Reunited with our walking boots, that our lovely Bnb lady had kept safe for us, we drive off to Saltburn (nothing to do with the film) to settle in to our holiday flat overlooking the bay. The sky threatens rain and at this time of the year the days are very short, but we still decide to cover some ground by walking four miles or so to Redcar.

After a few fractious phone calls to the rental company (only one mug and that was dirty, no toilet paper, no dishcloths and no instructions for the thermostat) we set off northwards, starting by descending a steep set of concrete steps to the bottom of the “ravine” as they call it round here.

Having reached the bottom we can now choose to walk along the beach or take another path through some woodland and back up onto the cliff path . The sand on the beach looks very soft and would probably slow us up so we head for the cliffs. It is cold and windy and then it starts to rain.

A beautiful double rainbow cheers us up…….

After a couple of miles the path dips down to skirt the houses of Marske by the Sea, rising up again to the church and churchyard.

There is a very inviting bench on our side of the wall but the persistent rain does not encourage lingering.

From here the path descends into a small cove overlooked by a grand building up on the cliff. I later find out that this is Cliff House,

Built in 1844 by the influential railways entrepreneur Sir Joseph Pease, it was used by his family as a summer house until 1934 when it passed into the hands of an organisation known as the Holiday Fellowship, whose primary purpose was to organise outdoor holidays for working people. The Holiday Fellowship apparently moved out around 1974 and after a period of dereliction the building became a retirement home in 1981. I could definitely think of worse places to end my days ……but no let’s not think about that.

Very soon the path gradually slopes down to the beginning of a wide damp promenade known as The Stray. We are approaching Redcar, so all we need to do now is find the left turn that will lead us to a high street and a bus. At one of the gaps in the embankment a young man, who looks like a local, pops out and starts to head off at a brisk pace in front of us. I catch him up and ask where it would be best for us to turn inland to find a bus back to Saltburn. He flicks his long hair out of his face and wide eyed he splutters, Saltburn? Bus? You’d think I’d asked him the way to San Jose………

Anyway, we sort it out although we miss the bus by two minutes and have to take a taxi home.

Distance: 4 miles