Writing, fatshion, me: Anniversary Trip to North Yorkshire

On the Tuesday of our holiday we had booked to go on a heritage train! The railway goes from Pickering to Whitby and we decided to get on at Goathland, meaning we had about an hour on the train. My mum kindly bought Lee and me the tickets as an anniversary present. We decided to get on the train at just after ten.

We drove to Goathland and parked and got on to the platform to wait for the train to come in. On the way there it was a diesel engine which was still old but not quite as exciting as a steam train. We got on but unfortunately couldn't find seats for all four of us together to begin with, which was a bit annoying. But we managed to move next to each other which was better.

We got into Whitby just past 11am and walked from the station and over the swing bridge. There were some shops we wanted to look in so we did that. Then I wanted to go to the French bar that Lee and I went to in January but it turned out it didn't open until 2pm, so that was a bit annoying. We went in the shops and decided to go to Abbey Wharf for food. I've never been in before but I've walked past a thousand times. My mum and Norman had been, though.

It's up some stairs but once you get up there it's absolutely beautiful. There are views right across the town and the sea. If the weather had been better I would have sat outside but it was raining off and on and since we were eating we didn't want to have to rush inside with our food. So we sat in a lovely bright area inside instead.

They had quite a few vegetarian options but my stepdad and I both went for halloumi burger and chips. Lee had chicken burger I think and my mum had a lasagne. It was very dense and she ate a lot of it and really enjoyed it, which was the main thing!

As we were eating my mother and I both realised that the new Whitby RNLI lifeboat has my grandma's name on it! When she died she left £500 to the RNLI and I kept seeing TV adverts for sponsoring one of their new lifeboats and getting someone's name on the side of it, so that's how we donated it. We were kept up to date about where the boat was, so we knew it was in Whitby. The place we ate was right next to the RNLI station, so we went round! A very helpful man told us that the names are on the sides of the boat, but it lives in the water so we can't see them without, you know, going swimming. So they have put a replica of the names on the dockside, contained within the letters RNLI. They have a database to tell you exactly where each name is, so we were able to locate my grandma's name within the portside R of RNLI. It was so cool to see! Plus the roses are RNLI roses which my grandma would have liked too. I am glad her name is there!

I bought three books for a fiver in a discount bookshop, and a small sodalite tower in the crystal shop in the market. We only had three hours in Whitby because we didn't want to get back too late, so we started to wander back, but we kept stopping of course. My mum and Norman went back to the station before us because they wanted to get hot drinks. Lee and I joined them in a queue for the train. And this time it was a steam engine! It was so cute, I am so glad we got to see it. I know we didn't have very much time in Whitby but really it was about the train, and it was a cute outing.

We all sat together round a table on the way back. My mum and Lee went to get coffees just as we were setting off. We got back to Goathland at about 3.15 and drove back to Glaisdale. For the rest of the night we just relaxed with the same stuff as usual - we had some tea, we relaxed, we did quizzes, we drank. Norman had got a Baby Guiness kit for Christmas so had brought it to share with me. I did really well at pouring them until the last bit. As usual, it's more of a teenage Guinness. No matter, it tasted really nice anyway.