Friday 6th November 2026
Could it possibly get any harder? Oh yes it can … and it did! Home now recovering from a 12 mile coastal ramble between Staithes and Whitby. I thought yesterday was tough but today it turned up a notch. The climbs seemed even steeper and some of the descents were precarious to say the least. I would say not for the fainthearted … but then again, I am fainthearted!! The cliff tops walks in between the hard bits made it all worthwhile and the views were outstanding. I’m glad I did it.
We drove to Staithes and parked in Bank Top Car Park at the top of the village – no visitors are allowed to take cars further down. We walked down the long steep hill that we’d had to climb up yesterday to the harbour area, only to find out that the coastal path was somewhere near the top … so, up we went again. I did get to use the Public Conveniences first though, so not a complete waste.
And of course there was a nasty initial climb to get onto the cliff tops, seemed to go on for ever. Loved it once we were up and the views looking back over Staithes were fabulous – so inspiring for my newfound painting hobby.
The next descent and ascent was at Port Mulgrave – we didn’t have to go right down the shore but the climb out was gruelling. I could see it was going to be one of those sort of days … and I was pacing myself.
Some more wonderful cliff top scenic walking before we found ourselves looking down to Runswick Bay and then taking an incredibly steep descent on a road path down to its glorious beach. We stopped off for coffee at a beachside cafe (some cake too). As we were leaving another customer asked if I was from Milton Keynes – I thought he recognised me but it was because I was wearing an MK Marathon bobble hat. Turned out he and his wife moved here a year ago from Milton Keynes – we stayed for a chat and turned out we had some mutual friends – Redway Runners of course!
The O/S app guided us around the beach to pick up the next part of the coastal path but as we were wandering around there seemed little evidence of a path. Then, out of nowhere, tucked away was a gap in the cliffs, with a very rugged start to a crazily long climb up. The pattern continued.
The day continued with ups and downs and breathtaking green cliff top sections in between. The next nightmare was an early descent nearing Sandsend – steep metal stairs, followed by steep wooden stairs, followed by steep rocky steps, followed by a steep muddy/rocky/autumn leave covered downward slope – absolutely not nice. Loved Sandsend when we got there though and we had our lunch listening to the waves crashing on the sea wall. The end was in sight.
Then it was a relatively straightforward walk to Whitby, good paths, not too much climbing and we enjoyed a short walk around the historic town. We imagined what it must be like during the summer months – it was so equipped with hotels, guest houses, theatres, entertainment and seaside promenade. We didn’t linger as we were tired after 12 tricky miles1 but we’ll be back to see Whitby again. There’ll be another walk to do leaving the town and undoubtably there’ll be a climb involved. I might be busy that day!!
These are all the elevations – look how may ups and downs!
