A bit of sunshine around this morning but it didn’t last long and greyness was the order of the rest of the day. Today we are off to explore the coastline between Scarborough and Whitby, parking up at Whitby Abbey, we start our walk southwards along the lane. After about a mile we follow a footpath to the cliffs and get our first look down on Saltwick Bay.
We didn’t go down onto this beach as we have a fair bit of ground to cover today and instead we walk along the coastal path back to the car. From here we travel a couple of miles south to Robin Hood’s Bay.
An attractive cliff side village, with narrow windy cobbled streets leading down to the sea. It was busy with holiday makers (half term) enjoying the gift shops and cafes and making the most of the free parking. Parking at the top of the village we made our way down to the sea.
The tide though on it’s way out is still quite high and the little bit of exposed sand was pretty busy.
We clambered up a lot of steps to follow the coastal path along the cliff top (erosion is very evident) leaving the crowds behind and after lots more steps both up and down we arrived at Boggle Hole.
Not much beach to be seen but at low tide you san walk all the way along from Robin Hood’s Bay to Ravenscar some 3 miles further down the coast. Up yet more steps we were rewarded with our first sight of daffodils in bloom this year.
Still more steps (I have a feeling I shall be feeling rather stiff later!) lead us back down to Stoupe Beck Sands, a lovely quiet sandy beach.
After a quick play on the beach we started to make our return following a series of footpaths (no steps!) across country to Robin Hood’s Bay in rather unwelcome and chilly light rain.
We are fast losing the light but have just one final visit to make, Ravenscar.
We couldn’t really see the beach as it was a fair walk down from the road and is only accessible at low tide but this was our view with Robin Hood’s Bay in the distance – it is getting dark – we shall have to come back another day!
Just over 9 miles walked today and it feels like it!
North Yorkshire
A whirlwind tour of north North Yorkshire’s beaches…
As we have struggled to find any suitable campsites open a bit further up the coast, we have decided to visit the beaches to link up with last year’s adventure, from here. We drove to Boulby, just around the headland from Skinningrove, our most southerly beach last year, but this just turned out to be a cliff top hamlet with no access to the shore (that I could see anyway).
So next on the list was Staithes…
A pretty little jumble of cottages clustered down a steep valley and around the harbour with a fair smattering of cafes, pubs, galleries and shops.
Not the prettiest beach we’ve seen but it had a lovely atmosphere and quite busy today. I bet it’s a lovely place for a holiday and surely buzzing during the summer
After a good mooch around we moved on to Port Mulgrave only to find that access to the beach and abandoned harbour was wiped out by a land slip so we moved on.
To Runswick Bay…
A lovely crescent shaped sandy bay with a few challenging fast flowing streams to cross as we made our way along. The village of Runswick is a pretty hillside village with more than it’s fair share of holiday cottages, a hotel and couple of cafes – a great place to holiday.
Randomly as we were walking along the beach we could here the sounds of a huntsman horn and spotted some hounds scurrying through the woodlands behind the village – I would have thought it too steep for horses and we didn’t see any so perhaps it was just the hounds out for some exercise?
The sun was just setting (it only appeared in time to set!) as we made our last stop at Sandsend, the northerly end of Whitby Bay.
We could happily have spent longer at each place and walked the miles of coastal path along the cliffs in between but the time of year is not on our side so I am happy to add this area to our ever growing list of places to return to!
A trip up ‘north’ to Whitby…
Today we are going on a journey, which takes us through the North York Moors to Whitby. A delightful town nestled along the banks of the River Esk and along the cliff tops high above Whitby Bay.
We parked up by Whitby Abbey whose majestic ruins can be seen from mikes around.
From here we had spectacular views down on to the town, the huge sweep of sandy beach and protective harbour walls.
We walked down the 199 steps (according to a sign – there were a lot and I didn’t feel the need to check the sign’s accuracy!) to this quaint and busy little town, with it’s quirky narrow streets, buzzing with shops, cafes and galleries – a great place for a mooch if you didn’t have a crowd hating hound in tow! The first beach we came to was the harbour beach tucked between the harbour walls and on the river’s edge.
Across the river we joined the main beach, which looks as though it is probably non existent at high tide but for us now it is plenty.
As there were plenty of others walking along the beach, I decided that Poppydog had best stay on the lead, but she still has plenty of freedom to run around and around and around….
As we leave the town and the promenade ends, the beach continues as Upgang Beach now backed by highish cliffs topped by a golf course and farmland for a mile or so.
In the distance at the end of the beach is the small village of Sandsend but we have walked far enough and have 199 steps waiting for us, so we shall visit Sandsend another day.
Freedom Bird 