Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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Smuggler’s Trod Challenge Walk 2018 – Yorkshire Coast LDWA

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

I thought it’d be a great idea to spend a weekend in Whitby and also complete the Smuggler’s Trod 25-mile challenge event which is held nearby as part of the adventure. Five other people from Norfolk & Suffolk LDWA came along and we were rather lucky with the perfect weather for the event, no rain and not too much sun.

The walk wasn’t particularly challenging in terms of hills, but there was a hill climb straight from the start at Robin Hood’s Bay. The total ascent for the entire walk was 657 metres though, which was hilly enough for me.

The early section of the walk went along the official Coast to Coast path as we went inland.

The colours along the route were beautiful and the whole walk was along a varied landscape with numerous wooded areas, moors and along riverbanks.

Bev trapped in ferns.

The food selection was wonderful throughout and the doughnut type things were particularly delightful and very moreish. One checkpoint was kindly making up sandwiches to order, so I quite happily waited there whilst eating jelly babies.

We went through a farm with some interesting pieces of ironwork dotted about, including this fine looking soldier.

Approaching Robin Hood’s Bay again towards the end of the route.

The last part of the route was along the former railway line from Whitby to Scarborough. It’s a great shame that this line has been lost, but it is now a popular cycling and walking route.

The end of the challenge event today leaves the railway line just before Robin Hood’s Bay so that entrants have to walk up the hill to the former railway station, which is the end point of the event. For those who are running out of time, the organisers allow them to just walk along the railway line to the end, which I was tempted by anyway, but that would have felt like cheating….

This is what I had to deal with….

We walked around the challenge event in two groups of three and I won’t go into details into what went wrong for the group of three that I wasn’t in. But I will say that Maria, Jane and Ray clearly weren’t able to navigate as well as me, as I didn’t end up walking four miles extra by mistake…..

Everyone is rewarded with a pie at the end of the walk, and I was so brave that they let me have two. Actually, they let me have two without the bravery bit, but if they had known have brave I was, they’d have given me two anyway, so that’s the same thing…

They were selling flasks from the 2017 event for £1, which seemed a bargain to me as another reminder of the event.

I thought that the whole event was well run and the volunteers from the Yorkshire Coast LDWA group were all friendly and had a great sense of fun. I hadn’t intended before the event to repeat this one, but having completed it, I’m pretty sure that I’ll do it again in the future.

September 2, 2025
Whitby

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

My visit to Whitby was rather short, but sufficiently interesting for me to want to come back. I thought that the pubs were particularly impressive, but there are numerous museums that I’d have liked to have visited as well. And some more pubs…..

Black Horse Inn

The Little Angel

The Board Inn

Station Inn

Lewis Carroll Park

Captain Cook Statue

Khyber Pass Toilets

West Pier Lighthouse

Storm Gate

September 2, 2025
Whitby – Storm Gate

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

There’s a storm gate on Whitby pier to prevent people from going out fishing (or indeed anything else….) in dangerous conditions, and it’s a particularly impressive gate. It was designed by James Godbold who runs a blacksmiths in Egton, located just outside of Whitby. It’s made of galvanised steel and there’s an old ship portrayed on one side, and a more recent one on the other.

The plaque, dated 2005, which is located next to the storm gate, as “a tribute to the fisherman, merchantmen, whalers, explorers and all seafarers of Whitby past and present”.

September 2, 2025
Whitby – West Pier Lighthouse

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

West Pier Lighthouse stands over 20 metres high and is located on one side of the harbour’s entrance. I didn’t realise until afterwards that following some restoration work that visitors are allowed to climb up the tower which seems an interesting little expedition.

The lighthouse was erected in 1831 and the engineer in charge was Francis Pickernell. Princess Victoria visited the lighthouse in 1834 and there’s another on the other side of the harbour, which is brilliantly named the East Pier Lighthouse… The lighthouse remained in use until 1912 and it was then replaced by more sophisticated methods of alerting shipping to the dangers of crashing into the harbour wall.

September 2, 2025
Whitby – Khyber Pass Toilets

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

I rather like the name of these former public facilities, they were known as the Old Khyber Pass toilets and had a location near to the harbour. Unfortunately, the council has decided to close them and replace them with facilities where visitors to the town have to pay to get in. Which will have the result of inconveniencing visitors, excuse the pun, and seeing more people sneak into Wetherspoons and similar businesses to use their toilets.

The council are selling the premises with the potential for A1, A3 or A5 consent to be granted. This means that there is still scope for good news, as this would allow Greggs to take over the site and open an outlet in a town where they currently don’t have a shop.

August 31, 2025
Whitby – Captain Cook Statue

[I originally posted this in August 2018 but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

The lighting when I visited wasn’t very good unfortunately, but this statue of Captain James Cook looks out onto Whitby Harbour. Admiral Lord Charles Beresford unveiled this statue, designed by John Tweed, in September 1912. The monument was funded by Sir Gervase Beckett, a banker who was also the MP for the area.

I also discovered, whilst busy on Wikipedia, that there’s a statue of Cook near Admiralty Arch in London. I’ve walked by that many times without realising who it was….

This plaque was added to the monument in 1968 to mark the 200th anniversary since the first European exploration of Australia.

“Around the world, nothing left unturned”.

There’s a plaque which gives some information about Cook’s life, but what particularly caught my eye was the 80-mile Captain Cook tour. Unfortunately, it lost my interest when I saw it was a tour for cars and not for long distance walkers….

August 31, 2025
Whitby – Lewis Carroll Park

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]

This interesting little park seemed rather out of place when I walked by it, hemmed in by a Poundland on one side and a car park to the rear. It has though transpired (to me at least) that this patch of land had rather fallen into disrepair and become a location for anti-social behaviour, so it was decided by the council to improve it.

Coming from Norwich, the council here tends to define improving something as knocking it down and building a car park on top of it. Then they can cheer that they’ve managed to encourage even more cars to come into the city centre, whilst not actually managing to ever properly fund public transport. But, in Whitby, money was found to theme this little park around Alice, one of the creations of Lewis Carroll.

Carroll has some connections to Whitby as he came here on holiday on at least six occasions, and it was the Whitby Gazette who published his first poem in 1854.

There are three themed benches in the park, all related to works by Carroll. Given that the park is now of interest to visitors and is a little bit of a talking point, I thought this was rather an charming idea by local residents and politicians, and there is apparently more work planned for the site.

August 31, 2025
Whitby – Station Inn

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

The last stop of my visits to pubs in Whitby mentioned in the Good Beer Guide was to the Station Inn. It’s an interesting pub with a main bar area and two smaller rooms located off of it. There was a vibrant feel to the pub, but it remained friendly and welcoming.

I was a little confused as to why the pub seemed relatively modern and didn’t seem to be of a contemporary date to the railway station opposite, but it appears that it was reconstructed in the 1930s. It was also known as the Cutty Sark until the 1980s, although the current name seems more appropriate.

Is this real? I’m veering on the side of thinking that it’s not.

There are numerous historic signs relating to the railway industry on the walls of the pub.

The real ales are listed on a blackboard and there were around seven available during my visit. I went for the Whitby Jet Black which is from the local Whitby Brewery and it had a pleasant taste with a chocolate flavour.

This was another Whitby pub where locals burst into song, all adding positively to the friendly ambience. The staff in the pub were personable and welcoming despite how busy they were, with no seats available during my visit.

The pub is located opposite the railway station and is also in an area that would attract tourists, but it still had the feel of an authentic locals’ pub which was welcoming to all. The Station Inn has also won numerous CAMRA awards, with a few real ciders to choose from in addition to all of the real ales.

August 31, 2025
Whitby – The Board Inn

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

Located at the base of the steps up to Whitby Abbey this is an interesting and quirky pub. I was though unable to find out anything about its history either in the pub or on its web-site, although the Good Beer Guide mentions it’s been trading since at least the nineteenth century.

I tried both the Theakston XB and the Theakston Old Peculier and they were both excellent and tasted well-kept.

Seems reasonable….

If a pub has to have live music, then some singing (without microphones) or folk type music is my preferred style of performance… The locals in the pub were having a rather lovely time playing, and I thought they were doing an excellent job. As live music goes, this is good!

I didn’t eat at the pub, but the selection seemed fairly priced and interesting. There is a restaurant in the pub, which appears to be located downstairs and also at the rear of the main part of the pub, although there’s also plenty of space for those just wanting a drink.

The service in the pub was efficient, timely and friendly, with the bar staff being happy and willing to talk about the real ales. I particularly liked that despite being in a touristy location, the pub still felt that it was a pub for locals and visitors alike, with the prices being reasonable.

August 31, 2025
Whitby – The Little Angel

[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

The Little Angel is another pub which is mentioned in the Good Beer Guide and it is also thought that a castle might have been situated on this site at some point. I’m rather doubtful on that point for various reasons, but it has been trading since at least the eighteenth century and the building is older.

The name “Little Angel” initially feels modern, but it’s the original name of the pub and it’s to distinguish it from the “Big Angel” located nearer to the harbour, which is now the JD Wetherspoon Angel Hotel.

I liked the beer selection here, it was well balanced and the 1872 Porter from Elland Brewery was well-kept and at the appropriate temperature. It’s a slightly sweet porter and it has some strength, coming in with an ABV of 6.5%.

I’d already started on the beer selection, but the cider options were tempting and it’s nice to see a little display like this on the front bar.

Live music isn’t for me, but the pub has an excellent reputation for it. For me, and based only on that, this was the negative that meant I didn’t like this pub quite as much as the others I visited on the same evening. The music meant that customers weren’t engaging in the same way as in other pubs, but bearing in mind this is a self-described Goth pub which focuses on music, it’d be a little surprising if it was any other way.

As for the pub itself, it’s three rooms and has a fair amount of seating. It doesn’t serve food at the moment, but it’s spacious and the building itself is interesting because of its history. I liked the friendliness of the welcome and the bar staff seemed to be helpful and polite and the pub is doing well at winning local and national awards.

August 31, 2025