Robin Hood’s Bay
At the beginning of February Liz, Sally the dog and I went for a short break just up the coast to Robin Hood’s Bay. The North Yorkshire village is located five miles south of Whitby and 15 miles north of Scarborough. The old part of the village is picturesque, and perches at the foot of a cliff. In the nineteenth century it was an important fishing port, but now that trade has died out. It’s main business now is tourism. At the time of our visit it was all a bit grim and wintry, as you’ll see from the photo’s, but the beaches are fantastic in summer. It’s a very low key resort, which I like: it manages to keep much of it’s character.
Robin Hood’s Bay is a popular place to stay, and has a thriving local artistic and musical community. The village is also a good place for walkers: it’s situated at the eastern end of the Coast to Coast long distance footpath and is also on the Cleveland way, which runs north to south. The village has a good website with lots of further information at https://www.robin–hoods–bay.co.uk/.
The village and surrounding area are well worth a visit if you get the chance. It wasn’t the best tourism weather when we visited, but the big advantage of visiting in winter is the peace and quiet. Robin Hood’s Bay can get quite crowded at the height of summer. The pictures below are mainly of the bay and surrounding area. If you like mist-wreathed cliffs and iron grey seas, there’s probably something here for you.
A view of the northern end of Robin Hood’s Bay. A bit forbidding in winter, but perfect for sand castles in the summer.
A view of Robin Hood’s Bay harbour at low tide. Hard to visualise, but it was a major fishing port in the nineteenth century.
No trip away is complete without a pub. Much used by walkers completing the Coast to Coast path. Nice beer!
A bit grim and forbidding. The harbour wall and north shore at high tide.
Another picture of iron grey seas, spray and hazy cliffs in the distance. No paddling today!
This is the lower end of Robin Hood’s Bay. The buildings are mostly seventeenth and eighteenth century, with plenty of steep, narrow, windy streets. The upper end of the village was built mostly in the nineteenth century, with lots of smart red-brick villa’s. The railway ran through the upper village at one point and it must have been quite a prosperous place.
A view of the bay on our only sunny day there. It gives you an idea of what it’s like in summer time.
Nice pics. I had a shuftie at the “light pollution map” of UK (“dark sky finder” is another one) with a view to trying out some astro-photography. Robin Hood’s bay is one of the more darker areas in the country, you have to travel a fair way from where I live in the North West to get anything like a proper dark sky. If ever you fancied having a go at that, I’d be up for a revisit and a bit of wild camping in the summer. Tent, tin of cold beans, hip flask… sorry, thermos flask… tripod, camera… could be a laugh?
Definitely. There’s lots of places just off the Cleveland way that are good for camping.
Love Robin hoods bay. Visited quite a few times as a children and adult. Winter images for me can be just as powerful as summer ones, showing the magic of this bay. Lovely photos my favorites is the fifth picture it’s great, thank you.