Cleveland Way Day 6 - Runswick Bay to Robin Hoods Bay

Friday 5th January 2024

Cleveland Way Day 6 - Runswick Bay to Robin Hoods Bay

Plenty of cliff top walking and also quite a few ups and downs as we tackle the sixth day of our Cleveland Way walk. We visited familiar places along the way with Sansdend and then the every popular Whitby and it's fantastic Abbey. I must have visited Whitby a hundred times, but it was great passing through the Whalebone Arch and past Captain Cooks statue whist doing the Cleveland Way. After Whitby, we headed for Robin Hoods Bay along the coastline and also joined the Coast to Coast path that we remembered so well from 2016.

Unfortunately, this walk along the cliff tops was done under extremely wet conditions, we have had a very wet month or so and the ground was absolutely saturated - We had wrongly assumed that being generally high up it may have been dry enough for a good walk. How wrong we were ! having to endure mile after mile of squelchy mud which seemed to last forever. We didn't look much at the views as we spent most of the time staring downwards as to where to place the next boot.

We discussed how we had started this long distance walk in the summer on a day walk basis (rather than doing it in one hit over a week or so) and we had honestly expected to have wrapped it up by now, but available days just didn't appear, so it's taken us much longer than expected. The end is certainly getting nearer, but I think we will leave it a couple of months to dry out before wrapping this one up at Filey.

Not the best of days I'm afraid, due to the conditions underfoot.

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Distance: 15.6 miles

Duration: 6:15 hours

Ascent: 1906 ft

Difficulty: Moderate

Accompanied By: Davy

Weather: Overcast

3D outline of route

Parking

Picking up the Cleveland Way in Runswick Bay Car Park where we finished our last leg 4 months ago - Certainly didn't expect to be doing our next section in January, and it certainly wasn't the best time to do it either.

Down the slipway and onto the beach at Runswick Sands.

The tide was coming in, and whilst I was taking this photo an exceptionally large wave broke and caught me unaware.

Have you ever commenced a 16 mile walk with boots full of water ? Not the best of starts.

The climb up the gully was not straightforward either. The usual small brook was pretty much a torrent due to all the recent rain and what was left of the path was sometimes under deep water. We managed to negotiate it, but it did take a bit of problem solving to find the easiest and safest way up.

Phew! solid ground.

Even here was not without hazard - I could imagine if you are not concentrating or looking elsewhere, then an injury is certainly possible.

After the stiff climb up High Cliff (North Cornwall comes to mind, with the exception of the mud) it was time to look back along the coastline and take a breather.

"Mud, Mud, Glorious mud"

It may be a bit better further on - Ha! dream on.

Joining an old railway track - maybe our luck is in

And a cinder track - this is like a walk in heaven. Please let it last all the way to Robin Hoods Bay.

Sandsend. A great place for a day out when you are young. An excellent beach and not as packed as Whitby. I loved playing in my dinghy right here many years ago.

Still enjoying solid ground underneath, we arrived at Whitby and enjoyed our sandwiches overlooking the sea. Had we thought about it properly, we could have got Whitby Fish & Chips instead - they are the best you will ever eat. But we didn't, so it was a Tesco Meal deal for me.

Whalebone Arch - And Yes, they are real as Dav was keen to point out to passers by.

What a fantastic sight!

The Whalebones and the Abbey I mean.

There he is - Our very own Captain Cook

The Magpie Cafe - ever popular as always, even on a damp, miserable January day.

Crossing the River Esk on Whitby's Swing Bridge.

Climbing the 199 steps up to the Abbey.

The ruins of Whitby Abbey

Black Nab

After the road and path walking from Sandsend to Whitby, the ground underfoot got wetter and wetter.

Until it turned into a quagmire.

We squelched along to a familiar spot. This is where the Coast to Coast path joins up with the Cleveland Way at High Hawsker. Last two times I was here, we were on our C2C final bit.

Still no let up as we start the final mile.

I'm not driving in these.

Finally, a sight for sore eyes - Robin Hoods Bay comes into view.

We chose not to head down to the Bay Hotel and wash our boots in the sea - We can save that bit for the start of our next Cleveland Way section. March was the plan - nice and dry by then!

I wish I could say that it had been a joy, but the conditions underfoot were just too bad, that even I had had enough by the time we arrived at our destination.