Day 23 - Saltburn-by-the-Sea

Distance Walked: 6.5km
Beer: 1/2 ping Singha (Harmless)

Today was a rest day so I spent the morning puttering around the town.  I started off around the sea front.  You could see that in its heyday Saltburn was a very fashionable place.  There were promenade gardens and what appeared to have been a cafe with a fabulous view out over the bay.  However, while some of the gardens have been restored the rest are overgrown and the cafe is boarded up, which is a shame.  Still there were a lot of tourists about.  Just about the whole stretch of road along the sea front was parked with camper vans.  In spite of the signs saying no overnight parking it was obvious that people were doing just that.  It wasn't clear who was living permanently in their van and who were just on holiday but they clearly had spent the night.  

Along with the many people walking their dogs, there were also plenty of people going surfing which just blew my mind.  While it was a sunny day the temperature only hit a maximum of 14C and it was only about 10C when I took this photo (if you squint you can see tiny figures in the distance).  I've entitled it Lunatics At Low Tide.

Next I took the funicular down to the beach.  This was great fun.  It is water powered.  The fill the base of the top car with water, release the brakes and let if slide down the slope, which simultaneously pulls the lower car up.   When the car gets down to the bottom the water is emptied out and pumped back up the top, to do it all over again.  We were told there are 3 different sets of brakes and they are tested at the start of every season. This is a comfort because if they failed, the car would shoot down the slope and out onto the pier, which would be a little too exciting.

I wandered along the beach itself for a bit and visited Old Saltburn, which is a handful of cottages, a pub and, of all things, a mortuary.  The original town was tiny and survived on fishing and smuggling, with an emphasis on the latter.

For lunch I headed back up to the new town and had a Yorkshire Pudding Burrito.  How could I resist?  It was roast beef, with horseradish, gravy, stuffing and roast potatoes all wrapped up in a giant Yorkshire pudding.  I had a side of mushy peas to make it a complete meal.  It was all Harmless but pleasantly filling.

After lunch I browsed in a large hall that had stands from several second-hand, sorry, antique dealers.  I was saved from buying several Art Deco tiffany style lamps due to the impossibility of safely shipping them home.  After all this virtue I visited a fancy chocolate shop because chocolate.  I bought myself a selection of chocolate truffles and retreated back to my B to eat them, read a book and have a nap.  I can be energetic tomorrow.  I will have to be as I have a 20km hike to complete.

For dinner I went to Coco & Rum which is supposedly a Thai fusion restaurant.  At first I didn't see what the fusion part was all about as the dishes on the menu were all standard Thai dishes.  However, after I had my meal I understood.  They had toned down not just the chili, but all the aromatics and spices, for Western tastes.  It was all extremely bland and definitely Dull.  What a shame.