Day 105 – Redcar to Runswick Bay

The distance to Runswick Bay is about 17 miles and involves several climbs. Strong gusting south-westerly winds are also forecast, although Ben is at pains to point out that most of the walk is in a south-easterly, and sometimes easterly, direction so we shouldn’t be going directly into the wind. However, to reach Runswick Bay in time to meet our pre-ordered taxi at 2:30 will necessitate an 8 o’clock start, and breakfast is available at O’Grady’s at 7. In yet another break with tradition, Mike orders beans with his full English. It’s been a very good place to stay and we’re on our way, with a complimentary bottle of water (flavoured) each, in time to get back to the sea front just before 8. The exertions of yesterday, and perhaps the prospect of those of today, have created a slight weariness within the team, but thankfully the first five miles are flat and scarcely affected by the wind. John is keen to spend as much time as possible on the sand (or shingle), but the rest of us stay on the sea front until the end of the first hour when we join John on the beach at Marske and continue to Saltburn. We now have our first climb – some steep steps onto the cliff edge path, followed by a relatively gentle ascent to Hunt Cliff. Here we encounter the predicted strong gusts of wind but, as forecast by Ben, they tend to be from our right rather than in our faces. For a while, the path runs alongside a railway (a mineral line serving a potash mine further down the coast) but then moves back to the cliff edge. We come back down to sea level at Skinningrove, and go through an old jetty and the village itself before again going up some steep steps to the top of the hill on the south east side of Skinningrove and then climbing the hillside to reach the cliff top at Hummersea. Thankfully, this is followed by a reasonably flat mile or so before we have to climb again to reach Rock Cliff which, at 203 metres above sea level, is apparently, the highest point on the east coast of England. It suddenly strikes us that this is our first cliff top walk of any length (with intervening descents and ascents) since the South West Coast Path, but our climbing for the day is not over. We come back to sea level at Boulby, and walk through Cowbar into Staithes where a steep lane leading out of the very attractive village, and a track to our left, lead us back up to some hillside fields and the edge of a farm. To rejoin the coastal cliffs, we need to walk along a fenced path of about 150 yards in length between two of the farm fields. This should be a grass path, but it is almost entirely filled with what looks and smells like slurry. John’s comments about the farmer as we spend nearly 5 minutes squelching our way through the muck do not bear repetition. Needless to say, much of the next half an hour is spent walking off piste wherever we can to find some long grass which might take at least the surface dirt – and some of the smell – off our footwear. Our attempts are reasonably successful and we’re soon through Port Mulgrave (without, despite its name, having to descend again to sea level) and approaching Runswick Bay shortly after 2 o’clock. A hotel comes into view where the end of the track meets the road at Runswick but, unfortunately, this is the Runswick Bay Hotel (and is closed) rather than the Royal Hotel where we’re supposed to be meeting our taxi. We need to go down a hill to the bay itself where we find our driver waiting. It’s not quite 2:15 and he’s perfectly happy for us to go to for a drink before we leave. The Royal takes a bit of finding (it nestles among some tightly packed cottages) but we have time for a pint and a change of footwear before returning to our transport at the appointed time of 2:30. A very cosy drive over the moors and through Pickering to York is accomplished by our Romanian driver (what’s Romanian for Colin?) in just under 90 minutes which enables us to have a farewell drink with Mike in the York Tap at the station before John’s train leaves. Ben and Gary manage to squeeze in a further half before their train leaves 15 minutes later. First walk of the year, and 35 miles accomplished. Not bad.