Boxing Day promised to be a fine day – perfect for a winter walk. I was up earlyish – unlike the rest of the family I’m not one for lying in. After breakfast I made up some butties, packed my rucksac and leaving the house, walked the short distance to the start of the Cinder track – the former railway line to Scarborough which has now been converted into a footpath/ cycle track. It was a bright and sunny with a blue sky, which meant it was cold and frosty with some ice underfoot, but I was well wrapped up and as I walked I soon warmed up.
The start of the path was up the steps on to the old railway line embankment
Scarborough was a bit far for my walk! but I’d planned a route walking on the track as far as the village of Hawkser where I’d cut across to the coastal path, along which I’d return to Whitby.
The view over Whitby towards the Abbey from the start of the Cinder Track
Going through a cutting
Before long I reached the viaduct over the Esk
Looking down on the River Esk with the railway line running beside it, heading towards the North Yorkshire Moors. The village of Ruswarp in the distance.
Looking over to the North Yorkshire moors
Railway carriages standing at the old station just before Hawkser. There’s an information centre her with a cafe (closed!) and where you can hire bikes. The carriages are holiday lets!
Reaching Hawkser, I crossed over the main road, rejoined the track for a short distance before leaving it to take a track through farmland heading towards the coast.
Reaching a farm, the path cut across fields towards the coast
I joined the coastal path an set off towards Whitby. The path is part of the Cleveland Way which crosses the moors and then follows the cpast to Scarborough and on to Filey
Looking back
It wasn’t all easy going. There were plenty of ups and downs and it was very muddy underfoot. I had to be careful not to slip and slide over the cliffs! I regreted leaving my walking poles behind (I had actually brought them with us but they were in the boot of the car)
Passing the lighthouse. It’s still operational and there’s two holiday cottages – one either side of the tower. Foghorn lodge a little further along the cliffs, has been converted into a family home (luckily the foghorn was taken out of operation in 1997
Foghorn lodge ahead
Continuing along the cliffs
Approaching Saltwick Bay
I diverted down on to the beach
No fossils to be found on the beach today
Back up on the coastal path
Getting closer to Whitby now
Looking down on the reamins of a shipwreck. There’s a couple of people down there as well. I hope they were keeping an eye on the tide that was starting to come in.
Passing the Abbey
St Mary’s church
Looking down on the harbour piers from the churchyard
Looking down towards Whitby
Heading down the 199 steps
Plenty of people on their way up on a fine day
At the bottom of the steps I made my way through the busy streets of the old town, crossed over the bridge and made my way back to our holiday home for a well earned brew!
Christmas at home didn’t seem so appealing – with four adults stuck in the house where we live and work for the rest of the year. Last year we spent a few days in York; this time we decided to have a week away by the sea in Whitby.
We travelled over the Wednesday before, the shortest day of the year. The weather was fine and, being a few days before the big day, the traffic wasn’t bad so we made it across the Pennines, the Vale of York and the North Yorkshire Moors in good time.
We’d hired a large Victorian house across from Pannett Park and only 5 minutes walk down to the harbour.
Being the shortest day of the year, by the time we’d picked up the keys, unloaded the car and picked up some supplies, it had gone dark, so we picked up some fish and chips for tea (compulsory the first evening by the seaside!) lit the wood burner and settled in for an evening in front of the festive tv.
During our stay, the weather was a mix of grey and very sunny days, and we managed to pack a lot in (as usual), mainly mooching around the old town and walking around the harbour and on the beach. I also managed a good walk on Boxing Day.
Here’s a few shots of popular sites around the town
The Abbey seen from Pannett Park
Classic view across to the Abbey through the Whalebone arch on the West Cliff
“Uncle Jim”
View across the harbour from the West Cliff
The beach from the West Cliff on a sunny Christmas Eve
Statues on the west side of the harbour
Young oystercatchers (I think!) on the harbour wall
One of many Georgian houses in the town
The first day we did a bit of shopping
The old Market hall
A favourite bookshop
We climbed the “99 steps” up to the Parish Church
and went inside to look at the many Christmas trees decorated by local organisations and individuals
Looking across the churchyard to the Abbey
Looking down on the harbour from the church graveyard
Christmas Eve was a crisp and sunny day and I went out for a wander on the beach
Later we had out traditional Christmas Eve buffet
Christmas Eve buffet
Ready for Christmas dinner
We cheated a little for Christmas dinner. We’re not fond of turkey anyway and had bought in a salmon Wellington we were able to cook in the oven along with a selection of pre-prepared vegetables
Christmas dinner
After dinner we went out for a walk on the beach.
and on the west pier
Boxing day was another sunny days and I left the rest of the family having a lie in and went for a good walk taking in the Cinder Track and the coastal path – a report to follow
The Tuesday Bank Holiday, our last day in Whitby, was a grey day which we spent mooching around the town and in the evening had a fish meal in the Fisherman’s Wife on the sea front.
I had scallops (perfectly cooked)
followed by fish and chips, with mushy peas, of course
finishing with a coffee and a fruit tart
Afterwards we climbed the steps to the top of the West cliff to take in the view over the harbour for the last time during our holiday
After a wander through the quiet streets, we settled down for or last might in our accommodation, before turning in for our last night of our Christmas break.
The weather changed on the last day of our holiday. The rain came in and the temperature dropped. So it was a day for stopping in, reading, relaxing, drinking tea and eating cake (!) and otherwise occupying ourselves. But I do get itchy feet so during the afternoon, when the rain had eased for a while, I went out for a short walk on the West Cliff and took a few shots to remind me of an enjoyable week in the historic seaside town.
The Crescent – only half of it was ever built!
The statue of Captain Cook looking out to sea
Looking through the Whalebone Arch – it’s hard to get a chance of this shot on a fine day as everyone wants their photo taken under the arch – not as much of a problem on a colder, wet day!
A neo Gothic house – a little creepy given which novel is set here
The Modernist style pavillion by the outdoor paddling pool
I decided to walk down to the bottom of the cliff and take a short stroll on the beach
The forecast for Tuesday predicted that after a reasonable start it would be a wet and windy afternoon. I was up early (as usual!) and decided to get out for a bracing walk along the cliffs to the south of Whitby before the weather changed. I managed to persuade my son to acompany me, be he soon lost his enthusiasm and turned back half way through the walk.
We crossed over to the East Cliff and climbed up the 199 Steps circumnavigating the graveyard with views over the sea and towards the Abbey ruins.
We joined the coastal path, which is part of the Cleveland Way route, and which would take us along the cliffs
Passing the Abbey
There were other people walking along the path, probably making their way to Robin Hood’s Bay. That wasn’t my plan. I’d walked from Robin Hood’s Bay back to Whitby last time we stayed here. I could have carried on walking the route in reverse this time but I’d decided to turn around at the lighthouse, which is about a third of the way to Robin Hood’s Bay and retrace my steps and get back to Whitby before the rain came in. I actually think the best views are gained walking towards Whitby.
Here’s some photos I shot from the top of the cliffs – some taken going out and some coming back.
Looking back towards the Abbey and the harbour
The cliffs are very friable and are being rapidly eroded by the North Sea. I could see several diversions of the path inland since my last walk along here.
Approaching the lighthouse. It’s been converted into a couple of holiday cottages – a dramatic place to stay.
Just south of the lighthouse is a foghorn
I don’t know whether it’s still operational but I wouldn’t want to be staying in one of the lighthouse cottages if it was.
I turned around just after the lighthouse and headed back along the path towards Whitby. On the way I decided to divert down the cliffs to Saltwick bay. The tide was receding revealling a good stretch of fine sand.
The last time we holidayed in Whitby we’d been fossiling here and without making any real effort I picked up a couple of pieces of ammonite and could see fragments of fossils in some of the larger rocks.
Returning to the cliff top path, with the tide going out remains of a wrecked boat were revealed
It didn’t take me long to get back to Whitby. I called into the bookshop (I just couldn’t help myself) and made a purchase and stopped off at a couple of shops to purchase some supplies. The cloud had been coming in during my walk and it started to rain quite heavily, but fortunately I wasn’t far from the cottage.
I spent the afternoon taking it easy and catching up on some reading, drinking tea and eating cake! But in the evening we’d booked a table in the Magpie cafe on the harbour which is renowned for it’s fish and chips and other seafood. Last time we were here it was closed as there had been a fire, but it had been renovated since then. It’s very popular and although we’d booked a few days in advance could only get a table fairly late in the evening.
We had a very enjoyable meal.
I started with a plate of oysters
My main course – hake wrapped in parma ham served with muscles
I’m afraid I couldn’t resist the banana bread and butter pudding with custard – several shots of insulin required!
After eating the rain had eased off so we walked along the harbour, climbed up to the Whale bone arch and made our way back to our cottage
Monday morning during our holiday in Whitby was rather gloomy. But after breakfast, while everyone else was taking it easy in the cottage, I decided to go out for a wander over to the east side of the harbour.
After crossing the bridge I turned down Church Street and where I found myself irresistibly drawn into the rather good independent bookshop, The Whitby Bookshop. After a good browse I carried on down Church Street before turning down Henrietta Street which leads to the harbour piers. I passed the smokehouse, but decided against purchasing any kippers. I’m very fond of the smoked herring but didn’t want to stink out the cottage!
I reached the harbour and walked onto the walls
Taking care to avoid being blown off the wall by the strong wind, I snapped a few photos of the town under the moody sky.
I set off back towards the cottage,
Picking up a few supplies on the way.
After dinner, it had brightened up so leaving our daughter behind to catch up on some work for her course, the rest of us decided to walk over to the east side of the town to have a mooch in the shops and take a few photos under a sunnier sky
After the walk with my son along to Sandsend and back, during the afternoon all four of us headed through Whitby, over to the East Cliff and then up the 199 steps to visit the ruins of the Abbey. Perched on top of the cliffs above the town and next to the old Parish Church, even on a fine day it has rather a “spooky” atmosphere, especially when viewed across the graveyard as in the picture above! No wonder Bram Stoker used this as a location for the early part of Dracula.
We’d all been into the abbey during our previous visit to Whitby, but it was certainly worth another visit – although you can much of the structure from outside the walls without paying the entry fee, we’re all either members of English Heritage or Cadw (the Welsh equivalent) so we got free entry and were able to get a closer view.
The current Abbey wasn’t the first one on the site. The original Anglo Saxon builing was founded St Hild when Whitby was part of the Anglo Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, way back in the 7th Century when the the town was known as Streaneshalch and is the liklely location of an important gathering of the clergy, known as the Synod of Whitby, which established the dominance of the Roman Church over the Celtic tradition in the kingdom of Northumbria. The Anglo Saxon building was destroyed following the Viking raids in the 9th Century. The site was then deserted for a couple of hundred years until after the Norman invasion when a new Romanesque Benedictine Abbey was founded in 1078. This wasreplaced by the current Gothic structure constructed over a protracted period between the 13th and 15th Centuries. The Abbey was closed by Henry VIII in 1540 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and it gradually fell into ruin – no doubt used as a “quarry” by the locals.
There’s a long stretch of sandy beach to the north of Whitby. At the other end, nestling underneath the cliffs, is the small village appropriatly named Sandsend. It was originally a fishing village, then a home for workers in the alum extraction industry. Today it’s a tourist resort and, apparently, the most expensive place to buy a property on this stretch of the coast!
On the Sunday morning of our holiday in Whitby, as the tide was going out, I set out with my son to walk the 3 miles to the village. It was a fine morning and although there was a bank of cloud hovering over Whitby, we were in the sunshine as we headed north.
Looking down to the beach where the tide was receding, from the cliffs near Whitby Pavilion
Although it was early, there were quite a few people taking some exercise on the beach and / or walking their dogs!
Passing the colourful beach huts
There were a few surfers out
A rocky stretch
Approaching Sandsend. We didn’t stop to look around the village as we’d planned to visit the Abbey that afternoon and time was getting on.
Halfway back to Whitby, we took a path that climbed halfway up the cliff to get a different perspective
We were walking towards the cloud now, but it was clearing and we were in the sunshine most of the way back to Whitby
Looking down on the beach huts and towards the harbour
We took the path up to the top of the cliffs a short distance before the Pavillion and passed one of the heritage statues celebrating thealleged invention of the “Crow’s Nest” by local man, William Scoresby
And a second one, of Skipper Dora Walker (1890-1980), the first female fishing boat skipper on the North East coast.
A little further on we turned off the cliff top path back down towards Skinner Street and our holiday cottage.
We’re just back from an enjoyable family holiday in the historic seaside town of Whitby. This was our second visit having had a holiday there in July 2017.
The town developed following the establishment of an Anglo Saxon monastery high up on the East Cliff in 656 by Oswy, the Christian king of Northumbria. It’s in a narrow valley at the mouth of the River Esk, flanked by tall cliffs. The original settlement was at the bottom of the cliffs on the east side of the river, eventually spreading over to the west bank. It’s location means that it’s a maze of steep, narrow streets and ginnels – not the easiest of places to drive around!
Until relatively recently it was very much an industrial town with alum quarries on nearby cliffs and shipbuilding was a major industry – it’s hard to believe that in the 18th century it was the third largest shipbuilding port in England. Not surprisingly it was a fishing port and in the mid 18th century it also became a centre for whaling. Whitby developed as a spa town in Georgian times and tourism really took off in the mid 19th Century with the arrival of the railway, leading to the development on top of the West Cliff.
Bram Stoker stayed in Whitby and it inspired him to write his novel, Dracula, which started with the Dementer, the ship carrying Dracula running aground, its crew missing, its dead skipper lashed to the wheel was wrecked on Tate Hill Sands, below the East Cliff (his inspiration for this was the beaching of a Russian ship, the Dmitry, on the sands in 1885). One of the novel’s characters, and Dracula’s victim, Lucy Westenra, was attacked by the Count in St Mary’s Churchyard, the Parish Church that stands in the shadow of the Abbey.
We had a relatively easy week, spending our time wandering around the streets, cliffs and beaches with only one trip out to Scarborough. We didn’t spot any vampires, fortunately!
Here’s a few snaps that I took around the town during our stay, starting with a few views of the East Cliff from the harbour and West Cliff
This is the beach where the Dmitry ran aground – the inspiration for the start of Bram Stoker’s novel.
Some of the shops in the “main street” of the East Cliff
Looking up the 199 Steps that lead up to the Parish Church and the ruins of the Abbey. In bram stoker’s novel, Dracula, in the guise of a black hound, ran up these steps up to the top of the East Cliff after the shipwreck.
Looking down to the harbour from part way up the 199 steps
Looking over the graveyard to the Abbey
The Abbey ruins
This modern bridge linking the east pier and the east pier extension of the harbour walls. An addition since our last visit.
Looking down over the harbour to the West Cliff from the top of the East Cliff
Another view over to the West Cliff settlement
The monument to James Cook, who, as an apprentice seafarer, was based in the town
There’s a fine beach to the west of the town stretching a couple of miles to the small hamlet of Sandsend
A replica of Cook’s Endeavour
Another change since out holiday in 2017 – there were a number of these wire statues of former residents of the town illustrating it’s heritage.
We’d been wanting to walk along the cliffs from Robin Hood’s Bay back to Whitby during our recent holiday. Unfortunately the weather hadn’t been particularly promising. But on the Friday the forecast was for sunshine until the evening, so we laced up our boots and took the bus the few miles to Robin Hood’s Bay and set out along the coastal path. It was easy walking at first but we soon had to negociate a series of “ups and downs” along the cliffs.
Looking back shortly after setting out.
A short distance along the route we came across this “rocket post”. Devices similar to this were used by the coastguard to practice rescuing shipwrecked sailors. Rockets were used to fire ropes across to stranded ships.
It was a beautiful day, if a little windy. There were great views of the cliffs ahead and the sea was a beautiful shade of blue.
“Scars” could be seen under the water. It was high tide but these rocky selves that make this stretch of coastline potentially treacherous for shipping would soon be revealed as the tide receded.
Looking out to sea.
Moving along the coast
This must be the shortest lighthouse I’ve seen.
A cliff face of Kittiwakes
A short distance after the lighthouse we passed this disused foghorn station. I wouldn’t have liked to be walking past when this was blasting out.
Carrying on the cliffs
Getting closer to Whitby. We passed the bay where we’d been foddiling earlier that week.
The Abbey came into view
Looking down to the ship wreck we’d walked past during the fossiling trip
Whitby harbour came into view.
Getting closer to the Abbey
We finished the walk with tea and cake in the YHA café next to the Abbey.
One of the things we enjoyed during our stay in Whitby was taking an evening walk along the harbour. Two evenings were particularly pleasant for a stroll down to the pier.
On the way down to the town centre we passed the pleasure boats moored in the harbour
Looking out from the west pier
Looking along the west pier
A coble crew, no doubt practicing for the Whitby Regatta
Looking over to the East Cliff
As the sun began to sink it lit up the east cliff which looked particualrly dramatic with the grey cloud behind.
The lifeboat returning to port – the crew had been out on a training run
We climbed up the west cliff. Looking down to the piers
The whalebone arch
The sun was starting to set and Captain Cook’s statue was silhouetted against the sky
Looking back as we walked past the harbour returning to our holiday home
The next evening we went out again. Starting with a stroll along the east pier
Jurassic cliffs to the east
Looking across to the west pier
and the West Cliff
The sea in the bay was a beautiful shade of milky blue
Along the west pier
A rain shower came in and created a rainbow over the east cliff
Down by the Dougie 