The home of Captain Cook

Day trips are almost impossible on tour but thanks to a three-day Test it was possible to escape Leeds for a couple of hours and drive through the North York Moors on the way to Whitby, a small Yorkshire fishing and holiday village. It’s the home of Captain Cook – no, not the opener Alastair, but James, the explorer who bumped into Australia in 1770.

At primary schools in Australia Cook was a central figure in geography and history lessons, and his name and deeds live on along Australia’s east coast. In Queensland he was the first white man to discover, among many other things, the Town of 1770, the Glass House Mountains and the Endeavour River in Cooktown, north of Cairns. His childhood cottage was even relocated to Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens, so it was great fun being in his town.

It’s a beautiful place too, overlooked by the spectacular ruins of St Hilda’s Abbey, 199 steps above the town, and divided by a river that reaches into the sea. The summer sun made it even more inviting, although it wasn’t just the crowded carparks near the beach that prevented a swim. Cook preferred the water but the land west of the town is also impressive.

The North York Moors were covered in heather on the peaks of their rounded hills. The harsh landscape slows the tourist traffic as everyone stares out the window, wondering how the scenery changed so quickly. Halfway down the hills there are lush green fields and ideal grazing land, but the top is rough and windswept. On the drive back to Leeds there were more idyllic rural scenes, enchanting fields and a stray wasp that apparently lodged in the shirt of my driver. He over-reacted by Australian standards, but those things do sting a bit. James Anderson probably would have squealed like that as well.