Family holiday, day 5

There is something about cooking and sharing meals with family or friends when on holiday which is really special, and it is no different with this holiday. On the first night we had a splendid curry, then we had pork and beef meatballs in a tomato sauce, then chicken fajitas, sausages and mash, we ate out at a wonderful Italian restaurant in York and then the young people produced a fabulous lasagne; I have to say one was  the chef and the other an encouraging observer! Eaten with plenty of conversation, accompanied by wine and salad the meals were such fun.

Being on holiday and active in a different way from being at home, always stimulates the appetite.

Robin Hood’s Bay, which has as far as I can tell, no association with Robin Hood, is another little fishing village, nestling at the bottom of the ancient cliffs, tucked into a fold in the rocks and surviving now as much on tourism as on fishing. A friend of ours spent every childhood holiday here, and when she herself married and had children, the family spent every summer here following the tradition. They must know the little winding lanes so well, every little ginnel and back. Like Staithes which we visited a couple of days ago, there are very few people living here all the year round, the pretty little fishermen’s cottages are second homes or let out to holiday-makers.

Wikipedia tells us:

A plaque in the town records that a brig named “Visitor” ran aground in Robin Hood’s Bay on 18 January 1881 during a violent storm. In order to save the crew, the lifeboat from Whitby was pulled 6 miles overland by 18 horses, with the 7 feet deep snowdrifts present at the time cleared by 200 men. The road down to the sea through Robin Hood’s Bay village was narrow and had awkward bends, and men had to go ahead demolishing garden walls and uprooting bushes to make a way for the lifeboat carriage. It was launched two hours after leaving Whitby, with the crew of the Visitor rescued on the second attempt.

What heroism.