July 13, 2022
In Whitby: The Queen’s Relay
We’re taking things out of order here, because after a very full day Rachael crashed before completing her video. We’ll wait for that before posting the ride that brung us here, but in the meantime let’s look at Whitby itself.
After dinner we decided we had just enough energy to walk up to the abbey, the sight of which so inspired us when we biked into town. It was confusing getting up there though (the abbey is perched above town, and you get up there by climbing a 199 step staircase) because something big is happening that we didn’t understand at first. Roadways and the staircase are blocked off by security guards and we weren’t certain we could even get to the abbey at first.
To make a long story short (because I’m wiped out too), the Commonwealth Games begin in about two weeks. Have you heard of them? Think of them as the British version of the Olympics. And have you heard of the Queen’s Baton Relay? It was news to us, but last year the Queen placed her secret message to the Commonwealth in a baton and launched it on a 294 day journey to every corner of the Commonwealth. It’s been around the world and is finally back in England now, visiting communities all across England before finally arriving in Birmingham to initiate the Games.
And as you’ve probably surmised by now, the baton arrived in Whitby this evening. The bearer was due to arrive around 6:30, with the ceremony and handoff occurring at the abbey. A large crowd was assembled there when we arrived, everyone was waiting for the bearer to spring up those 199 steps, the mayor was on the schedule to welcome her and make a speech, and then the Queen’s helicopter was due to land and take the baton on to its next destination. A very big deal.
As an aside, this is the second time we’ve stumbled upon something like this by pure coincidence. Ten years ago when we were cycling in Crete we visited Knossos, the famous Minoan site. We arrived at almost precisely when the Olympic Torch arrived, on its worldwide journey to London to open the 2012 Olympic Games. The exact same scenario - we were there to visit an important tourist site, but it’s flooded with crowds here to see this transient event instead.
It worked well for us though because we got to see the amazing abbey up close, which wouldn’t have occurred otherwise because the site normally closes at 5 PM. And it’s worth seeing - the ruined abbey is astonishing. You can’t stop looking at it. And Whitby itself is pretty great too, another attractive place that leaves us wondering why we’re not staying here for a week instead of just one night. Only one night? What were we thinking half a year ago?
And now I’m going to crash too, so I’ll just throw in some photos before it’s lights out. Maybe I’ll come back and caption them someday.
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