Whitby & North York Moors Guide - Days Out Leaflets

Scarborough
Runswick Bay
Scarborough was the first seaside resort in
Britain (from 1660 onwards) and has a rocky,
rugged headland as well as fine beaches. The
Castle overlooking the South Bay provides
a reminder that this town has a long history.
And it has plenty of nightlife and culture too.
Ravenscar
Ravenscar is a hamlet built atop steep cliffs,
with wonderful views of the coastline, and
is known as ‘The Town that Never Was’, as it
was once intended to be developed into a
town to rival Scarborough.
Robin Hood’s Bay
Robin Hood’s Bay is an idyllic small seaside
resort and fishing village, with an excellent
beach, and a history of smuggling.
Runswick Bay is a small former fishing
village, now very popular with tourists for its
unspoilt beach and fossil finds.
Staithes
Staithes is another fishing village, in a very
scenic setting, and was the home in the 19th
Century for a group of over twenty artists
known as the Northern Impressionists or the
Staithes Group.
Saltburn
Saltburn by the Sea has a cliff tramway which
is linked to the pier. Its popularity as a seaside
resort goes back to Victorian times, and it
also has a history of smuggling and fishing.
Redcar
Golden sands
stretching back
in time
Whitby
The town of Whitby is one of the country’s
most popular seaside resorts. Not only
does it have long sandy beaches, but lots of
interesting connections too. Captain Cook
sailed from Whitby on the Bark Endeavour on
his round-the-world voyages. Whitby was the
inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the
town holds an annual Dracula International
Film Festival.
The town of Redcar has been a tourist resort
since the mid-19th Century. Horses from
the local racetrack can often be seen riding
along its beach, which extends a total of 8
miles all the way to Saltburn. It has the oldest
golf club in Yorkshire.
How about a gentle stroll along the beach,
on fine golden sand, with the sea stretching
away to the horizon, and centuries-old fishing
villages or huge cliffs to landward? Well you’re
spoilt for choice on the Yorkshire coast as
it has all that and much more: large resorts
for all the family, smaller traditional seaside
towns, smugglers’ tunnels hidden beneath
quaint terraces in tiny hamlets, fossils of longdead
plants and animals, rock pools teeming
with living creatures, and the sandy beaches
- many stretching for miles and linking one
resort to another. Most of the beaches have
Blue Flags or have received a Quality Coast
Award, and all meet the Department of the
Environment’s Higher Quality of Bathing
Water - so you can safely bathe, if you can
cope with the chilly waters of the North Sea!
Another great thing about Yorkshire’s
marvellous coastline is that it is accompanied
by the Cleveland Way - the National Trail
which wraps itself around the North York
Moors National Park for 109 miles.
opposite, main image: Sandsend Beach.
Upper inset: enjoying the sunshine on the beach.
Lower inset: Scarborough. This page, top: Staithes.
middle: runswick Bay. Bottom: Whitby Harbour.
Sandsend
Sandsend is a little jewel at the end of the
Esk Valley. When the tide is out, you can walk
all the way from Whitby on the long beach
which connects the two resorts.
4 Whitby and the North York Moors Holiday Guide 2012 | 5