Another day of varied coastlines as we drove south from Scarborough to Hull on day thirty-two. As always, some nice little surprises along the way.
Photo of the day
Freshly painted beach huts along the promenade at Scarborough’s north bay. A nice bright start to the day 🙂
Scarborough
The Grand Hotel sitting proud above Scarborough’s south bay promenade and beach.The lighthouse along the pier with the Lunar Park funfair in the background.
Hunmanby Gap
Wide open sands at Hunmanby Gap.Juicy berries on the bushes surrounding the fields above Hunmanby Gap.
Bempton Cliffs
Great views of Bempton Cliffs at the nature reserve managed by the RSPB.Hundreds of Gannetts clinging to the cliffs.Learning about Gannetts.Magnificent cliff views.
Flamborough Head
The current lighthouse, built in 1806.The view over Selwicks Bay at Flamborough Head.The Old Lighthouse at Flamborough Head, constructed from chalk in 1673, considered to be the oldest building of its type in England.
Bridlington
The view down to Bridlington from Sewerby, and again the now familiar sight of wind turbines along the coast.OK OK, not a real lighthouse, but they made an attempt on the grass banks of Bridlington Harbour.
Hornsea
Hornsea Beach, not a huge amount to see on this grey afternoon. So we just had a quick coffee pick-me-up… and got on our way.
Tunstall
Trying to navigate our way to the coast at Tunstall, we got as far as the All Saints Parish Church.
Withernsea
Withernsea Castle (if you can call it that), previously the entrance to the pier before it got washed away.Withernsea Lighthouse curiously sitting inland in the middle of a row of houses.
Spurn Point
The Holderness coastline is the fastest eroding in Europe, at 2.1m each year! The beach at Kilnsea was littered with bits of road and buildings that had collapsed into the sea.Another high tide warning, so we decided not to proceed along the road to the tip of Spurn Point….… instead we viewed the Lighthouse from a safe distance.
Hull
A quick walk around Hull before dinner, and Jarno got very excited about spotting a cream coloured phone box.The grand Hull City Hall in Queen Victoria Square. From the little we saw of Hull we were surprisingly impressed. We’ll have to come back when we have more time.
It’s day 31 and we are driving down from Newcastle along the Durham Heritage Coast and into the North Yorkshire Moors. Plenty of lighthouses, and a surprising mixture of coastlines from industrial to picturesque.
Photo of the day
Views towards Saltburn and Hunt Cliff from Marske-by-the-Sea.
South Shields
After a small potter around the shops in a very rainy Newcastle city centre, we managed to get lost driving out to South Shields, and ended up driving over the Tyne Bridge three times! Eventually we arrived at Littlehaven Beach and Promenade, with its views past the bright red lighthouse to Tynemouth Priory and Castle on the north side of the Tyne.An intriguing cluster of sculptures by Juan Munoz, called ‘Conversation Piece’ at Littlehaven Beach and Promenade.
Souter Lighthouse
Souter Lighthouse precariously close to the cliffs at Marsden Bay.Another National Trust property, so we made use of our membership.Despite the weather we had great views from the top of the lighthouse back towards Marsden Bay & South Shields.The helpful National Trust guide explained about the lighthouse and lens to us, and gave it a little spin.Inside the lens, a very weird feeling as it spun around.Totally agree with this message on the lighthouse keeper’s mantle piece.
Seaburn
More lighthouses at Seaburn, Roker Lighthouse on the left and The White Lighthouse on the right.The White Lighthouse at Roker beach looking very smart with its large weather vain on top.A bit of a renovation going on at Roker Lighthouse at the end of Roker Pier.
Sunderland
Trying to get a photo crossing the Wearmouth Bridge at Sunderland.
Seaham
Wow, the sun is finally peeping through the clouds today. Seaham Beach and Seaham Lighthouse at the end of the north breakwater.The rusty steel Tommy sculpture on the Terrace Green at Seaham. The World War One Soldier was pretty huge at almost three meters tall. Officially named Eleven ‘O’ One, after the minute of armistice peace at 11am on the 11th November 1918.And more rusty sculptures at Nose’s Point along the National Trust Durham Coast. ‘Ps in a Pod’ in cast iron by Louise Plant, expressing human energy and movement.
Blackhall Rocks
Despite a bit of dull road through the Blackhall area, we found these great views by making a short detour down to the coast at Blackhall Rocks. The view south east to Hartlepool.And the views back north along Durham Heritage Coast.
Hartlepool
Lots of birds keeping their beady eyes on us at the Heugh Light at Hartlepool Headland.The Heugh Gun Battery, the only open air WWI museum in the UK.A nice welcome message on the gun battery gates 🙂The masts of the H M S Trincomalee towering over some rather Dutch looking houses at the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
Redcar
Driving over the River Tees at Middlesbrough we arrived at Redcar surrounded by steel plants and coke ovens (sadly now closed).Despite the sorry state of the local industry there had been some effort to brighten up Redcar’s seafront with sculptures……penguins!?……and the pink Redcar Beacon, contrasting against the stormy sky.
Marske-by-the-Sea
As the stormy clouds passed over Marske-by-the-Sea it created really dramatic lighting over the view to Saltburn and Hunt Cliff.The view back to Redcar and the offshore wind turbines.
Saltburn-by-the-Sea
The old Cliff Tramway down to the pier at Saltburn-by-the-Sea. The oldest operating cliff funicular of its type in the world.
Whitby
Brightly painted beach huts curving around the beach at Whitby, our first stop along the North Yorkshire Moors coast.The East and West Harbour Lighthouses marking the entrance to Whitby.Whitby Abbey across the River Esk.Whitby was larger than we had expected, but still kept a small town charm about it, with its quaint houses nestled around the harbour. Interestingly Whitby inspired Bram Stoker when writing ‘Dracula’ after staying there in 1890… though we didn’t see any vampires on our visit.
Robin Hood’s Bay
Before heading to Scarborough for the evening, we made a final stop of the day at the small fishing village of Robin Hood’s Bay, famous for smugglers!
