Decades later and we still say something is 'jet-black' when it is especially dark, the blackest black possible.

Even on a jet-black night there are ample possibilities for taking photos, made all the more fun if you take a creative approach and avoid attempting to achieve pin-sharp results. As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of 'intentional  movement photography' where little or no effort is made trying to hold the camera stock-still.

Another climb up the 199 Steps from the harbour and to the graveyard, where St Mary's Church was bathed in a floodlight. It was still early evening and a couple of children were amusing themselves by making enormous shadows on the side of the clock tower. 'That was like the most fun...ever,' one of them announced after their parents were finally able to tear them away.

Naturally, I had to have a go myself!

Even at night the churchyard and steps were quite busy, mainly because there is a YHA hostel in the grounds of Whitby Abbey. Here are some hostellers staggering back uphill, the bright lights of Whitby behind him.

And here's the landmark lamppost lighting the stairs, looking more like a flaming torch.

For such a vast structure, the ruins of Whitby Abbey are concealed behind a high wall, all the better for English Heritage. I had to climb onto a rubbish bin which was a bit slick from the salty sea air and hold the camera fairly still during a 10-second or so exposure for this image of the floodlit abbey.

Whitby has only a modest funfair and seaside promenade with the usual amusement arcades, but at night they light up the waters of the harbour.

I thought this light trail looked like a running man. Running from what??

Walking along the cobbles...

...and more opportunities to move the camera during long exposures to catch the limited available light and produce impressionistic images.

After several days of stalking around town on my photo walks, I thought I had covered every inch of Whitby. This particular night while on my own I decided to take a shortcut to the B&B which sits on the cliffs opposite the abbey. Instead of taking the switchback road up to the top, I chose a street at random and began climbing the series of stairs and alleys running between the houses on the hillside. At each bend I kept climbing up, leaving behind the chippies and holiday flats. After turning one corner, the street light disappeared behind me, the ivy crowded overhead and the path became noticeably more narrow. I had to step carefully as the steps were thick with leaves and litter.

At one landing the path levelled off, going past the black windows of an empty cottage. Here the path ended, right at the door of what was clearly an abandoned cottage...with a wide-open door. In the half light after sunset all I could see inside were piles of bags, the ones used by builders to haul around sand and rubble. I was certain these particular bags though contained body parts, so I turned around sharpish. Only a couple minutes later I was back to civilisation, behind the tat shops, only a few feet off the seafront yet who knows how close to my DOOM?!

An unexpected shock ending to an otherwise lovely holiday in a beautiful place. That wraps up Whitby, but I'll be back with some more photos to share before moving on to a quick look at Middlesbrough and York.