Scarborough – Coastal Road Trip

Day 32 – Scarborough to Hull

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

Coastal Road Trip, Scarborough, Beach Huts, Brightly Coloured — Freshly painted beach huts along the promenade at Scarborough’s north bay. A nice bright start to the day 🙂

Scarborough

Coastal Road Trip, Scarborough, Sea Front, The Grand Hotel — The Grand Hotel sitting proud above Scarborough’s south bay promenade and beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Scarborough, Sea Front, Lighthouse, Pier, Lunar Park — The lighthouse along the pier with the Lunar Park funfair in the background.

Hunmanby Gap

Coastal Road Trip, Hunmanby Gap, Beach, Dog — Wide open sands at Hunmanby Gap.

Coastal Road Trip, Hunmanby Gap, Berries — Juicy berries on the bushes surrounding the fields above Hunmanby Gap.

Bempton Cliffs

Coastal Road Trip, Bempton Cliffs, RSPB, Gannetts, Birds — Great views of Bempton Cliffs at the nature reserve managed by the RSPB.

Coastal Road Trip, Bempton Cliffs, RSPB, Gannetts, Birds — Hundreds of Gannetts clinging to the cliffs.

Coastal Road Trip, Bempton Cliffs, RSPB, Gannetts, Sign, Jarno — Learning about Gannetts.

Coastal Road Trip, Bempton Cliffs, RSPB, Gannetts, Birds — Magnificent cliff views.

Flamborough Head

Coastal Road Trip, Flamborough Head, Lighthouse — The current lighthouse, built in 1806.

Coastal Road Trip, Flamborough Head, Cliffs. Coast — The view over Selwicks Bay at Flamborough Head.

Coastal Road Trip, Flamborough Head, Old Lighthouse — The Old Lighthouse at Flamborough Head, constructed from chalk in 1673, considered to be the oldest building of its type in England.

Bridlington

Coastal Road Trip, Bridlington, View from Sewerby, Wind Turbines — The view down to Bridlington from Sewerby, and again the now familiar sight of wind turbines along the coast.

Coastal Road Trip, Bridlington, Harbour, Lighthouse in grass — OK OK, not a real lighthouse, but they made an attempt on the grass banks of Bridlington Harbour.

Hornsea

Coastal Road Trip, Hornsea, Telescope, Beach, Promenade — 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

Coastal Road Trip, Tunstall, All Saints Parish Church — Trying to navigate our way to the coast at Tunstall, we got as far as the All Saints Parish Church.

Withernsea

Coastal Road Trip, Withernsea, Castle, Promenade — Withernsea Castle (if you can call it that), previously the entrance to the pier before it got washed away.

Coastal Road Trip, Withernsea, Lighthouse, Museum — Withernsea Lighthouse curiously sitting inland in the middle of a row of houses.

Spurn Point

Coastal Road Trip, Spurn Point, Kilnsea — 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.

Coastal Road Trip, Spurn Point, High Tide, Warning Sign, Julian, Jarno — Another high tide warning, so we decided not to proceed along the road to the tip of Spurn Point….

Coastal Road Trip, Spurn Point, Spurn National Nature Reserve, Lighthouse — … instead we viewed the Lighthouse from a safe distance.

Hull

Coastal Road Trip, Hull, Phone Box, Cream, Jarno, Queens Dock Avenue — A quick walk around Hull before dinner, and Jarno got very excited about spotting a cream coloured phone box.

Coastal Road Trip, Hull, Hull City Hall, Queen Victoria Square — 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.

Daily video

Day 31 – Newcastle to Scarborough

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

Coastal Road Trip, Marske-by-the-sea, Cliff House, View to Saltburn, Hunt Cliff — Views towards Saltburn and Hunt Cliff from Marske-by-the-Sea.

South Shields

Coastal Road Trip, Littlehaven Beach and Promenade, South Shields, Lighthouse, Tynemouth Priory and Castle — 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.

Coastal Road Trip, Littlehaven Beach and Promenade, South Shields, Conversation Piece, Juan Munoz, Sculptures — An intriguing cluster of sculptures by Juan Munoz, called ‘Conversation Piece’ at Littlehaven Beach and Promenade.

Souter Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, Marsden Bay, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland — Souter Lighthouse precariously close to the cliffs at Marsden Bay.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland — Another National Trust property, so we made use of our membership.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland, View from top to Marsden Bay & South Shields — Despite the weather we had great views from the top of the lighthouse back towards Marsden Bay & South Shields.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland, Lens, National Trust — The helpful National Trust guide explained about the lighthouse and lens to us, and gave it a little spin.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland, Inside Lens, National Trust — Inside the lens, a very weird feeling as it spun around.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland, May Thy Lot In Life Be Happy, National Trust — Totally agree with this message on the lighthouse keeper’s mantle piece.

Seaburn

Coastal Road Trip, Seaburn, The White Lighthouse, Roker Lighthouse, Roker Pier, Sunderland — More lighthouses at Seaburn, Roker Lighthouse on the left and The White Lighthouse on the right.

Coastal Road Trip, Seaburn, The White Lighthouse, Roker Beach, Sunderland — The White Lighthouse at Roker beach looking very smart with its large weather vain on top.

Coastal Road Trip, Seaburn, Roker Lighthouse, Roker Pier, Digger, Sunderland — A bit of a renovation going on at Roker Lighthouse at the end of Roker Pier.

Sunderland

Coastal Road Trip, Sunderland, Wearmouth Bridge, A1018, Roof of car — Trying to get a photo crossing the Wearmouth Bridge at Sunderland.

Seaham

Coastal Road Trip, Seaham Beach, Seaham Lighthouse — Wow, the sun is finally peeping through the clouds today. Seaham Beach and Seaham Lighthouse at the end of the north breakwater.

Coastal Road Trip, Seaham, Tommy World War One Soldier Sculpture, Eleven 'O' One, Giant soldier — 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.

Coastal Road Trip, Seaham, Nose's Point, National Trust Durham Coast, Ps in a Pod — 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

Coastal Road Trip, Blackhall Rocks, View South East to Hartlepool — 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.

Coastal Road Trip, Blackhall Rocks, View North along Durham Heritage Coast — And the views back north along Durham Heritage Coast.

Hartlepool

Coastal Road Trip, Hartlepool, Headland, The Heugh Light, Light House — Lots of birds keeping their beady eyes on us at the Heugh Light at Hartlepool Headland.

Coastal Road Trip, Hartlepool, Headland, Heugh Gun Battery, Cannon — The Heugh Gun Battery, the only open air WWI museum in the UK.

Coastal Road Trip, Hartlepool, Headland, Heugh Gun Battery, Well behaved dogs & Cyclists welcome here, Sign — A nice welcome message on the gun battery gates 🙂

Coastal Road Trip, National Museum Royal Navy Hartlepool, H M S Trincomalee, Dutch Houses — The masts of the H M S Trincomalee towering over some rather Dutch looking houses at the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

Redcar

Coastal Road Trip, Redcar, Coke Ovens, River Tees, Mouth, Seaton Carew — Driving over the River Tees at Middlesbrough we arrived at Redcar surrounded by steel plants and coke ovens (sadly now closed).

Coastal Road Trip, Redcar, Sculpture — Despite the sorry state of the local industry there had been some effort to brighten up Redcar’s seafront with sculptures…

Coastal Road Trip, Redcar, Penguins — …penguins!?…

Coastal Road Trip, Redcar Beacon — …and the pink Redcar Beacon, contrasting against the stormy sky.

Marske-by-the-Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Marske-by-the-sea, Cliff House, View to Saltburn, Hunt Cliff — As the stormy clouds passed over Marske-by-the-Sea it created really dramatic lighting over the view to Saltburn and Hunt Cliff.

Coastal Road Trip, Marske-by-the-sea, View to Redcar and Off Shore Wind Turbines — The view back to Redcar and the offshore wind turbines.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Cliff Tramway, Pier — 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

Coastal Road Trip, Whitby, Beach Huts, Coloured — Brightly painted beach huts curving around the beach at Whitby, our first stop along the North Yorkshire Moors coast.

Coastal Road Trip, Whitby, Harbour, East, West, Lighthouse — The East and West Harbour Lighthouses marking the entrance to Whitby.

Coastal Road Trip, Whitby, Abbey, Harbour, Bandstand, River Esk — Whitby Abbey across the River Esk.

Coastal Road Trip, Whitby, Harbour, Bridge, 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

Coastal Road Trip, 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!

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