Just a taste of some of the gorgeous views and villages on the North Yorkshire coast.
Ravenscar, on the southern headland of Robin Hood’s Bay, is known as “the town that never was”. In the 19th century, an attempt was made to create a new, fashionable resort there, to be known as “Peak” (probably after the headland’s name of Old Peak) and basic infrastructure, including sewers, roads and a railway station, was installed. There was even a brick works created to supply the building materials for the project. However, the idea failed to gain traction (possibly as a result of being 600 feet above the beach with the only access down some very steep cliffs!) and eventually, the project was abandoned.
We met the redoubtable Jules and John from Kent, who with their gorgeous dogs, Bear and Skye, were walking the East Coast from Humberside to Edinburgh then getting a train to Carlisle and walking back down the West Coast!
Staithes has a claim to fame as the home of Captain James Cook: before he went to Whitby and began his celebrated naval career, he worked in a shop in the village. The so-called “Captain Cook’s Cottage” is actually not the original: sadly, that one was lost to the sea. But the village is so worth a visit, it’s got character in spades with tiny ginnels and interesting street names, cute little tea rooms and a couple of lovely pubs. I have a family connection with the village as my granny’s uncle was a Methodist minister there in the early 20th century and she told me about going to stay with him and her auntie for holidays. She even gave me a “Steers bonnet” (“Steers” being the dialect pronunciation of “Staithes”) given to her as a little girl by one of the fishwives! It was a privilege to stay there for a couple of nights with Mandy and Paul for one of our recces of the walking route.
