Now a down-at-heel suburb of Redcar, the houses in Dormanstown were originally built in 1920, to house hundreds of workers employed by the Dorman Long Iron and Steel works – the company responsible for the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. No vestiges of this past glory can be seen as we set off in the grey mist towards the A1085.
The snow has caught up with us overnight leaving a blanket on the car but it has stopped so there is just a cold wind to contend with. As I struggle to get my boots on outside the Derby Arms, a small voice inside my head is lobbying for a day off but I know as soon as we get moving it will be fine.
Not such a lovely day as yesterday but not raining – a good start. Finding ourselves at Arnside railway station, we cross the railway bridge and head off down a permissive path which runs northwards, parallel to the road. The route around the estuary will be quite complicated today, particularly because we will be trying to avoid waterlogged fields and flooded footpaths.
Continue readingAfter a hearty breakfast with my sister and her husband, we set off from West Lancashire, hoping to arrive in Silverdale in time for a five mile walk before sunset. The village stands on Morecambe Bay near the border with Cumbria and consists of a collection of pretty grey stone buildings, a parish church, a hotel and post office. Twenty of the buildings are listed and one former resident of note was the comedian Victoria Wood.
Continue readingWho would have thought that the highlight of this walk would be the promenade at Redcar. We park the car at Zetland Park which is roughly where we finished last time and start walking along the seafront. Revamped in 2013 at a cost of £30 million pounds the promenade is full of surprises.
Continue readingWe start the walk from this Bansky looky likey piece of art – not quite sure what it means…a vision of life on earth when we have polluted ourselves out of existence? Life on a distant planet?
Continue readingWe phone an Uber to take us to Staithes as there is no direct bus. The driver is from Irak and we get to hear a little of his story. Fleeing from the chaos in his country with his family, he managed a string of temporary jobs and eventually embarked on a four year Computer Science course at Hull University. After finishing a Masters, he now hopes to start a PhD. His wife has just recently completed her medical training and is now a qualified GP. Their two children are also planning to study Digital Learning and AI next year. It warms the cockles to meet such a resourceful family, taking refuge in the UK and working so hard to contribute to our society. Strangely enough his English is not great……………but then I am an English teacher and maybe a bit critical..
Continue readingReunited 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.
Continue readingIt is again the Patrington Pumping Station that calls the shots, forcing us inland towards the end of the walk, but as it turns out the deviation is more than acceptable.
Continue readingA severe storm in Withernsea last night does not show any signs of abating, although this morning there’s not quite as much rain. Our Bnb is the last house on the promenade, with nothing in front of it to stop the gale force wind pounding the leaky front windows – needless to say we didn’t get a lot of sleep. Bracing ourselves for the short walk over to the cliff top, our minds are quickly made up as to which way to go – there is no footpath along the cliff edge and even if there was, I would not be taking any chances with such a ferocious headwind.
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