meandering ~ Staithes to Runswick Bay

Oh my goodness, we have been back from our holiday now for over a week, and what a dreadful week last week was, not a brilliant home coming.

I had this post about our little trip out to Staithes and Runswick Bay almost complete but never had the chance to proof read and make it live. So before I report on the horrors of last week I will take you back to the holiday week.

The weather over the week got far worse rather than better, so we had to choose our trips out carefully. Sketching was impossible, even from the car, as there was no let up in the rain. On the Wednesday we stayed in the apartment, DH did a lovely little sketch from a photograph whilst I did some writing for the blog post.

Below for anyone interested are a few photos and commentary of our day out on the Tuesday to Staithes and Runswick Bay.

We woke up to more drizzle on the Tuesday morning, but there was little wind which makes a big difference by the sea, so we wrapped up made a flask of soup and a few sandwiches and set off to explore Staithes.

For those who have never been it is the birthplace of Captain Cook and the old village, centred around the harbour, is down a long steep hill.

Only residents parking is allowed down at the harbour but parking at the top is more than adequate in the winter and free until the season begins in March.

The hill down to the harbour is not for whimps, neither going down or coming back up, but a sturdy handrail is provided to keep you upright. Once down into the village the footing is easier although there are cobbles to negotiate on the roadway. There is a mass of higgledy-piggledy housing clinging for dear life to the hillside, plenty of steps and nooks and crannies…and here and there you come across a narrow ginnel feeding its way through between the houses like a maze.

We questioned whether the houses in front would have been built after the houses behind or vice-versa. Did someone come along and build in front and block your view or did they squeeze in behind? Some of the cottages are almost completely hidden, tucked well behind with no view at all.

The whole village is full of cute cottages and like Runswick Bay you can imagine going in a door at the bottom and coming out three houses above you.

After a good wander around we started back up the steep unforgiving hill.

We decided to move the car round to Runswick Bay and sat in the little car park overlooking the sea to have our lunch. There was still drizzle here and quite a breeze, but that didn’t stop the washing going out on the line!

Runswick Bay is one of the prettiest fishing villages, with a series of white washed cottages with red pantile roofs all higgledy piggledy and climbing up into the hillside. It was once renowned as an artists colony and has an obvious wealth about it – quite a noticeable contrast to that of nearby Skinningrove.

It has known disaster in the past when in 1682 the original village was destroyed by a landslide and it is said that no villager died because they were all attending the wake of a man in the only surviving cottage! The village was rebuilt but it has always been in danger of further landslides so in 2018 there was £2.28 million pound award-winning coastal erosion protection scheme put in place to protect the village in future.

Both the beauty and the drawback of the place is that no cars are able to get close to the houses. There is a residents car park provided and I expect for visitors and full time residents alike all shopping and baggage has to be unloaded and walked to the house. Goodness knows how they manage with furniture and appliance deliveries and even worse should any building maintenance be required.

The tight knit walkways are fun to explore as you never know where you might pop out from along the maze of footpaths.

On the Thursday we visited Kirkleatham museum which is well worth a visit to see the story of the steel works that evolved in the area after the discovery of iron ore in the nearby Cleveland Hills in 1850.

It is a fascinating exhibiton – I was amazed to learn that Middlesborough, now a sprawling industrialised town, was once a tiny hamlet with a farming community of only 25 people. It was enlightening to discover how steel is made from the iron ore in the large blast furnances. Those steel framed structures of the plants that you see, comprising of sheds and towers and long runs of pipes resemble a long forgotten theme park. On the outskirts of Middlesborough these old steelworks at the Lackenby works stretch for miles like an industrial wasteland. I am presuming these buildings are still operational but it is hard to tell as there is such a feeling of desolation to the area.

In 1967 the British Steel Corporation was formed as a national company and re-privatised in 1988. Eventually, through its chequered history and demise it has ended up being owned I believe by the Chinese. I thought this sign was quite poignant.

My grandad, and many of my relatives worked in similar steelworks in Sheffield – it was a protected job during the war and he worked long hours and was always in danger of a bombing raid. My dad was a metalurgist and he often went to the power stations as part of his job though I have no idea what he actually did there, I only know he has notebooks full of mathematical equations. He always said inside those large concrete cooling towers they were the size of a football pitch.

There was also an exhibition of textiles in their temporary exhibition space at the museum with some rather lovely textiles on display. I did weaving many moons ago in the attic at the Ramsden Art School as part of my foundation course, and a couple of years later aquired my own table top loom that was going to be put in a skip. The problem with these large looms is that they take a lot of yarn and you require a skein winder. When we downsized from a four storey mill workers house to the house we are in now there was no room for the loom and it had to be sold.

Seeing these lovely exhibits has made me want to have a go again with just a tiny frame.

On the Friday afternoon we spent a couple of hours pottering around Guisborough – a bit of window shopping and a few minor purchases. On the way back, just as the light was going, we stopped to look around Skelton Old All Saints Church….but that is another post another day.

We are now catching up with ourselves after both our holiday and the eventful week we had last week, and given that this is a long enough post for anyone to read I will tell the tale another time.

Although I was trying to make our shopping stretch over two weeks I could not ignore all the items on offer at Sainsbury’s today, so I ended up spending far more that I had intended but I have a well stocked pantry to show for it. I can’t help noticing that some prices have leapt up again and even when on offer the offer now is dearer than it was the time before.

I have my audiolgy appointment tomorrow – I always dread it. The NHS hearing aids I was given are so hard to get used to they make the world seem a very loud place so I am tending not to wear them unless I have to. The audiologist is not impressed by my lack of progress – I know I should persevere but I have to be in the right frame of mind and this period of my life is rather stressful at the moment dealing with my mum seems to make my hearing worse.

You never know I might even manage a comment or two on the blogs I read. I do keep dibbing in and out as time allows but it was half term last week and blogging plus mum plus grandchildren do not sit well together…something has to give!

I will be back soon, thank you for reading. x

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