Let’s go for a walk – along the Cleveland Way

This week I have been walking along the coastal section of the Cleveland Way in Yorkshire. The whole Way is 109 miles, and starts in Helmsley. The first part of the route crosses the North Yorkshire moors, and my walking friends Steve and Michelle had already completed that part by the time I joined them in Whitby for the second section – 53 miles along the coast to Filey.

Based in Whitby, in a comfortable self catering cottage with stunning views across the river Esk to the famous Whitby Abbey, we have used the very reliable coastal bus service to get to and from the start or finish of each day’s walk.

Day One: Saltburn-by-the-Sea to Staithes (walked approximately 18km/ 11 miles)

Perfect walking weather – sunny, blue skies, and only a moderate breeze!

This sculpture *Charm Bracelet* is part of a series by artist Richard Farrington.

The scenery is really beautiful, and the weather was pretty much perfect.

This interesting sculpture was at the site of the Boulby potash mine, and represents a miner sitting at the ‘bait’ table which could be moved around to different parts of the mine. Bait is a local word for a miner’s packed meal.

Descending into the very picturesque village of Staithes, where we had a very good coffee and delicious cake by the harbour wall.

Day Two: Staithes to Whitby (walked approximately 21km/13 miles)

We got the bus back to Staithes, and then walked home! It was quite a bit further than we thought! It was very windy, but blowing from the west so not too cold. There were a lot of steep hills – up and down – something we were going to encounter quite a bit on the Cleveland Way.

Runswick Bay. Luckily the tide was out so we could walk along the beach. At the hotel here we had the most disgusting ‘coffee’ I have had for a long time – a sachet of sweetened ‘latte’. You couldn’t really call it coffee! But we did meet a lovely lady running to Robin Hoods Bay as part of her training to run a 100 mile ultra!

Fields of rapeseed – the yellow contrast so wonderfully with the sky and the grass.

Walking into Whitby – two miles along the beach from Sandsend. The wind was strong!

The whalebone arch at Whitby – the lower jaw of a bowhead whale commemorates the history of whaling in Whitby.

Day Three: Whitby to Robin Hoods Bay (walked approximately 15km/ 9 miles)

I think everyone knows about coastal erosion, and periodically we all read about this or that dramatic cliff fall, but when you are walking along the cliffs and see the fences literally hanging over fresh air it is quite sobering. And just a little scary.

199 steps out of Whitby to the famous Abbey. Whitby Abbey was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The town makes the most of this link as you can imagine.

The dark clouds made a perfect backdrop.

Slogging up and down the steep paths is so much easier when these beautiful spring flowers are peeking out at you! And taking a photo is a chance to catch your breath.

Robin Hoods Bay was famous for its smugglers back in the day. Now it is a very pretty village with steep streets and alley ways going every which way (but mostly up it seems). It is also the final point of the Coast to Coast long distance path (293km/ 190 miles) which starts at St Bees in Cumbria. Normally this is a walking route, but over the last few days some 150 very determined people have run it. The first person made it in just over 44 hours!

Day Four: Robin Hoods Bay to Scarborough (walked approximately 26 km/ 16miles)

Well if we thought the ‘ups and downs’ couldn’t get any steeper we certainly had to think again today! It was a tough day, with some rain in the afternoon. But you can’t have rainbows without rain and we were lucky enough to see some beautiful rainbows over the sea. Coming into Scarborough the tide was out, and we walked along the North Sands into town.

We saw (or heard) many birds today including buzzards, curlews, lapwings and oystercatchers. And then caught a glimpse of an adder before it shot away into the undergrowth!

Leaving Robin Hoods Bay in the distance.

And what goes down has to then come up again!

Not such great weather in the afternoon, but by this time we could just see Scarborough castle in the distance.

A photo cannot capture the effect of this shimmering rainbow on the horizon.

Rows and rows of jewel coloured beach huts!

Day Five: REST DAY! (Walked approximately 6km/ 3.7 miles)

We had a welcome rest for our legs today and caught a steam train to Pickering. The weather had turned, and was a lot colder and wetter, so it was nice not to be up on the cliff tops. The steam train passes through Goathland station, the location for Hogsmeade station in the first Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It was also used as a location in the video for Simply Red’s Holding Back the Years. Once in Pickering we visited the Beck Isle Museum, which is an interesting local museum. Then through the powers of the internet I found the blue plaque on 3 Hungate for Francis Nicholson, an artist who developed the art of watercolour landscape painting in the 19th century. He was also my four times great grandfather! I also visited the church of St. Peter and St. Paul where there are amazing medieval wall paintings, covered up in the Reformation and restored in the 19th century.

It was quite exciting to find this blue plaque for one of my ancestors

Day Six: Scarborough to Filey (walked approximately 18km/ 11miles)

The day started with an hour’s bus ride from Whitby to Scarborough. It was freezing cold, but nobody told the locals this, and there were plenty of people young and old breezing about in shorts and t shirts. Meanwhile we were wrapped up in at least 4 layers, hats and gloves! (Soft southerners – you could almost hear them saying this out loud 😉).

Scarborough is a big town and we walked from the north beach round the headland to the south beach along Marine Drive which gave fantastic views of the crashing waves. Scarborough was the first seaside resort of the 19thC, and its popularity increased with the coming of the railways, and the introduction of Bank Holidays in 1871.

The walk was, for the most part, easier than some of the previous days because there was less ascent and descent. But there were still spectacular views across the bays and cliffs. There are some really beautiful beaches along this coast.

A lovely woodland section with the sea in the distance.

Wide sandy beaches are a feature of this part of the coast

And so are very precipitous cliff edges!

Filey beach. We walked all along the beach from almost the end of the headland in the far distance. There was a brisk north west wind blowing!

Arriving in Filey along the sandy beach felt like a fitting end to a coast walk. Michelle and Steve have walked the whole of the Cleveland Way (109 miles) and I have done the coastal section. Sixty miles altogether, which is a bit more than the official distance. This takes into account walking to and from the bus stops!

I will miss the sound of the sea in my left ear, and the sound of the larks in the right; the sight of the blue sky, and the white (or sometimes grey) clouds. I will miss the cheery primroses and daffodils everywhere, and the friendly greetings of fellow walkers. I will even miss the climbs up and paths down! Most of all I will miss the very fact of the walk itself.