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ilanaramaThe 'official' Coast-to-Coast route continues across the moors to a place called Hawsker, where it picks up a footpath leading to the coast at a point about halfway between Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay. Most of the our group chose to take the bus to Hawsker and walk from there, for a five-mile finish to the two weeks of hiking. But the Cleveland Way - a trail system we'd followed for much of our time in the North York Moors - actually goes through Whitby and follows the coast all the way down, and Britt, Kris, and I opted to leave from the hotel and take this route to our destination.
We walked down to the river, crossed the bridge, and climbed the stairs leading to Whitby Abbey. Just past the ruins we easily found the marked footpath, which took us to the cliff's edge.
The path wound precariously along the top of the cliff. In many places the path veered dangerously close to the edge - or rather, the edge had eroded dangerously close to the path. Farther along the route we talked with another walker, a teacher who'd lived in the area for twenty years, and he told us that they'd had to relocate the path as the cliff fell into the sea.
For the most part we walked along fields of grazing sheep, although in a couple of places we went through trailer parks (er, 'caravan parks'), and in a few spots we had to descend into and out of small tree-shaded defiles where creeks crossed on their way to empty into the sea. We passed both the former foghorn station, and the former lighthouse; both are now holiday cottages, available to rent at low, low rates, or so the signs informed us.
The coastline curved ahead of us, and soon we could see the tiny town of Robin Hood's Bay - just before it was obscured by one of the many rain showers that fell on us that morning. (We got good use from our rain gear!)
We arrived at the upper part of Robin Hood's Bay during a sunny spell, but as soon as we began to descend the long staircase and roadway down to the water, it began raining again. We dashed into the Bay Hotel, home of Wainwright's Bar and the traditional end to the C2C, where we met the rest of our group (who'd beaten us by twenty minutes or so) and had lunch, washed down with Wainwright Golden Ale (of course).
After lunch, Britt, Kris and I went down to dip our toes into the North Sea - which was a bit of an additional walk since the tide was out. (At high tide, the water can come all the way up into town!)
Then we scrambled back up through the town and to our bus, which took us back to Whitby. Our total walk was about 8.5 miles to the tip of the tidal rocks, plus another mile back up the hill.
We walked down to the river, crossed the bridge, and climbed the stairs leading to Whitby Abbey. Just past the ruins we easily found the marked footpath, which took us to the cliff's edge.
The path wound precariously along the top of the cliff. In many places the path veered dangerously close to the edge - or rather, the edge had eroded dangerously close to the path. Farther along the route we talked with another walker, a teacher who'd lived in the area for twenty years, and he told us that they'd had to relocate the path as the cliff fell into the sea.
For the most part we walked along fields of grazing sheep, although in a couple of places we went through trailer parks (er, 'caravan parks'), and in a few spots we had to descend into and out of small tree-shaded defiles where creeks crossed on their way to empty into the sea. We passed both the former foghorn station, and the former lighthouse; both are now holiday cottages, available to rent at low, low rates, or so the signs informed us.
The coastline curved ahead of us, and soon we could see the tiny town of Robin Hood's Bay - just before it was obscured by one of the many rain showers that fell on us that morning. (We got good use from our rain gear!)
We arrived at the upper part of Robin Hood's Bay during a sunny spell, but as soon as we began to descend the long staircase and roadway down to the water, it began raining again. We dashed into the Bay Hotel, home of Wainwright's Bar and the traditional end to the C2C, where we met the rest of our group (who'd beaten us by twenty minutes or so) and had lunch, washed down with Wainwright Golden Ale (of course).
After lunch, Britt, Kris and I went down to dip our toes into the North Sea - which was a bit of an additional walk since the tide was out. (At high tide, the water can come all the way up into town!)
Then we scrambled back up through the town and to our bus, which took us back to Whitby. Our total walk was about 8.5 miles to the tip of the tidal rocks, plus another mile back up the hill.
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Date: 2013-07-28 11:34 pm (UTC)Great read, as always!
Thanks for sharing!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-04 11:16 pm (UTC)