Heading North for a 'Little' 36 Night 'Holiday' Day 1 - 9
Since our last post we've just had quite a busy 14 night stay at 'Home' (Butterley Bank CCC)! During that time I've managed to fit a few more shifts in at Derby's Mass Vaccination centre, we've also very much enjoyed the company of all our family, and additionally, we've joined in with the celebration of my very best friends long postponed wedding.
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| 💞A Very Beautiful, Romantic and Tender Event that was a Little Bit Overdue💞 |
Thursday 17th June 2021 ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅
Today we journeyed north to the CCC's Springfield Farm Certified Site near Whitby which we found to be very much to our liking😃! However what was less to our liking was the three quarters of a mile very 'rough as a 🦡's 🍑' rutted track which leads to it! We did get there all in one piece, and it's really not too bad when we have to traverse it in the car, but we're certainly not looking forward to extracting our caravan when the time comes!
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The 'roadway' has huge dips and hollows along with concrete sections
where large chunks have broken away!
However, John's always up for a challenge so I'm sure he'll manage🙈 |
Friday 18th June 2021 ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅
Today our Son Adam, Partner Vicky and Grandsons Jack and Max joined us for two nights and for once we were very glad that the weather predictions were mostly wrong! The forecast was for cloud and rain, but in the end, the wet stuff only came overnight and the day's were mostly bright and sunny. They arrived about 5ish and their tent was very quickly erected so that left plenty of time for fun and games along with lots of food and of course a few jars of 🍺🍺.
Saturday 19th June 2021 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞
A lovely warm sunny day that was perfect for the beach🏖 ! Boggle Hole was our target, and from there we knew we could walk along part of the long distance footpath, 'The Cleveland Way' to Robin Hood's Bay for lunch.
Following a little bit of research we learnt that Boggle Hole consists of a sheltered bay in front of an old Watermill that is now a youth hostel, and that in times gone by it was once a notorious smuggler's haunt.
The cove itself has several curved-out hollows that could almost pass for caves, these have been worn away by the action of the sea and legend has it that these were once inhabited by little hobgoblin mischievous people called Boggles! The Boggles were thought to live in the caves along the coast and on the Moors and the locals believed that they had healing powers so they would sometimes bring their sick children to the holes (hob holes) in the hope that they would be cured.
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| Jack at the Entrance to a Boggle Hole! |
Then it was fun and fish and chips on the beach at Robin Hood's Bay!
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| I'm not sure who ended up wearing the most of that Creamo😂 |
Sunday 20th June 2021 ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅
This morning we waved our family off and then put our feet up with a plan to do nothing more than to have a very easy day and enjoy the glimmers of sunshine when they came!
Monday 21st June 2021🌧️🌧️☁️☁️☁️💨💨
The day started with heavy downpours and very gusty winds but we didn't let that stop us heading out to Bempton Cliffs RSPB site to see the metropolis of sea birds who inhabit the cliffs there. Between March and September almost half a million seabirds pile onto the cliffs to pair and raise young and the sights, sounds and smells that pervade the air are nothing short of breathtaking even when you've seen it all before. However, for saying it was Midsummer's Day it was bloody cold!
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The Magnificent Cliffs that were absolutely packed with sea birds
that included Gannets, Razor Bills, Guillemots, Fulmars and Puffins
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Nesting Gannets
Gannets are the UK's largest seabirds measuring around 3 ft long and with a whopping wingspan
of over 6 feet. |
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Apparently these birds perform their own special ceremony when they
greet their partners, often with lots of noise and head shaking, and at times it looked like they
were fencing with their beaks😂
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An Adult Gannet in flight.
They really struggled on this very windy day and had to use
their feet and tail feathers as rudders!
A Juvenile - probably 2 or 3 years old. When Gannets are very young they are
completely covered with dark feathers but as the years pass these disappear
until by year 5 they have pristine white feathers, black wing tips and a
sunshine yellow head!
 | | A Couple of Razor Bills having a minute |
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And 3 puffins who nipped out of their burrows to go fishing
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One of the other birds that we didn't manage a proper pic of was the Fulmars which maybe we missed because we thought they were just common seagulls. However, while were on the Bempton Cliffs we learnt of their sorry tale to tell! It seems that their numbers are in decline and there are only about 900 pairs left in this area, mainly due to plastic pollution😢. One of the notice boards informed us that fulmars feed from the surface of the sea and can't distinguish between a tasty squid or a plastic bag and a resent study showed that dead birds were often found to have over 40 pieces of plastic in their stomachs which left less room for real food.
While we watched the acrobatics of the many birds we sat and picnicked on cliff top but the wind was howling and the chill it brought with it ensured we didn't linger for too long. However, our stroll also enabled us to admire the many lovely wild flowers that were very prolifically scatted in almost every direction except seawards!
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| A Marsh Orchid. |
Tuesday 22nd June 2021 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞
This morning it was chores, then an early lunch and then a stunning walk out onto Fylingdale Moor. We had a good deal of curiosity about the part of the Moor that we walked on because the old road that runs adjacent to the new one (A171) was a place that we used to wild camp in our Motorhome. And on those occasions we'd always said we'd come back and explore more, but up until today we never had.
As we stepped onto the Moor there was an info board that detailed a 5ish mile walk down to Jugger Howe Beck so that seemed perfect and that's exactly what if proved to be. The scenery was delightful with lots of purple heather that was just coming into bloom and the far reaching views held our attention throughout our walk.
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| Our Coffee and Cake Stop at Jugger Howe Beck |
Wednesday 23rd June 2021 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞☔
Today was the turn of our bikes and to test them out we decided to give the 21.7 mile Cinder Track which runs from Scarborough to Whitby a go! However, we never had any intention of riding it's full distance, we'd planned to join it a short distance from the Camp Site (near Boggle Hole) and to ride on to Ravenscar and maybe a bit beyond. The track follows the route of the old Scarborough to Whitby railway line which closed in 1965, and after that Scarborough Borough Council made it what it is today - a trail made from cinders. However, sadly now it's in quite a poor state of repair and much of the surface is rutted or roughly cobbled and it really was a game of dodge the craters!
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The Forward View Towards Ravenscar
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And the View back towards Robin Hood's Bay
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Having said that the views seawards were spectacular so initially we thought it was worth the effort, but as it deteriorated further after Ravenscar we decided to call it a day and retrace our tyre tracks, and try it in the opposite direction towards Robin Hood's Bay.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bad idea because the track was even worse in that direction, and when John decided to get off and walk he had the misfortune to trip and loose a fair bit of skin from his left leg! Initially, it looked quite gruesome as superficial wounds often do, but he's not one to fuss so other than a few expletives 🙉 and a decision not to go any further we were soon remounted and heading for home! However, by the time we got there not only did we feel extremely grimy from all the dust, we also felt we'd been very thoroughly shaken, rattled and rolled. I would guess we wont be using that trail again any time soon!
Thursday 24th June 2021 ⛅⛅🌞🌞⛈⛈🌞🌞
Today we decided to take a walk from the campsite down to Boggle Hole, then on to Robin Hoods's Bay, then around to Ness Point via the Coastal Path, and then to complete a circular route we planned to climb up onto the Cinder track to get back to Robin Hood's Bay and then to retrace our steps home.
And in so doing, while we were in Robin Hood's Bay we had the opportunity to climb and explore the very steep twisting cobbled streets and alleyways where in times gone by fisher folk and smugglers would have roamed.
But once again today's outing wasn't without an incident or two! We set off from the campsite via a heavily wooded track that used to be the access road to the site owners farm, and it's a track we've already walked down several times before. However today, possibly because of the damp conditions that had been left by overnight rain we were attacked by swarms of bitey flies and they seemed to prefer me to John😨😭!
Happily, once we got down to Boggle Hole they seemed to disappear but we knew we'd still have to run the gauntlet again later on our return!
From Boggle Hole we proceeded along the Beach to Robin Hood's Bay and in some places we had to paddle but as we had our walking boots on we thought this wouldn't pose a problem!
However, it seemed to Kill my right boot - I knew it was dead because I could see it's 'sole' trying to depart😂😂😂
But at that stage of our walk I couldn't let it go because we still had a very long trek in front of us and I had no other foot wear to replace it. Therefore, improvisation needed to be adopted and this was in the form of an old shoe lace!
It wasn't quite a perfect fix but it lasted for the rest of our outing, and once we were home I allowed the 'sole' to depart and head off to boot heaven! In other words, I chucked them in the bin!
And the second incident, which wasn't really an incident came with what the weather had in store for us!!! The first part of the day had been hot and humid along with sunny spells and this lasted until about 2pm by which time we were back in Robin Hood's Bay and had just scoffed our fish and chip late lunch while watching the tide reach full!
But as we looked up dark clouds loomed and odd splatters of rain were starting to pitter patter. Therefore, rather than linger any longer we set off climbing up onto the Cleveland Way (coastal path) with the thought that the forthcoming downpour might miss us. However, as we went we could hear the thunder rumbling and the odd flashes of lightening were quite ominous, and once the rain started in came in almost monsoon quantities☂⛆⛆⛆ ☂ - even if we'd had a brolly it wouldn't have been much good. Therefore, we hid under the trees while we donned our waterproof jackets and then set off at a smart pace in the hope that we could outrun it - but all of a sudden the air around us positively ⚡sizzled⚡ and the crack of thunder that accompanied it was so loud that we grabbed each other in great alarm thinking our end had come! But I'm here to tell the tale and so is John so no harm was done - but it was definitely the loudest crack I've ever heard!
The torrential rain then 'piss-isted' for most of the way home but maybe that was a good thing because as we walked back up the track to the campsite our waterproofs protected us from the marauding millions of flies!
And I think that might be enough for this episode so I'll sign off for now and see you again sometime soon 😘
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