24 May 2023
What a fabulous day we had today exploring the North Yorkshire coast. Once we got past Newcastle, we stayed on the motorway system to bypass some of the big industrial towns until we hit the coast at Marske By The Sea. Car parking at the beach was free (the pay and display machine was broken!), and the beach itself was very wide and sandy, with lines of wind turbines to the north. A couple of brave souls were swimming, but a local board rider told us that the water was about 10 degrees, which probably explains why the swimmers didn’t stay in for very long. A couple of local ladies stopped by and chatted to us, giving us lots of interesting local area information and telling us that we must visit Staithes when we get further down the coast.
Next stop was the lovely little coastal town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea,
a Victorian seaside holiday town perched on top of a cliff with steep stairs
going down to a beach level promenade lined with beach huts, cafes, and even an
amusement arcade on a pier. It boasts one of the world’s oldest water-powered
funiculars, ferrying people up and down the cliff. It is a very pretty town and
we found it easy to walk around – with just a little bit of huffing and puffing
as we climbed up the cliff stairs.
Taking the advice of the locals, we next stopped at Staithes,
described by one person as being just like Whitby but smaller. Parking is on
the top of a hill and then there is a very steep walk down to the village
itself, which is built nestled into the cliffs with a fishing harbour. About
150 people live in Staithes and very few cars are able to go into the village
itself, so it was a lovely place to walk around peacefully exploring the little
alleyways and the shoreline. Once again, people were extremely friendly and
enjoyed sharing stories of their friends or family members that are in
Australia or New Zealand. Staithes had a real community feel to it, and we were
told about a 40th birthday that is being planned for an Aussie who
now lives there – the whole village is planning to attend, and it will be a BBQ
on the beach. I think that by the time Mum and I left, nearly everyone in the
village knew that we were there – news gets around!
Tonight we are staying just outside of Whitby, in a tiny
little village called Aislaby in the North York Moors National Park. The
village itself has some beautiful old stone properties, and the scenery looking
across a valley is spectacular. Lots of rolling green hills dotted with little
villages, and all the gardens seem to be full of very colourful flowers. Definitely
a very pretty part of the country.
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