Scarborough to Robin Hood's Bay

Monday 30th August 2010 

In all my travels around Britain I had never done any walking in the North York Moors, partly because there are no mountains in the area. The highest point in the North York Moors is a mere one and a half thousand feet high, but instead there are vast heather-clad moorlands and dramatic sea cliffs that do compensate for the lack of hills. It was the sea cliffs that I explored on this first day of my circular tour around the North York Moors as I walked up the coast to Robin Hood’s Bay. After catching a train to Scarborough I set off through the packed streets of the seaside resort, or as I thought of it, the tourist hellhole. I find it amazing that as a child I always went to the seaside for my holidays, and loved it, but now I can’t stand the places. The countless amusement arcades and souvenir shops were more than I could stand. Eventually I escaped and descended to the old harbour at the sea front where I quickly walked along the promenade below the mighty cliffs that rise to the remains of the castle. At the end of the promenade I thankfully said goodbye to Scarborough and crossed Scalby Beck, climbing to the top of small cliffs where I began a lovely stroll up the coast on the edge of these sea cliffs. 

The weather during my walk up the coast on the route of the Cleveland Way was rather ‘bracing’ with a stiff cold wind coming off the sea, but the sun came out later in the day to warm things up a bit. The plant life beside the path at the start of the walk was predominately knapweed and hemlock and later, on entering the national park, this gave way to more willowherb. The scenery up and down the coast was spectacular while the walking was easy until I reached Cloughton Wyke where I had to descend steeply to the inlet and then climb steeply out. This was repeated several times culminating in the severely deep Hayburn Wyke which has a delightful nature reserve at the bottom. Despite the strenuous climb I had a wonderful walk through the gorgeous dell and its abundance in plant life. It always amazes me how tiring walking beside the sea can be. One would imagine that it would be very easy, but there can often be some really steep climbs involved. Some years ago I did some walking along the Cornish coast and that is even worse than this coastline with deep inlets every couple of hundred metres. It does however make up for the lack of hills. 

This pattern was repeated as I walked up the coast until eventually I reached 'the town that never was', Ravenscar. After passing the deserted streets that never had houses I slowly descended to the southern end of Robin Hood’s Bay where another deep inlet, Stoupe Beck, had to be crossed before I reached the inlet of Boggle Hole, which is a bare mile short of the village of Robin Hood’s Bay. Rather than continuing to the village I stopped in Boggle Hole as there is a youth hostel nestled in the dark inlet. Despite the lack of any mountains on this walk it was still a tiring walk to start my holiday. The scenery from the top of the cliffs was always dramatic with some great, steep cliffs to enjoy as I walked safely above them. This was an enjoyable walk and served as a good introduction to the delights of the North York Moors and coast.