North Yorkshire Day 2 - A foggy start to a soggy morning

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Woke up to thick fog and the sound of the lighthouse in Whitby Bay blaring out it's fog warning every 30 seconds, and realised it was only 3.30 in the morning. So two hours of not being able to get back to sleep later, when it was time to get up for sunrise, I was more than ready to go even though the fog was as thick as ever.

After carefully navigating through the soupy conditions I got to Staithes, and thanks to the patchiness of the fog, I found that it was pretty clear there. I carried on to Cowbar, a little hamlet that sits on a headland on the other side of the Roxby Beck, a small river that runs through Staithes, and has a great view down onto the village and harbour.

I parked outside Cowbar and after walking part way into the hamlet I took the path onto the National Trust owned headland. As I started along the path I immediately regretted not wearing my wellington boots, as the waist high grasses were covered in morning dew and it wasn't long before my lower regions were thoroughly soaked.

North Yorkshire Day 4 – Flamborough Head & an old foe at Robin Hoods Bay

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In the pre-dawn darkness I was driving north to Staithes, a perfect little fishing village perched on the coastline that curves around the headland and along the banks of the Roxby Beck, which sounds like a groovy swinger from the 70’s, but is in fact a stream that runs through the village and out to sea. I drove past the turn to the village and carried on a few hundred yards up the road, taking the little lane to Cowbar, a tiny village that sits high above Staithes and the river below.

North Yorkshire Day 2 – Sunrise, Staithes, Saltburn & sunset

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Strolling down to Whitby harbour at 5.30 that morning, I was hoping for at least a blush of sunrise colour for my effort. The ocean on my left, and far below, as I walked along West Cliff in the cool pre-dawn air, seemed to have the consistency of molten lead, occasional, dull highlights fleetingly glimpsed and completely silent. In fact it seemed as if the whole town were hushed, the sound of my feet hitting the pavement the only thing disturbing the peace.

Once I had reached the end of West Cliff and descended the steps to sea level, I made my way along the outer reaches of the harbour towards the pier, just as the sky was beginning to come to life with dawn light. I walked onto the West Pier and saw that while the sky looked promising, with a smattering of clouds above, the horizon was out to possibly spoil things, with a thick bank of cloud reclining across the horizon in a disappointing ribbon.