Lobster pots, wild moors and Dracula: a car-free break in Whitby

It’s no mystery that the setting of this North Yorkshire coastal town inspired Bram Stoker’s horror classic – and reaching it can mean taking Britain’s most scenic bus ride

The harbour ripples like shot silk. The smell of fried fish drifting past lobster pots on the cold granite dock makes me nostalgic. I’ve been lured to Whitby in winter by Britain’s most scenic bus ride, and the chance to stay in a spa hotel with sustainable ambitions. And for a walk up the wild Esk Valley to the wilder North York Moors.

The 50-mile bus journey from York to Whitby takes longer than the 200 speedy miles by train to York from London. But a ride on the 840 Coastliner bus, which goes past York station and arrives in Whitby 2½ hours later, is an end in itself. It is officially Britain’s most scenic bus route, having come top in a 2018 survey of thousands of travellers. The 840 rolls through hills and treacle-stoned Malton. At Kirby Misperton you can spy emus and antelopes as the bus passes Flamingo Land; in Thornton-le-Dale a roadside stream runs past thatched cottages and chocolate shops. But none of this prepares you for the climb past Dalby Forest on to the endless moors.