DAY 17 : ENGLAND : LITTLEBECK to ROBIN HOOD'S BAY - 19.2 kms - 6 hours

DISTANCE COVERED IN TOTAL : 318 kms (192 mls)

Sadly our last day! After another healthy breakfast - our appetite has definitely waned for full English breakfasts - but we give it our best shot - Bob quizzed Robert, our farmer host, on beef cattle, markets etc. He was so engrossed we thought we might be leaving him behind to start a new career...or yet another special subject for research.

We walked through Littlebeck Wood, along Little Beck, a babbling brook. We had read that we may encounter otters, badgers, squirrels ... but we were disappointed as there was no wildlife evident at all. 

Walking in Littlebeck Wood

A cave that had been carved out of a large rock in 1790 by a school teacher and his class, called The Hermitage, was the only point of interest, and a sheltered waterfall.

The Hermitage

Then we walked through more moorland - heather looking as colourful as ever - boggy in parts - few sightings of grouse, but we're not telling anyone. Here on Greystone Hills Moor, a mock replica of Middlesbrough was built and illuminated during WW2 as a decoy to divert enemy bombers away from the real industrial Middlesbrough. This proved a very successful strategy.

Suddenly we saw the sea - views of Whitby and the coastline south.

Crossing Greystone Hills (Moors) looking towards Whitby

 We finished by walking along the headland - just as we'd done when we started the Coast to Coast Walk, striding out on the other coast. We thought that was very fitting to finish as we had begun.

Nearly at Robin Hood's Bay

Walking around headland towards Robin Hood's Bay

Robin Hood's Bay is a quaint cosy fishing village with steep winding alleyways to the beach. You could imagine pirates roaming the area, drinking in the pubs, ready to salvage cargo from sinking ships. There is talk, that if there was indeed a Robin Hood, he spent time here, taking time off from annoying the Sherriff of Nottingham.

First view of the little port

Our B&B

As a final act we all took out the stones we'd collect at St Bee's on the Irish Sea and threw them in the North Sea and dipped our boots in the water.

Throwing our stones, collected at St Bees, in the North Sea

We had a celebratory dinner at the Victoria Hotel with sumptuous views over Robin Hood's Bay.

Celebrations at Victoria Hotel with friends



We really recommend this walk. We used a company called Packhorse to organise our accommodation and transport our bags each day and they were reliable and efficient. Other walkers used similar services and were able to organise a guide, which would be essential if you were travelling alone or had limited navigational skills. We were fortunate to have Bob's excellent map-reading skills and sense of direction combined with 2 guidebooks to get us to our destinations safely.

M&M