Jo’s Monday walk : Peaceful Staithes

Shall we start with a bench?

Shall we start with a bench view, in Staithes?

You can probably guess how this post is going to go, from my opening shot.  This month Jude is featuring benches ‘by the beach’ in her Bench challenge.  It just so happens that on a windy, partially sunny day this week I had the good fortune to be in Staithes.  It’s one of North Yorkshire’s more characterful seaside villages, with houses tumbling pell-mell down the cliffs. And, importantly, it has a good collection of benches.

Shall I share them now, then we can go walking?

A 'plaice' to bear in mind for your lunchtime fish and chips?

A ‘plaice’ to bear in mind for your lunchtime fish and chips?

Click on any image to see the galleries in detail 

Here are a few of the pub benches
And this is the beach they look down on
Or you can look in the opposite direction
There are benches for those who just like a view
Benches for readers
And even for those who like to be near the icecream van
Everything looks better in the sunshine but those railings do need a coat of paint

Everything looks better in the sunshine but those railings do need a coat of paint

Now that we’ve established where you can eat, or just sit and enjoy the view, let’s go back up to the clifftop where my walk starts.  There’s a car park up there and a nice little TI- not always open because it’s staffed by volunteers. (another job I’d like!)

A map is always helpful

A map is always helpful

As Jude will know, we are in James Cook territory.  Cook had his first employment in Staithes, for a local merchant named William Sanderson, whose quayside shop was destroyed by a violent storm in the early 19th century. Materials from this shop may have been used in the construction of the new premises in Church St., now known as Cook’s Cottage.  A footpath leads off to your right from the top of the village and descends gently between a hodge podge of houses. Beyond the rooftops the cliffs stand guard, keeping a watchful eye on the sea.

Little garden niches hug the cottages
Some grander than others
With a garden wall and a frog
The sea waits patiently below

Below, the sea waits patiently

Descending, the steps squeeze between the houses
Some nicely manicured
Others sharing their garden indiscriminately
Many with a nautical theme
Like this porthole
Communal living
In a confined space
Reminders of the sea, a constant

In the harbour there’s a sense of drama.  These cliffs can both shelter and entrap.  Today not even the chimes of the icecream van disturb the peace, but a wind whips the sand in little flurries. I try to capture the movement with my camera but it craftily eludes me.

Can you feel the motion in the sand?

Can you feel the motion in the sand?

And yet, looking back, all is calm

And yet, looking back, all is calm

The boats sleeping peacefully on the shore

The boats sleeping peacefully on the shore

The baskets, empty

The baskets, empty

Time to climb back up to the cliff top.  Dawdle up Church St. and, if you like, pop into the Arts and Crafts Centre.  It has a lovely little garden at the rear.

Follow the sign
And here’s the pretty garden
And another bench (but not beside the beach)
The crafts are lovely too

The crafts are lovely too

On the cliff top you can join the Cleveland Way– 110 miles of walking, much of it beside the sea. I don’t suggest that you do all of it right now, but I can give you a glimpse of what you might find up there.  It stretches from the hub of Helmsley- a totally different kind of village- inland and down the coast to Filey.  I spent most of my childhood holidays on this coast and I love to return.

Church St.- home to Cook’s Cottage and the Arts and Crafts Centre
Heading for the cliff top
The gorse is blooming
I like these National Trust signs
And these guys were lovely
Completely intent on the job in hand

It was blustery on the cliff tops so I didn’t stay long.  A path off to your left will bring you round behind the village and back to the car park, or you can simply retrace your steps.  Another Monday, another walk!  I hope you’ve enjoyed this one, and please don’t forget to seek out those benches for Jude.

walking logo

Again I have some wonderful shares for you so thank you very much to all who support me and contribute.  You are my happy band of walkers.  Details of how you can join in Jo’s Monday walks are on the logo above.  Time to rest those weary legs and put the kettle on for a good read.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

I can always make time for a day trip.  How about you?  The company’s good!

Day Tripper

It’s many years since I was in beautiful Salzburg.  Debbie had much better weather :

Sunny Stroll along the Salzach

Blossom to die for! (or is that a tad melodramatic?)  Gorgeous, anyway!  Thanks, Violet :

Sakura in the sunshine

Speaking of sunshine, anyone been to Scotland lately?  Cheers, Anabel!

Sunny Dunny : Dunbar

I know that Jude loves the Cornish beaches and sunshine, but the gardens?  Just fabulous!

Garden Portrait : Tremenheere

And while we’re looking at Spring sunshine, let’s visit Meg in Warsaw and those cute ladybugs of hers!

Another day of Spring glory

Praga is a little known area in Warsaw.  This guided tour is fascinating.

Across to the Dark Side

More conjectures and Thames footpath with Geoff :

The Thames Path- Bablock Hythe to Oxford

And Amy, enjoying nature and sharing so beautifully :

Monday Walk 

Prepare yourselves!  It’s tumbling time!  You’ll enjoy this terrific post from Yvette (did you catch the icecream man, hon?)

Force of Nature- walk with Jo

A little more sedately, Jaspa tackles some history, ‘down Panama way’ :

A stroll through Old Panama City, Part 1- Panama Viejo

Down in the southern hemisphere, thoughts are turning to Autumn :

Day 3 of the road trip and we revisit Eastwoodhill 

Brilliant, aren’t they?  I hope you have a happy week.  It’s a Bank Holiday in the UK next weekend but I’ll still be here.  Hope that you will be too.

165 comments

  1. I really enjoyed walking with you today Jo, but when don’t I? You offered plenty of benches and curves and bright boats and stairs to the sea and sculptures and crafts and Cook who keeps popping up, here, there and everywhere (Hawaii via Warsaw; Cooktown; and now Staithes) – huge variety! How far did you actually walk? And then a feast of words as well as landscape: crafty movement, sheltering and entrapping cliffs, sleepy boats (although movement wasn’t crafty enough: you caught the movement of the sand.) And even a pun.

    I wish you ran Warsaw TI: you wouldn’t sit there typing while I lent on the desk waiting, and you’d tell me clearly how the hell to visit the cellars below the Old Town square. You’d probably even take me out of the building and point!

    Like

    Reply

    1. I’d be great in the Warsaw TI, Meg! So long as everyone spoke English 🙂 🙂 I quite fancy a trip down those cellars anyway.
      He had the strangest life, Cook! (reminds me- I MUST visit the schoolroom museum in Great Ayton) Sad, too. How far? I spent a lot of time annoying Michael, taking shots of benches and nooks and crannies, There was a coven of photographers there. The real thing with tripods! I kept a low profile 🙂 But who can blame them- it IS so picturesque. So then we brisk marched up the cliffs a kilometre or so, took a wild guess at a route back that didn’t involve going down and up the cliff again, and there you have it… maybe 4/5, that’s all. 🙂
      Thank you for your lovely company.

      Like

      Reply

    2. Just butting in to say Cook was also in Simonstown (Cape Peninsula) too… I do seem to have folowed him about the world, though, as yet, not to Hawaii 😉

      Like

      Reply

      4. But it could be my place of most glory! The scenery looks spectacular 🙂 Or how about the Azores? Are you or Jude up for that? 🙂

        Like

      5. Why not? I seem to be saying yes to everything. Latest seems to be Ubud writers festival in November with my Australian daughter! And then a year in Warsaw, beginning next spring – merely mooted, but in the current climate it’ll happen, mercy help us!

        Like

      1. Oddly, I’m not really a sea person. Rarely swam as a child and rarely swim now it’s on my doorstep. Do you immerse? Or just ramble the shores, beach combing in the broadest possible sense? I think I enjoy a taste of the urban life, but not the loss of agency that comes with unaccustomed cohabiting!

        Like

      2. I’m actually quite frightened of the sea though I love to be on or beside it. I’m not a swimmer (can’t go out of my depth) but do love the lap of the waves. I get worse as the years go by and the confidence erodes.

        Like

  2. Girlfriend, you truly live in a beautiful part of the world .. and maybe it’s you that brings out the beauty in where ever you walk. This will keep you fit both to body and brain – even soul. Absolutely stunning. I visit your blue bell post yesterday, but I was too tired to comment, Will go back no and enjoy one of the things I miss most about UK: My favorite pick here is the gallery with the houses and their details. Lovely .. just lovely. A Jo view …

    Like

    Reply

    1. You’re right, Vivi! 🙂 I have some truly beautiful countryside and coast around me. 2 big shames- 1/ I don’t drive so can’t take off whenever I want (I’d never be home) and 2/ the weather isn’t always our friend up here in the north east. But then you know that, living in Sweden. 🙂 I have hopes this Summer to travel further down the coast because I haven’t been in Filey since I was a girl, and I have wonderful memories of it.
      Bless you, darlin’ and thanks 🙂 Sunshine hugs! (after the rain)

      Like

      Reply
  4. Pingback: A Walk in Windy Wellington… | gypsy life
  9. Pingback: The Thames Path – Bablock Hythe to Tadpole Bridge | TanGental

  10. Oh this looks my kind of place Jo ! For such a picturesque little place it looks surprisingly devoid of crowds . Marvellous . I think lunch at the Cod and Lobster would be a necessity after all that up and down the lanes . Now you’ve made me want a drfitwood boat … have piles of it here … * thinks maybe I could run up a sail 😉
    In this light I can see why it appeals to artists now and in the past . Laura Knight known for her dazzling paintings of the Cornish sea and landscape after her marriage lived nearby and painted many scenes of the fishing community .
    Super post … keep ’em coming !

    Like

    Reply

    2. Bless you, Poppy! Thanks for the encouragement 🙂 As I remarked to Sue, there were a few tripods about but I was very respectful of ‘real’ photographers. The little craft shop is worth a visit if nothing else 🙂 Happy Monday from a damp and dreary north east coast!

      Like

      Reply

  11. Glorious! My mum had a picture of this place on her wall, and I have always wanted to visit….another one for ‘one day’!! 😀

    Like

    Reply
  13. Pingback: Five Photos, Five Stories: Day 1 – Anabel's Travel Blog
  15. Pingback: East Linton to Hailes Castle – Anabel's Travel Blog
  16. Pingback: Walk spiced by palms | Le Drake Noir
  19. Pingback: Of Cock Horses and Cock-up Bridges | Travel with Intent

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.