Here's one for the bucket to start in spring - mark 2023's Year of the Coast by getting familiar with Yorkshire's brilliant coastal paths, says Janet Deacon
This year's celebration of the 2,700-mile England Coast Path, encourages visitors to explore the brilliant British coast in innovative new ways. There's a whole year of events right around our inspiring coastline will include festivities great and small, from major festivals to local food markets, arts trails and water sports.
Our little stretch of North Yorkshire may account for only 50-odd of those nearly 3,000 miles long (as the crow flies – if you measured all the fascinating ins and outs and twists and turns of this wriggling coastline, it would be an awful lot longer – sadly, we just don’t have the time!), but it packs an awful lot of punch into that short distance.
And a lot of our coastline falls within the boundaries of the North York Moors National Park, who have created a series of ‘ambles’ celebrating the coast – the perfect way to spend a spring or summer day.
Do the five on our section of the coast and you’ll cover around 13 miles, so easily done in a day for the keen walker. But there’s such a lot to discover and see along the way, that you’ll probably want to spread them out over a longer period of time. You’ll get to see some of the country’s favourite resorts and coastal villages along the way, including Runswick Bay, Staithes, Sandsend, Robin Hood’s Bay and Ravenscar; find out about fascinating figures from our history, and encounter some of the rich variety of wildlife that makes its home here.
Where to walk
Our first stop is beautiful Runswick Bay. Keep an eye out for the local ‘hobs’ – hobgoblins who lived in ‘hob holes’ – as you head towards the thatched cottage which was once the coastguard’s house, the only building to survive a huge landslide in 1682. This walk will take you along the clifftops from Runswick to Staithes, via Port Mulgrave, where you can see traces of the harbour which was once used to transport the local ironstone needed for the railways and for shipbuilding. Then gorgeous Staithes, another magnet for photographers, and once home to a certain James Cook, who was a grocer’s assistant in the village before heading for the bright lights of Whitby and a career in, well, exploring – and changing – the world
READ MORE: Yorkshire Coastal Walk - Runswick Bay
Over six miles under your belt, and Sandsend beckons. This glorious stretch of sand divided by a freshwater stream full of friendly ducks is fringed by a string of fabulous places to eat – whether your tastes run to fine dining, a crab sandwich or a crisp fish taco (are you sensing a seafood-y theme here?). It’s said that the Lewis Carroll was inspired by a walk on Sandsend beach to write his great comic poem The Walrus and the Carpenter – although we hope you’ll be thrilled, not weeping, to see ‘such quantities of sand’.
Sandsend has added three miles to your total – now you’re heading to the village of Robin Hood’s Bay for a mile-and-a-half amble around a place where time stands still. The village dates to the 1500s, but its heyday was probably in the 1700s, when it was a major centre for smuggling on the East Coast. It’s believed that the labyrinthine tangle of streets, alleyways, secret passages and tunnels that writhe their way from the beach to the top of the hill meant that clandestine supplies of luxuries such as silk, tobacco and alcohol could be moved without ever seeing the light of day.
READ MORE: Yorkshire coast walk: Ravenscar to Robin Hood’s Bay circular
That’s another mile-and-a-half cracked. Now head down the coast to Ravenscar, once the site of a proposed Victorian resort to rival the titans of Scarborough and Whitby, for a moment of 21st century mindfulness. This walk promises ‘reflection and inner calm’ along its three(ish) miles, and suggests that you pause from time to time: “Slowing down brings you to the ‘here and now’. Being aware like this helps to calm you mind, relax your body, and reduce stress. This is what mindfulness is about.”
The final ‘amble’, just north of Scarborough, promises wildlife aplenty. A rural walk around picturesque Hayburn Wyke, with its famous waterfall splashing onto the beach, it includes (depending on the time of year you tackle it, of course) speckled wood butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies; grey seals and whales; and for the birdwatchers amongst you, the opportunity to see buzzards, fulmars, warblers and waders. And here’s an interesting fact for next time you’re in the pub: when the railway line ran from Scarborough to Whitby (a route that was cut by the notorious Dr Beeching in 1965), passengers would throw apple cores from the train, which has resulted in a route – now the Cinder Track, a popular walking and cycling route – which positively bristles with apple trees.
READ MORE: Yorkshire Coastal walk - Ravenscar and Hayburn Wyke
That’s your last two-and-a-half miles done and dusted. We think that’s 13(ish) miles well walked: you’ve encountered wildlife, history and geology, hopefully eaten well, enjoyed some amazing views and enhanced both your physical and mental health – what more could you ask for?
To find out more, and download a series of colourful guides to the new walks, visit: northyorkmoors.org.uk/visiting/year-of-the-coast-2023/coastal-ambles
And for more information on what else is on across the Yorkshire Coast #placeofsurprise and the North York Moors this month, please discoveryorkshirecoast.com or call the Tourism Bureau on 01723 383636.
Access for all
Need a walk with easy access? Check out the NYMNPA’s countywide easy access walks (short, fairly level routes, suitable for wheelchairs, scooters capable of travelling over rough ground, Trampers and robust pushchairs), including a coastal walk along the clifftop at gorgeous Runswick Bay.
You can even hire Trampers – electric all-terrain mobility scooters – at some locations, including dramatic Ravenscar.
Find out more at northyorkmoors.org.uk/visiting/enjoy-outdoors/walking/easy-access-walks
