September 20, 2022
On my second day in Whitby, I first went to visit Whitby Abbey. I’ve wanted to visit this site for a long time, largely because of Saint Hilda (or Hild), an abbess who founded the first monastery here in 657. As an abbess, Hilda was known for her kindness, wisdom, and good judgement, as well as for her dedication to her faith and to education. Born in a royal family herself, she was an influential figure who advised kings, princes, and bishops.
Hilda’s monastery was destroyed in 867 by Viking raiders. In 1078, a new Benedictine monastery was founded here by Reinfrid, a Norman soldier under William the Conqueror who had become a monk. The lands for the monastery were granted by William de Percy and included the headland upon which the abbey sits, the town below, and “extensive lands stretching for miles to the south.”
The original 11th century Romanesque church built by Reinfrid was extensively remodelled and expanded into a great church from between the 13th and 15th centuries in the Gothic Style.
Over the centuries, Whitby Abbey grew to be a powerful and wealthy religious centre and was often in competition with the Minster in York for influence in the religious and political life of northeastern England.
Whitby Abbey suffered the same fate as all of the monasteries in England and when it was closed and largely destroyed in the 16th century during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. It also suffered damage in much more recent times when Whitby was shelled by German warships in 1914. The abbey’s long history through the Middle Ages is known today largely because of the Cartulary, or Abbot’s Book, which can be seen in the abbey’s museum. The Cartulary is a compilation of written records, history, and copies of documents such as Royal Charters and grants of property that was kept by the abbey from the 12th through the 16th centuries. What a treasure!
Whitby to Robin Hoods Bay – 11.9 km
After visiting the abbey, I set out on the Cleveland Way path, with good views back across the headland to the abbey for some distance.
The Way passed in front of a Caravan park at Saltwick Bay where there was a well-used trail to enable walkers and holiday makers to descend to the beach below.
At the end of the bay, a curious rock formation resembled some kind of mythical horse-like sea creature, or perhaps a very large sea-going duck!
Further along the trail, I spied a building with huge fog horns atop its roof and I am quite certain that I have seen that building up for sale on an episode of “Escape to the Country.”
Just a short distance beyond was the lighthouse, now also no longer in service but available for rent as a holiday cottage.
The walking was easy today as the path undulated along the cliff tops with just a few steeper descents and rises, and it was also the busiest section of the Cleveland Way that I have experienced with many walkers travelling in both directions.
Before I knew it I was more than half way along on my day’s journey, with ever-changing yet consistently gorgeous views looking forward and back.
All too soon Robin Hoods Bay came into view and it wasn’t long before I reached the village and located the bus stop. The sedimentary cliffs along this coast are very prone to erosion, and more than 200 cottages in this area alone are known to have fallen into the sea.
I returned to Whitby by bus, a double-decker, so I had great views of the countryside as we travelled just inland from the coast. After a shower and a rest in my apartment, I made my way down to Whitby harbour and the pier to treat myself to a dinner of fish and chips. As I sat on a bench on the pier, with views across to the abbey and St. Mary’s church, I wished that I could have at least another day or two to better experience this historic, fascinating and atmospheric town.
September 21, 2022 – 13 km from Robin Hood’s Bay to Hayburn Wyke
I packed up my things in the morning, said good-bye to Whitby, and caught the bus to Robin Hood’s Bay to reconnect with the Cleveland Way. The bus dropped me off at the top of the village where the streets were lined with large and attractive brick-built Victorian villas. Farther down the hill was the older part of the village with its fishermen’s cottages, many of which are now used as holiday homes and rentals.
The Bay Hotel is located at the very bottom of the hill beside the beach and is so vulnerable to the sea that during one storm in November, 1893, a ship, the Romulus, crashed into the hotel with the ship’s bowsprit going right through a window!
I visited the beach for a short while and then climbed out of town. As I walked along the path there were views back down to the village and also down onto the beach with its series of curved ridges of hard limestone that has eroded from the cliffs slower than the softer shales.
Jurassic Age fossils like ammonites, bivalves, and giant marine reptiles are to be found here (and elsewhere along this coast) as well as jet which is a semi-precious stone created by the fossilization of Araucaria trees (related to today’s monkey puzzle trees). When I was walking down on the Robin Hood’s Bay beach, a woman had been stooping to pick up small flat oval rocks and place them in a plastic baggie. She said, with feeling, “I paid twenty pounds for a small piece of jet in Whitby and here it all is just lying on the beach.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her pieces of jet were actually pieces of shale that would lighten to a dark grey when they dried.
About a mile from Robin Hood’s Bay the trail dipped back down to the beach at Boggle Hole where a stream runs past an old mill (once a smugglers haunt and now a YHA hostel) down to the sea near a large cave.
Back up on the cliffs, I strode along enjoying all of the views forward and back, glad that today was a quieter day again on the trail.
There was a long steep climb up to the top of the cliffs at Ravenscar (184 m, 604 feet), and I stopped to catch my breath at a bench located part-way up. Usually, I like to stop for my lunch at the crest of a hill (and then only briefly), but the view here of fields and of the curve of Robin Hood’s Bay was so fine that I took off my boots, enjoyed my lunch, and stayed for a good long time.
Up and over Ravenscar, the trail continued to follow the dips and rises of the clifftop and I particularly enjoyed this more sheltered section that travelled for a while along a long row of hedges filled with sloe bushes on one side and hawthorn on the other.
The views opened up again with beautiful fields to my right and the glittering sea to my left and ahead of me. I felt myself slowing down as I walked along in a rather blissful state!
It was just so beautiful!
When I reached the steep descent to Hayburn Wyke I had to perk myself up in order to safely negotiate the uneven stone steps heading down. My reward at the bottom was the sight of the Hayburn Wyke waterfall spilling down into a small pool.
From there it was a steep climb back up the hill to my night’s accommodation at the Hayburn Wyke Inn where I enjoyed a shower, a rest, and a hearty dinner.
And, despite the amusing sign in the pub that read “Nobody gets out sober”, I managed to make my way back up to my room just a little bit tipsy from my one cider and from a day spent walking for miles in the sun and the wind along cliff tops by the sea.