What about Whitby? 8

Runswick Bay turned out to be the surprise highlight of our Yorkshire trip, a crescent-shaped bay fringed by golden sand with an old fishing village at one end and cliffs pockmarked by caves at the other.

The road coming down the steep hill funnelled all traffic into a couple of car parks, leaving the village itself traffic-free.

Instead of having streets, the village is a maze of steps, narrow paths and dead-ends.

I noticed most of the paving stones are outlined in paint

and many of the houses have white-washed sun terraces for gardens, which reminded me of Greek island villages.

That, and the fact that the houses are stacked one upon another up the side of the incline, so each has its own sea view.

Practically all the houses are holiday lets and there were an awful lot of electric wires, PVC windows and satellite dishes that intruded on what otherwise felt like a time warp back to olden times. It only took about 15 minutes to explore most of the village, save for the uppermost reaches.

Back on the seafront and there is a pub plus a couple of cafes and shops, otherwise there is little to keep visitors occupied aside from the glorious stretch of sand, the walking opportunities, the boating, that splendid sea view, the abundant fresh air..actually, a week here would make for a relaxing holiday, so we made a promise to come again to linger longer on another trip.

For now though we kept walking, along the sandy beach, past the 'hobgoblin' caverns and to a cleft in the cliffs where a brook had carved through the shelves of shale and out to sea.

This was our path back up to the top of the cliff via a series of steps that took us up the hillside and into a beautiful glade filled with blossoms and butterflies.

 Each time we stopped to catch our breaths the views over the bay seemed to get better and better.

Atop the cliffs was a jumble of farm houses and an old railway station for a stop called Kettleness, long since abandoned.

Back roads took us away from the seaside through fields of bright yellow flowers

through lovely lush countryside and into the village of Lythe.  

The pub here was shut, so we carried on to the town's church which sits on a prominent position above the sea with views of Whitby on the horizon.

The body of church was largely rebuilt in 1911.

As the builders dismantled the ancient church walls, they found an abundance of stones carved by Vikings, including a massive stone coffin which serves as a rather morbid flower display.

The church has an excellent series of interpretive panels about the discovery of more than three dozen carved stones, all about 1000 years old. The Edwardians piled the stones in the churchyard and it was only recently that the stones have been cleaned and the best specimens brought indoors for display in the church.

One of the stones cleaned in 2007 revealed a figure that the locals have called 'The Gingerbread Man' who appears to be torn between vicious animals.

I dubbed him 'Mr Bill.'

A short walk downhill from Lythe and we reached yet another lovely village, Sandsend.

From here it was probably only another two miles to Whitby, but by now the sun was low in the sky and the wind blowing off the sea was strong. Instead of facing the cold wind, we waited a couple minutes and caught the next bus into Whitby in time for the sunset. And you know how I get twitchy around sunsets...!

A rough idea of our 7-mile one-way route is here and a plethora of sunset shots are on the way soon.