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A walk from Whitby
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Walk of the week
Approximately six miles south of Whitby...
lies the popular former fishing village-cum-smuggler's haunt of Robin Hood's Bay, which makes an ideal destination for a bracing morning walk followed by a good lunch. In summer, you won't be the only one with the same idea, but out of season you can often have the wild and windy clifftops all to yourself.
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Great view... |
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This coastal route follows a section of the long-distance Cleveland Way, and it's nigh-on impossible to get lost. Just climb the 199 steps, go through St Mary's churchyard and follow the Abbey's access road as far as the farm buildings. You'll spot the Cleveland Way signpost on your left. Head seawards, turn right onto the coast path – and away you go. |
Black Nab, Whitby. photo credit, Jim Gibson, www.jim-gibson.com |
Don't make the mistake of thinking this will be a flat and featureless clifftop stroll – it has its moments! You'll scale the dizzy heights to the fog signal at Whitestone Point and descend flights of steep stone steps surrounded by woodland where streams like Rain Dale (well-named...) and Oakham Beck run into the sea. Even on fine days the place can seem very exposed and you'll really feel the power of the wind and waves as they lash the ancient, evocatively-named outcrops – Black Nab, Far Jetticks, Craze Naze, Cow and Calf – far below. At several points, the coast has eroded and you'll be diverted away from the original path – proof, if proof were needed, of the precarious instability of parts of our heritage coastline. |
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Even if it's not actually raining, take your waterproof jacket – if there's a gusty wind blowing in from the North Sea, you'll still get drenched by spray from the streams. Here, clouds of foamy white spume lie on the fields as if you'd stumbled across the aftermath of a mega bubble-blowing party. |
A mile or so from Robin Hood's Bay is Ness Point, owned by the National Trust, from where there's a terrific view across the wide bay. Ten minutes more and the village itself finally comes into view, the huddle of red pantile-roofed houses stepping steeply down the cliff to the harbour. You'll enter the village via a lane of houses with well-tended, sea-view gardens before descending the one-in-three hill to your choice of tea shop, secondhand bookshop, gift shop or pub. The pick of these is the Bay Hotel, which does cracking homemade soups, pies, sandwiches and main courses with an Indian slant. As well as being a stopover on the Cleveland Way, Robin Hood's Bay also marks the end of A W Wainwright's celebrated Coast to Coast walk from St Bees in Cumbria, so you may have to fight more serious walkers for prime position at the fireside. |
Bay Hotel. |
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After an exploration of the village and harbour – on our visit, accompanied by a small school party of excited fossil hunters – it's time to retrace your steps and take the coast path home. At this point – depending on the colour of the sky – fair weather walkers can cheat and catch the bus back to Whitby (every hour, from the top of the hill). |
The Common Seal. | Whitby flora and fauna
Seals often pop their heads up in the harbours of Whitby and other villages along the coast, and even venture up the River Esk. They are most likely to be Common seals, also known as Harbour seals, smaller than the Grey seals mostly spotted from the cliffs in more remote locations. A less common sight is Harbour porpoises – also likely to be seen from the cliffs or during a boat trip. |
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The coast offers numerous colonies of gannets, guillemots, kittiwakes and puffins. Much rarer is the Arctic skua, which breeds in Iceland, Russia and as far south as the tip of mainland Scotland. From August onwards they migrate south, returning in April. They look like dark gulls, with some resemblance to a falcon. There are white panels on the wings that are more obvious on the underside than above. |
Arctic Skua. |
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Often the most interesting coastal birds are waders that patrol rocks and beaches, like the Black-tailed godwit, Common sandpiper and turnstone, whose name comes from its technique of dextrously inserting its bill beneath stones and pebbles and overturning them in search of the insects or other prey that may be lurking beneath. |
Dwarf Cornel. |
The varied geology of north-east Yorkshire results in a wide variety of flora, with about 850 species of flowering plants in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, including the rare Narrow-leaved marsh orchid and Dwarf cornel. |
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The northern part of the national park, which includes the largest single expanse of heather moorland in England and Wales, is on rocks of the Ravenscar Group of Deltaic sandstones and shales, a rich source of Jurassic era fossils. |
Ravenscar Rocks, full of fossils. |
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