Sunday 28 August: Edinburgh to Robin Hood's Bay

It was a cold, grey morning as we checked out of the Menzies and headed south on the A68. We didn't stop until we were out of Scotland and over the border into England, where the weather improved markedly.

After a brief stop at Jedburgh (site of a particularly nice abbey), we decided to have lunch at Darlington, a combination of quite old and very new. After a good look around the city and a fruitless search for an open fruit shop, we headed east. We skirted around Middlesborough, then pressed on through Whitby to Robin Hood's Bay.

This is the most charming little village we have seen on our travels so far. It's divided into the upper village (much like any other British town) and the lower village, where the narrow streets (many with stairs) make motor traffic almost impossible. The village is virtually unchanged from the way it must have been hundreds of years ago - apart from all the souvenir shops and TV arials, that is.

This evening we drove back into Whitby for a look around, and some very average fish & chips. You'd think that in a fishing port they coud make decent fish & chips, but apparently not.

Our B&B is the Manning Tree in Robin Hood's bay. This is really excellent in every respect - highly recommended.