England - North York Moors - Wanderful Whitby (V)

Venture

Walk Summary

An out and back walk along the coastal Cleveland Way path. This is really more of a wander than a walk since there are plenty of interesting distractions in Whitby to take up most of your day. What with abbeys, shipwrecks, busy harbours, quaint shops and streets, historic figures...the list goes on and on. Since it is an out-and-back walk simply don't walk as far on the other side of Whitby, if you get too distracted.

Date: 08/10/2021

Length: 10.71 miles

Height Gain: 235 m

Terrain: Pavement walking, steep steps to Whitby Abbey, grass paths, rocky paths

Navigation: Good. Tracks are well defined. Find your own way through Whitby. The Cleveland Way continues down the coast outside Whitby Abbey.

Start: Sandsend Beach Car Park on the A174

Route: Sandsend Beach Car Park, Whitby Golf Club, Whitby Town Centre, Whitby Abbey, Old Whitby Lighthouse, Widdy Head, Out And Back Walk

Map: OL27 North York Moors Eastern Area

Weather: Sunny

Walkers: Nun

Gallery

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Sandsend - Looking Towards Whitby

Captain's Log

Sandsend Start

The sea clung on to a light mist as I set off from Sandsend. A few other people were out stretching their legs, probably residents of the campervan overnighters. I couldn't make out whether the tide was going out or coming in. and I'd forgot to check what it would be doing. You can walk the beach between Sandsend and Whitby but not when the tide was in. I saw somebody walking their dog on the beach further along. Should I risk it? No. I walked back on to the roadside pavement and followed the busy A174 towards Whitby. This is the route of the Cleveland Way as documented on the map. The route passed the golf course and then a Cleveland Way fingerpost directed me down a quiet lane to the beach. Before I reached the promenade I diverted off on to a higher path that skirted the front gardens of some houses. What a view they have from their living rooms!

Sandsend

Surreal Memorial

There is a rather odd memorial on the sea front at Whitby. It resembles the ground floor of a derelict house with a large bomb in front of the fireplace. A clock is on the mantlepiece and a fake cat sits on the windowsill looking out to sea. I wasn't sure what to make of it. Maybe a set for a Spike Milligan sketch?

It turns out that it is a memorial to the people killed and injured in the German naval bombardment of Whitby, Scarborough and Hartlepool in 1914. It resulted in 137 people losing their lives and 592 casualties. I think the heart was in the right place by the creators of this sculpture, but I prefer the more formal memorial I saw at Hartlepool a couple of years earlier.

I was in Whitby proper now. If people weren't rolling suitcases towards hotel then they were rolling them out of hotels, strolling from viewpoint to viewpoint, or sipping coffee on cafe fronts.

Whitby - Memorial To The Casualties Of 1914 German Naval Bombardment

Whitby - Whalebone And Captain Cook

Whale Jawbones And Captain Cook

A little further on I resisted the urge to take a photo of Whitby Abbey framed by the Whale Jawbones. The originals installed in 1853 were retired to a museum (now closed) and replaced in 1963. The current bones were donated in 2003 by an Alaskan town twinned with Whitby. Whitby whaling started in the mid 1700s and at its peak, 55 whaling ships were based here. Ships returning with a good catch would tie a whale jawbone to the mast. Somehow the lighter-touch Naval Bombardment memorial suddenly seemed a little more appealing.

Whitby Abbey

Stood near the whalebones is a statue of Captain Cook looking over the harbour. In a few days time I'd be looking at a rather larger monument to him near Roseberry Topping on the Cleveland Hills. Cook would have been around to witness Whitby's whaling frenzy. Or maybe he wouldn't since he spent a lot of his life sailing around the world, charting and naming new territories. His luck ran out in Hawaii when some natives took offence at his crew stealing some wood from their burial grounds.

Now though Cook looks down on Whitby harbour, to witness the exit and entry of small boats taking tourists on a 20 minute voyage of discovery.

Whitby - The 199 Steps

The 199 Steps

If you can drag yourself away from Whitby's shops and quaint streets, then there is the little matter of the 199 steps to tackle. The steps in question ascend to Whitby Abbey, a 7th Century Christian monastery. Or rather a ruin, after Henry VIII had his moment of fun. In truth, the steps present no problem to a seasoned walker and are a far better alternative than a nearby impossibly steep cobbled street. The Abbey is managed by English Heritage and so you'll need deep pockets if you'd like to wander amongst it's ruins. Today, I wanted to progress my journey along the coast and was contented to just view the upper half of the Abbey above the English Heritage's walls.

Whitby Abbey

Whitby - The 199 Steps

MV Creteblock

The Cleveland Way continued down the coast from the Abbey. After a few minutes, I looked down off the cliff and saw the remnants of a shipwreck. This is the MV Creteblock, a concrete ship. Yes, I said a concrete ship. I know one or two things about concrete and one of those things is that its tensile strength isn't good...which is why it is best pre-stressed. It wouldn't be my material of choice to build a boat. During the first world war steel was in short supply and so concrete was used to build MV Creteblock. Amazingly she lasted until 1947 when Captain Cook, on his plinth, watched it towed out of the harbour to be scuttled in deep sea. In a last act of defiance she sank before they could tow her to deeper waters. The scuttlers obviously took umbrage at this since they later blew up what was left of her. I saw a couple of people walking around the wreck. You can walk out to the wreck from Whitby harbour. Make sure you check the tides since you'd never be able to climb those steep cliffs if you get it wrong.

Watch Your Step

It wasn't long before the Cleveland Way wound its way through the caravan park at Saltwick Bay. I seemed to lose a lot of the walking traffic at this point. A field nearby announced that you should take care walking along the path. The reason became very apparent when I saw two cliffside wooden posts dangling in mid-air from their wire. The photo doesn't really justice to the massive drop beyond those fluffy grassy edges. On coastal walks I sometimes see the cracks in the pathway and wonder will the day be today, just as I'm walking over it, that the cliff will decide to take a tumble. Life is full of quantified risks though and within a few minutes I'd forgotten all about it.

The path continues past the old Whitby lighthouse and foghorns. The lighthouse now being a holiday cottage...well, a holiday lighthouse, in truth. At Widdy Head, I decided that my outward journey was done and that it was time to make my return.

Whitby - Watch Your Step

Whitby Backbreaker

Whitby Waterworld

On my return I walked along the north promenade. I watched two blokes making their way towards Whitby along the beach. At one point the tide had come up to the sea-barrier rocks and they needed to cross about a 30 metre stretch of water. They started to cross and the water got beyond their knees. One wanted to turn back, the other wanted to continue. A conversation ensued between them and they ventured forward. A wave came and suddenly the water was up to their stomach. The one behind had had enough and turned around to go back along the beach to some steps. The other waivered, and then he turned around too. Depth of water can be deceiving. Later on, they both past me on the promenade, soaked through, with glum faces.

A couple of surfers were enjoying the waves and further over to Sandsend a man on a jet ski turned his machine and accelerated into the waves to perform a jump. I can imagine this might be enjoyable a couple of times, but them my back and knees might be having serious conversations for me.

The overnight campervanners were frying up their teas when I got back to my a car. What a day. If you do any walk this year, them make it the Wanderful Whitby.

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