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After being complained at for not taking the daughter out to Whitby last year I finally caved in and we decided to head off for the day as the wife was away stay at a friends for the weekend. Stoopid O'clock alarms went off and we got ready and headed out. A walk in to Croydon was taken very slowly.
9R02 East Croydon to St Pancras International 700130 non winner [13m 40ch].
A quick walk over to Kings Cross and we made it for our first choice of train the 06:33.
1N01 Kings Cross to York 801212 non winner [188m 40ch].
On board we settled down and ordered a bacon roll and a drink each. It was passable. and kept us going until lunchtime. The daughter diapered in to her Audio book and I just rested. It was fairly dark during the trip up so not a lot was seen of note.
We had slightly longer than usual to change trains at York so the daughter wanted to look in WHSmiths. Afterwards we headed up the platform to get our train to Scarborough. Looking on Traksy I noticed a freight move coming through the station. 6H12 Tyne Coal Terminal Gbrf to Drax Aes (Gbrf) hauled by 66725. One I have seen before but I managed a photo or two of it.
1P15 York to Scarborough 185103, 185136 winner and non winners [42m 06ch].
I do enjoy travelling along the line to Scarborough. I do try to look out for the old signal boxes and any remaining bits of the disused stations. I did my usual attempt at getting a photo of Seamer Signal Box and as usual it came out poor! All too soon we were arrived at Scarborough. It was lovely to see the station inside devoid of scaffolding after so many years. It is all still there on the outside. Maybe next year? Despite my dislike of Scarborough in general, the station is quite nice. We had a little walk up to the shops before going back to the station and getting the X93 bus to Whitby.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I LOVE WHITBY!
Straight away we went to the wonderful bakery - Bothams. It has become tradition that we take Tupperware boxes for bring back cakes for the family. One year I had taken boxes but no bad so I bought a blue Slazenger sports bag in Scarborough to bring it all back in. This bag is always taken to Whitby now by train or by car! Once the bad was filled (four decent sized boxes) we went to get Fish and chips for lunch. I've seen on social media tourist recommending the magpie or trenchers. Personally I avoid them. They're ok but I tend to go the where the locals eat (I have mates that live in Whitby) so I tend to head to 'Royal Fisheries' on Baxtergate (it's near the Botham's) or to Hadleigh's on Bridge street. A tip here - Want a decent breakfast then near the station is Sacky's cafe owned and run by ex football pro Steve Swales.
After lunch I was subjected to a tour of all the Jet Jewellery shops she could find and her obligatory visit to the Whitby Bookshop on Church Street. Then after doing the tings we like to do (old family things we always do) we headed back to the bus station for a bus back to Scarborough. But NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
There was a crash on the bus station road which blocked the entrance and the exit and there were no buses getting in or out. Police and ambulances were in attendance meant it would be quite a while before a bus would get in to the bus station.
Straight away the Planning brain went in to overdrive and I checked the Whitby train departures. Thankfully there was one and it would leave Whitby just 2 minutes later than the bus. That was the 'get out of gaol' card. So once on the train I planned the rest of the journey a little more accurately.
2E24 Whitby to Middlesbrough 156490, 156487 winners [35m 04ch].
When we arrived in to Middlesbrough we went for a walk to see if we could get some food for the train but it was after 17:00 and everything was closed. The McDonalds was full of people waiting so we went back to the station.
1P24 Middlesbrough to York 185114 winner [50m 65ch].
The train was pretty busy and by York it was standing room only. My fear was we would miss the London train but we caught it pretty easily. We had intended to catch the Grand Central cl.180 but decided on the pretty much empty LNER train instead.
1Y20 York to Kings Cross 801219 winner [188m 40ch].
We did sail through to London with minimal delays (2 minutes and that was awaiting a platform at Kings Cross).
Over to St Pancras (protecting the cake bag) and down to our next trains
9S65 St Pancras International to East Croydon 700109 non winner [13m 40ch].
Then our last train of the day
2J70 East Croydon to Selhurst 377320, 377314 non winners [0m 77ch].
By the time we finally got home we were just short of 2 hours later than we had planned on being. BUT it did mean my daughter got to travel over the Esk Valley Line.