Day 16 Grosmont to Robin Hood’s Bay
Wednesday 5 June 2024, 14 miles
Well, just about this time last year we were well into our celebrations after finishing our Coast to Coast trek – yay! What fantastic memories we still have of that day.
The day had started in Grosmont with a steep climb out of the village straight from the off followed by quite a long stretch of road walking. I have to admit, this is not the most exciting of days on the Coast to Coast and we soon grew tired of the tarmac. We crossed over the A169, not too busy this morning, and carried on downhill towards Littlebeck. From here we entered delightful woodland with a nice new Coast to Coast sign directing us towards Falling Foss.
This section of the walk was absolutely lovely. There’s loads to see as you take a gentle wander through the woods. First of all you come across an old excavated mineral workers’ cave and then along a pretty stream; the terrain changes and you find yourself climbing up steep-sided ravines with precipitous drops. Then you get to The Hermitage, a huge boulder that has been carved out – pop inside for a look around if you like.
We soon reached the sanctuary of the Falling Foss tea-room. The Falling Foss is actually a beautiful waterfall that you pass just before getting here. We ordered our cream teas and took them over to the seats just moments before the heavens opened with a clap of thunder and a hailstorm. Thankfully we were able to stay dry and take shelter under cover until it passed.
From there, it was a short distance until we got to the junction with the road and turned sharp left, heading almost back on ourselves. Up the road for a bit and then a boggy moor to cross; this was probably the worst boggy bit we had in the whole Coast to Coast and it seemed to take ages to get anywhere as we leapt from one small thicket of grass to another, hoping for a firm landing.
Once through that, we followed the road through Low Hawsker and High Hawsker, stopped for a quick ice cream at the caravan site, and then we were at the coast. The symmetry of Wainwright’s route with it starting and ending on a curving coastline was thought provoking as we ambled along in the sunshine. It wasn’t until we were almost upon Robin Hood’s Bay that we glimpsed the town, hidden from view almost until the last, and then, as the cliffs evened out, we could finally get a clear view of our destination. Look out for the interpretive boards on this section; there’s some fascinating history about the Rocket Field where rescue rockets were fired out into the sea to aid the crews of ships stranded on the rocks below.
Once we reached The ‘Bay’, we headed straight down through town until we reached the sea. The tide was in, and the quay slippery and I have to admit to being a wee bit distracted by the time we got there and I forgot that I’d been carrying a small pebble all the way from St Bee’s in my backpack. Oh well; it’s a nice memento of my walk. There was quite a crowd of people at Wainwright’s Bar when we got there, many of them having walked the full distance from St Bee’s as well, and we spent a fun hour or so catching up with many people we had shared the journey with.
We stayed at The Victoria Hotel in Robin Hood’s Bay for our last night. Well worth it, I have to say. The rooms were beautifully decorated and extremely comfortable and dinner was very good – a very tasty fish and chips to round off an excellent day.
192 miles officially, and what a great achievement. I love long distance walking and have such great memories of this trip. Thanks to Kimberley and Tim for sharing it with us and being such great companions day after day. And if we met you on the trip then thank you for your companionship too; I hope you had as much fun as we did!
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