Whitby By Heart eBook

so you read the post.

maybe something in it caught you. maybe it were the bit about the harbour at first light, or Ruswarp, or the pub that's definitely not on TripAdvisor. maybe it just reminded you of something you can't quite put your finger on.

either way you're here now so let me be straight with you.

this isn't a tourist guide. it's not a list of the top ten things to do that you could've found on Google in thirty seconds. it's not written by somebody who visited for a weekend and called themselves an expert.

I live here. I've walked every inch of this town in every season, in the rain, in the fog, in that particular October light that does something to the abbey that no photo ever properly catches. I kept notes for fourteen months. every hidden walk, every timing trick, every spot that doesn't exist on any map because the only way you find it is by actually being here long enough.

and I put all of it in this book.

what's inside

• the harbour walk that most visitors do completely wrong and how to do it right, including the exact time to be on Pier Road if you want it looking like something from a film with nobody else in it

• Henrietta Street, what it actually is, why it matters, and what you're walking past without knowing every time you head for the steps

• Ruswarp and the Esk Valley, properly, including the river path timing, the best stretch, and why this is the most underrated walk in the whole of North Yorkshire

• the rock pools at Whitby beach at the exact tide state where kids go absolutely mental in the best way, with tide timing explained so you don't miss it

• where to eat that isn't the places everyone queues at, including that bacon sandwich I mentioned and yes it really is that good

• parking that won't ruin your day before it's started

• the Whitby Brewery, the back streets of the West Cliff, the spots on the East Cliff that the Instagram crowd haven't found yet

• seasonal stuff, what comes alive when, what to avoid and when, how to visit in winter and actually love it

• and that spot. the one I mentioned in the post. I'll tell you exactly where it is and exactly when to go.

and the other thing. the thing I found by accident. it's in here.

this book is for the people who want more than a day trip.

it's for families who want their kids to actually remember this holiday years from now. it's for couples who want to find something real instead of queuing for the same photos as everybody else. it's for people who grew up coming here and want to see it properly for the first time. and it's for the ones thinking about actually moving here, the ones who read that post and felt something shift a bit.

the people who've already read it have said things to me I wasn't expecting. one lad from Sheffield said he cried at the spot on the East Cliff. a woman from London said she booked a second trip before she'd even finished reading. a couple from York said it completely changed how they saw a town they'd visited a dozen times.

I'm not putting any of that on here to show off. I'm putting it on here because I was exactly those people before I moved here. I thought I knew Whitby. I knew absolutely nowt.

Whitby By Heart gives you what takes most people years of living here to find out.

for less than a tenner.