Ravenscar (geo) is a small village 16km north of Scarborough along the North Yorkshire coast. Raven Hall hotel is located here, and was once used by King George III. Cleveland Way is a national trail that follows the coast line through Ravenscar, and we hiked a loop starting at the beach at Ravenscar, down to Robin Hoods bay, and back along Cleveland Way – roughly 12km.
The trail starts at the entrance to the Raven Hall Hotel. The walk down to the beach crosses a golf course a steep decent with gravely patches follows. From here you can walk down to Robin Hoods Bay only if the tide is out. Boggle Hole can be used as an escape route back to Cleveland trail should you run out of time.
We found some baby seals stranded between the rocks by the tide, but thankfully the tide is only out for about 4 hours at a time. Watch for fossilized remnants of all kinds of creatures in the shale boulders. See pictures below.
Robin Hoods Bay (geo) is a small fishing village about 8km from Whitby, North Yorkshire.
Fish (Usually Cod or Haddock) and chips here is delicious and usually from local fisherman. Several Candy and chocolate boutiques, jewellery shops and even a dinosaur museum dot the tiny streets.
Heading up a serious set of stairs you can reach Cleveland way at the top of the hill. From here it follows the crumbly coast line through green fields where sheep, horses and cows munch away. The trail wiggles around dry stone walls and then takes you down to Boggle Hole and the youth hostel, and up again on the other side. Many wildflowers and berry trees are in bloom in August along the way. You pass holiday cottages the closer you get to Ravenscar. There is an alternate route along the railway track if you’re not up for the ups and down of Cleveland trail along the coast. It is possible to bike from Whitby to robin hoods bay as well, although bikes are not permitted on stretches of Clevelend Way. Beautiful landscapes on this trail!
