Robin Hoods Bay - Medium walk

 

Distance Covered: 4.75 miles   Time to complete walk: 2h 15m

Safety Tips:  Caution required as cliff edge walking included on the first half of the walk. Cycle track used for return part of the walk- keep an ear and eye out for cyclists.

This is a medium walk around the picturesque coastal village of Robin Hoods Bay due to steep walking on the cliff edges which result in stunning views - definitely take your camera but don't get too close to the edge!

Getting there

From Middlesbrough you need to go up Ormesby Bank and turn left at the roundabout leading to Middlesbrough Road. Keep straight ahead at the roundabouts and follow the signs to Whitby on the A171. Go right when you reach Whitby staying on the A171 and then turn left onto the B1647 to head down into Robin Hoods Bay. Park in the car park which is the starting point of the walk.

                                   
The Walk

 

Route of the Robin Hoods Bay Walk

From the car park, instead of following the road down into Robin Hoods Bay turn left and go uphill. Turn right onto a track that leads to a road with a few houses on and turn right onto a track which is part of the Cleveland Way. This will take you to the cliff edge for stunning views. Follow this track which can get steep and slightly precarious for 2.5 miles. Get your camera ready!

 

 

                                          Look behind you for some stunning views of the bay

You will now be heading onto the cliff edge part of the Cleveland Way - these are by far the best spots for amazing views of the cliff edges and the sheer drop below.

 

 

 

 Keeping on the Cleveland Way, you eventually reach a holiday park with caravans. Turn left over the field and cross over to an unused railway track. The track is popular with cyclists so keep vigilant for them, you should hear them coming.

 

  This path will take you back onto the road you started on your journey. Head down to Robin Hoods Bay for an ice cream...

 

 

 

 

A short history of Robin Hoods Bay

 

The origin of the name is uncertain, and it is doubtful if Robin Hood was ever in the vicinity. An English ballad and legend tell a story of Robin Hood encountering French pirates who came to pillage the fisherman's boats and the northeast coast. The pirates surrendered and Robin Hood returned the loot to the poor people in the village that is now called Robin Hood's Bay.

By about 1000 the neighbouring hamlet of Raw and village of Thorpe (Fylingthorpe) in Fylingdales had been settled by Norwegians and Danes. After the Norman Conquest in 1069 much land in the North of England, including Fylingdales, was laid waste. William the Conqueror gave Fylingdales to Tancred the Fleming who later sold it to the Abbot of Whitby. The settlements were about a mile inland at Raw but by about 1500 a settlement had grown up on the coast.