Thursday 5th November 2026
Today we walked from Marske-by-the-Sea to Staithes – we had stunning sea views the whole way, a truly spectacular stretch of coastline – albeit a tad strenuous!
On leaving Marske, the Coastal Path signage immediately led us to several sets of scarily steep steps, both going up and going down, to take us through the sand dunes. Thinking caps on … we diverted to the beach and had a glorious 2.5 mile stretch of sand to enjoy, taking us all the way to Saltburn. It would have been madness not to take this option.
We loved our fleeting stop in Saltburn. Witnessed some mad swimmers/sauna users and enjoyed a coffee in the Surfs Up cafe – a treat before the hard bit begun.
And then the first hard task of the day – climbing out of Saltburn. Many many steps which were breathtaking – quite literally – you needed an iron lung!! But as always, worth getting to the top for the views. Then we enjoyed a fabulous stretch of cliff top walking for miles and nothing too strenuous – my favourite sort of coastal walking. We had to get a little close to the edge at times and it was a fair old drop down, but we kept our wits about us … essentially I just didn’t look down!
Coming into Skinningrove, we somehow missed a turning on our left which would have taken us steeply downwards to the village’s beach … no Coastal Paths signs! By keeping to the higher ground right hand path, we managed to add an extra mile on to today’s walk. We live and learn and eventually found a way down and as this was about 7 miles in, we stopped for our picnic lunch. There was a wonderful aroma of fresh fish and chips cooking nearby, if only we’d known. We loved what we saw of Skinningrove – we hope to come back to some of these beautiful places one day – without walking boots!!
But one of the most memorable things was the climb out of it. We thought Saltburn was bad but this really took the biscuit. Steve raced up like a mountain goat of course, I did dainty little chunks at a time – taking opportunities to appreciate the views … and breathe!
For some reason in my super optimistic mind I thought well that’s the climb over, it will all be about luscious cliff top walking now, I can stride along and soak up all the views. Wrong!! Views a plenty of course but the ascent continued pretty much for the next 3 miles, it was unrelenting. A few huffs and puffs I have to say, even though it was that “proper coast path walking.”
When the descent finally arrived it was a major relief and we headed gaily into the historic cliffside fishing village of Staithes. Another picture postcard spot, with its narrow cobbled streets. It even has a connection to Captain Cook – he was famously apprenticed to a grocer and a haberdasher here before going to sea.
We finished our walk here and then it was just about finding the bus stop to take us back to Marske … and guess where it was? At the top of a humungous steep hill. I even got overtaken by an elderly lady – she was trying to keep up with her husband who was on a mobility scooter. I was mortified and tried to tell her that I had just walked 12 difficult miles – but she didn’t hear me!!
