Coastal Walking :: Whitby

I have been walking for pleasure all of my adult life, striding out through the Dorset countryside and along the southern coastline in my teenage years, then hiking through the northern hills of the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales through my twenties, thirties and forties. Scenic walking and picnicking is very high on my list of Absoulutely Wonderful Things To Do, it has given me untold amounts of pleasure over the years, that's for sure.

Becoming a parent scuppers walking activity slightly - when they were babes we still managed to walk by stuffing them into backpacks, bribing them with snacks and carrying them about on our backs. But any sort of pleasurable walking grinds to a halt once you are in possession of a toddler or two. Now that we are firmly out of toddlerdom, walking is right back on our leisure agenda and I can't tell you how good that feels. Little B (5), Little Lady (11) and Little Man (12) are turning out to be pretty great walkers and last week we managed two modest, five mile circular walks. I read somewhere that when walking with young children you can pretty much equate their age with the number of miles you can expect them to walk, and we have found this to be pretty true. Five miles for a five year old is  spot on, providing you are armed with copious amounts of sweets/chocolates/snacks.

The first walk we did last week started and finished in Whitby, which is a favourite place of ours. We were last there two years ago spending a very cold, wintry time freezing our butts off on the deserted beach. May is thankfully a very different prospect to February, and the day we made our walk it was bright and sunny with a brisk breeze blowing off the sea.

The English countryside in May is absolutely stunning, I think it's probably my most favourite time of the entire year to be out and about breathing it all in.

The first part of our walk was inland, up and away from Whitby town and out across open farmland.

I really love to see these fields of Rapeseed (grown as an oil producing crop) in full bloom, the colour is magnificent in a very in-your-face type of way. Usually viewed from a distance as we journey about in the car, it was breathtaking to be walking a path right alongside the plants.

The colour of the flowers is so vibrant it almost hurts to gaze at it for too long. I was surprised by how tall the plants were too - I took some amazing photos of my two big Little People standing amongst the flowers, with only their eyes and the tops of their heads visible above the mass of yellow.

A little part of the walk was along this quiet road, giving us some beautiful views of the ancient Abbey that is a famous landmark along this coastline.

I was walking with Little B, we were the slow portion of the family party. We lingered behind the others, me taking photos and him poking about in the undergrowth looking for things of interest. This furry caterpillar was examined at close quarters before being given a new home amidst a bed of buttercups.

After a couple miles we arrived at the cliff edge, with the return part of the walk following the Cleveland Way coastal path back into Whitby.

The views were incredibly beautiful on this bright sunny day, the shades of sky, sea and cliff merged to create a very fresh, uplifting palette of feel-good colour.

In the interests of honesty, I need to confess to you that around about now we had a bit of a bust up, and a rather vocal family argument ensued. It was midday, and the Little Peeps were hungry and wanted to stop. I had told them about this secluded little beach that J and I had once picnicked on and they had their hearts set on it for lunch. It's a bit of a trek to get down (a flight of wooden steps down from the cliff top) and even more of a trek to get back up again (same wooden steps but double the effort), but they wanted to do it and I agreed it would be a lovely place to stop. J however had other ideas. He didn't want to do the steps, in fact he didn't want to be down at sea level at all. He likes to be high up you see, he is a man who likes viewing views. So he said we should walk on and stop when we got near the abbey (with views across Whitby harbour). We argued. I might even have raised my voice a little, but he was adamant his way was the only way and refused to go down the steps. So what was I to do? In the end after much huffing and puffing, I gave in and we all carried on walking.

Anyhow - despite having to walk an extra half an hour with a very whingey, grumbly, hungry Little B, we did eventually find a very nice place to eat lunch (with spectacular coastal views) and I tried to get over my sulking. Family time can sometimes be like this can't it, differences of opinion, different likes and needs. Mostly we all get along really really well, but when I look at these photos, I can still remember how cross I felt when we didn't get to go to that little beach! Sigh, I really must let it go!

 

Whitby was as bustling as ever, with swathes of tourists milling about and a continuous stream of boats coming in and out of the busy harbour.

It's a lovely old town and despite the crowds and rather touristy feel it still retains a lot of it's charm.

Descending from the abbey on the cliff top to the harbour side is via 199 stone steps, and the Little People loved this part of the walk. They positively flew down, it was fun to watch them.

We took a walk out long the right hand stone pier......

....right to the lighthouse tower at the end. And then we made a unanimous family decision to head into the old town to visit one of our favourite cafés for some much needed refreshment. No arguments there, no sulking either. Pheww.

This is the lovely Sanders Yard, tucked away behind the main street in Whitby old town. It can be hard to find if you don't know of it, there is a small sign directing you down a narrow alley way, which opens up into this lovely little courtyard.

It was warm enough for us to sit outside to enjoy our well earned afternoon treat, and what a lovely treat it was too. J and I had delicious mugs of cappuccino with a shared slab of mouth watering coffee and walnut cake. The Little Peeps chose the most decadent drinks on the menu - milkshakes served with a huge blob of ice cream floating on the top. Oh you should have seen their faces, it was utter delight to watch them guzzle these down. I can highly recommend them for any Little Peeps requiring a combined pleasure hit/energy boost.

All that walking and fresh air last week was great for mind, body and soul, I've come home feeling refreshed and energised and very happy with my lot. I've got one more walk to share, I hope you don't mind tagging along? There will be some lovely views, see you then.....

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Comments

[Dinahsoar]

Love love love your walking posts and pics with family stories. I'm thinking there should be a method to settle this type of family dispute (mentioned in the post), with husband getting the final say only when there is no consensus. Resentment is eliminated because one person is not forcing his/her will on the rest. Voting works. Or drawing straws. Family matters settled this way are beneficial to all; the children will feel they have a voice too. We did not do this in our family and I often found myself resentful and our children rarely enjoyed family outings. Felt they were imposed on them. Looking back I wish we'd handled things differently. Our children are fine adults but still. Lots of family discord during family vacations and outings, which mostly put a damper on things, might have been avoided.

[Rae]

After using photographs of Whitby taken by my tutor on a digital photography course some years ago I fell in love with the place and have wanted to visit there although I have not made it yet ....sigh I will as it's on my bucket list. Thank you for your post Lucy. Just wish you hadn't told us about the secret cafe and cakes though!

[Rae]

After using photographs of "Whitby" taken by my tutor whilst on a digital photography course some years ago I fell in love with the place but haven't got there as yet....sigh.... but it's on the list. Thank you so much for your post Lucy....I loved it! and I can understand even more now why people talk about the place with such passion.

[Rose]

I'm an Aussie Lucy so I have to tell you that while our beaches might be incomparable, your cliffs always leave ours for dead!

[Pamela Lawson]

I lived in Whitby with the nuns for a couple of months and I still remember the beautiful walks me and the sisters had. A very dear time and I miss England so much.

[Michelle]

Not being near Whitby is one of the things I miss about leaving the North East for Dorset. I agree about the tourist feel. I have never visited Whitby without it being heavy with tourists, even in the colder months but somehow the beauty and the spirit of the place over take any annoyance.

[Julia Unwin]

Please don't let little B pick up hairy caterpillars, the hairy ones are often poisonous. They can cause really nasty skin irritations. Smooth ones are fine. If it's hairy pick it up in a leaf. Gosh, I sound a real worrywart like my Mum!

[Elsie Pop]

Aah Whitby's lovely! Used to love my little trips there when I lived in Yorkshire! xx

[Claire]

I love walking too, even more so as I've got older. Have also found that walking side-by-side one-to-one with a child is a great way to chat properly - even with a teenager! In fact, probably more important with a teenager.

Love your honesty about your mini row! Yep, normal life!

Isn't Whitby great?

[Sharon Izzard]

Such an honest post, family life is great but not always perfect :-) Thanks for sharing your walk, I do love all the virtual walks that get blogged, I can't walk far at all myself so I love 'coming along'on the online treks you all post up. x

[Carol]

Loved following your walk Lucy, you bring it all alive, and you had good weather!

[Gillian]

Looks like a great walk. Pity about not getting down to the beach. You can agree before the next time you do this walk that you'll go to the beach. Would save having an argument! The coffee cake looks delicious. Coffee cake is one of my favourites. Just about any cake is good though.

[Sarah]

Your honesty is so refreshing. Family life is not perfect is it and that's what makes it so much fun. You are spot on with age of child = number of miles they can walk. We would walk miles with ours all over the country and now they are both at university they walk for pleasure which pleases me no end. I wish more children had the opportunity (usually denied them by their parents) to walk or cycle. Just walking or cycling to school would be a start. I get so depressed when I hear of teenagers learning to drive and then driving to school. Driving a car is not cool, it is the polar opposite in today's world.

[Jennie Craine]

Happy memories of Whitby but it's years since we were last there. What lovely photos - you've turned the clock back for me to my children's early teenage years. I am glad to hear that even perfect-sounding families can still fall out big time!

[Rosie Kirkham]

Thanks for the pictures. When my girls were small we used to spend holidays in a cottage near the top of the donkey steps. This brought back happy memories.

[Jenna]

Oh that cake looks so good! I would take up walking if there is cake involved.

[Marian]

What a wonderful day u had Whitby is on my to do list 💗 for now I will settle for travelling visually on your blogs 👍😊

[Pat]

Just too beautiful! Hoping to visit someday!

[Mamalion]

Lucy, what beautiful pictures of your lovely rambles. I was a little concerned though, about what the white flower is in your third photo. We have a plant in the US that looks very similar to it called Poison Hemlock. It looks very similar to what we call Queen Anne's Lace, but it's larger- it can grow to 2 meters tall. I was concerned when you said Little B was poking about in the underbrush. I'd hate to see him come in contact with this plant as it is highly poisonous. You can tell it usually by the flowers, its height, and the stem is hollow and sometimes has purple dots on it. Hope you're not running into Hemlock on your rambles!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conium_maculatum - Poison Hemlock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daucus_carota - Queen Anne's Lace

[Sara]

Don't mind at all trekking along with you on these delightful walks! Thank you for sharing them. I'm delighted to have recently found your blog.

[Shirley Flavell]

A wonderful trek Lucy, I felt that I was with you all the way. Giggles with the" hissy fits". A great treat for rewards at the end of your journey. Shirley N.Z.

[Sue.]

Well that looks lovely! I would have wanted to go down the stairs as well...and may have raised my voice as well! It happens in all families. Looks like a lovely time!

[Jennifer B]

I fondly remember Whitby from our visit to England 10 years ago. My husband was driving, I was map-reading and navigating. We took a wrong turn and ended up on the Pier Road down by the water.

Our hotel was up on the cliff and I found a road that would take us there. I told my husband to veer left onto "Khyber Pass" to get up to the West Cliff and he thought I had lost it and was looking at a map of Afghanistan.

We still laugh about that a lot in our family!

[Jackie]

Went to Whitby for the first time last year, loved it. We did a lot of walking too.

[Jill S]

I had a holiday in Whitby with my now ex husband many years ago and I loved it. I can even pick out the B&B we stayed in from one of your photos. Even though he's an ex, I still recall that short break we had with very fond memories.
Thanks for the photos :-)