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Marking the
Cleveland Way |
A work day for both Ange and myself, but again with the weather so nice we thought we would squeeze in a morning walk to the nearby village of Sandsend that lies to the west of Whitby at the other side of Whitby Bay. As usual we set out first to the bakery and then to Clara's coffee kiosk on the West Cliff.
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| Looking west toward Sandsend |
From there we walked the West Cliff sea wall until it stops and the rocky cliff takes over. Because the tide was in, we couldn't continue along the beach at the bottom of that cliff, so we followed a path up through a cleft in the cliff (say that quickly five times) which took us to the Cleveland Way (more on that in a latter post) that runs along the top. Our thought was that we could take this route to Sandsend and by the time we got there we would be able to walk back the entire way along the beach as the tide will be on its way out. Eventually the path runs along the road between Whitby and Sandsend as it makes its way around the Whitby Golf Club and then runs down into the village.
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| The Sandsend valley |
Sandsend had its beginnings as one would suspect ... as a fishing village. It was actually two villages, Sandsend and East Row, but they eventually grew and merged. It is an idyllic spot on the coast, with rows of pretty cottages running inland along a creek that empties into the bay. No wonder it is known for being the most expensive real estate on the northeast coastline of England. As we expected,the tide had gone out enough for us to begin the walk back along the beach below the cliffs. This allowed as us well to explore the rocks at the base of the cliffs, many of which contain a variety of fossils.
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| Ammonite Fossil |
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| Fossilized Clam Shell |
So excuse me for putting my geologist hat on and providing a brief background on the geology of Whitby Bay. First of all, Whitby itself lies where the Esk River runs into the North Sea. On either side of the river are what are known as the East Cliff and the West Cliff. The former is quite prominent, running vertically about 200 feet or so with relatively flat-lying layers of limestone, dolomitic sandstone and shale and extending easterly and southerly towards Robin Hood's Bay. These rocks are of the Jurassic Age (Yes that Jurassic!) and dinosaur fossils have been discovered here. The West Cliff is what we are wandering below today and while there are some solid layers of limestone and dolomite at the bottom near Whitby, the balance of the western cliffs are made up of unconsolidated gravels and clays, which have made the slope very unstable. The reason for the difference is that the River Esk actually follows a fault line, with west side of the river having been moved down relative to the east side and eroded further before covered with younger unconsolidated materials that we see today.
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| Looking east to Whitby and it's Abbey from Sandsend |
Some of the fossils we did find are in rocks that were likely re-deposited at the base of the cliffs. Angela was quite adept at finding them including a fossil clam shell and an ammonite. This latter fossil is well known to exist in the cliffs around Whitby. Unfortunately it was too big to carry around and we were not inclined to figure out a way to get it back to Canada. But as we got back to Whitby, Angela "the Fossil Hunter" was already planning her return via the beach to Sandsend.
Ale of the Day: Black Sheep Best Bitter, Masham, Yorkshire
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