John Edward Cooper’s Notes

[i] These are my previously researched timings for the bus to Robin Hood’s Bay, using Google Maps.

Given yesterday’s experience with the close-packed crowd of COVIDiots at the bus stop, we decided not to try to get the 09:50 X93 bus, the times of which I’d obtained from Google Maps before the holiday and scribbled in my notepad. We saw from the timetable, issued to us in Whitby yesterday, that there was an X94 bus scheduled for 09:20, i.e. an hour before the X94 we caught yesterday; so we set out in time to get that, if COVIDiot queues would permit. “It was another grey and very cool day,” Janet observed: “[I] wish we’d get some decent weather. We were aiming for the 9.20am bus. I called at Helena’s[ii] first to book an appointment for 4.15pm tomorrow afternoon. Our bus to Robin Hood’s Bay was a bit late, but it didn’t really matter:[iii] we’d no deadline. It was coming from Whitby. It was a single-decker, and there was only a slack handful of people [aboard], thank goodness. We arrived in Robin Hood’s Bay around 10.15am. What a beautiful place!… All narrow cobbled streets with old buildings. It was exactly what I was hoping to find on this holiday. I’d been disappointed with Brid[lington] and Whitby thus far. I was pleased we’d gone early as there weren’t many people around.”

[ii] The hairdressers’ shop Hair by Helena, 8 Northway, Scarborough, was just round the corner, left of the traffic lights in the photo below, one of the shops in the side of the building of the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
[iii] According to the timing of the photo, below, it arrived on time, but it was delayed setting out. And it should have arrived at Robin Hood’s Bay at 10:02, so it was almost 12 minutes late there.

Friday 3 September 2021 09:19:40
Outside Scarborough Railway Station: arrival of the X94 bus


Friday 3 September 2021 10:13:58
Off the X94 bus at Thorpe Lane bus stop, Robin Hood’s Bay

Getting off the bus, we went ahead to the end of Thorpe Lane, and turned right into Station Road.


Friday 3 September 2021 10:15:58
Proceeding down Station Road after turning right at the end of Thorpe Lane


Friday 3 September 2021 10:17:54
Victoria Hotel, Station Road, Robin Hood’s Bay, Whitby YO22 4RL

Janet suggested that we go in the Victoria Hotel for a drink, but I didn’t fancy it. I think I was put off by the fact that I perceived it as a “hotel”, a place with residents, not a “pub” welcoming all comers. …My priority then was to visit the public toilets 100 yards or so down the road from there, notwithstanding their charging 40p for entry, as everywhere in this region.


Friday 3 September 2021 10:19:26
Choice of ways: choosing the one along the main road


Friday 3 September 2021 10:19:26 (detail)
We would come back later up the gated path.

We proceeded into the old part of the town down “Bay Bank”, along New Road, as far as King’s Beck.


Friday 3 September 2021 10:31:18
“Welcome to Robin Hood’s Bay”


“Robin Hood’s Bay… Bay Bank”
From an original painting by Pat Bell
The Gatehouse Collection
© Gatehouse Prints, Pickering


Friday 3 September 2021 10:32:42
Proceeding down New Road, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 10:35:02
Proceeding down New Road, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 10:35:56
Proceeding down New Road, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 10:38:26
New Road, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 10:41:50
King’s Beck, Robin Hood’s Bay — looking west


Friday 3 September 2021 10:42:34
King’s Beck, Robin Hood’s Bay — looking east

Then, back-tracking a few yards, Janet led the way up and along a narrow alley. To the left, as one entered it, there were steps going upwards (“The Openings”), as in the postcard below,—


“Robin Hood’s Bay… The Openings”
From an original painting by Pat Bell
The Gatehouse Collection
© Gatehouse Prints, Pickering

—but we continued along the somewhat winding alley itself—


Friday 3 September 2021 10:43:42
Proceeding along Chapel Street, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 10:44:42
Proceeding along Chapel Street, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 10:46:20
Proceeding along Chapel Street, Robin Hood’s Bay

—to its end at the top of King Street, which overlooked the sea wall.


Friday 3 September 2021 10:50:24
View north from the end of Chapel Street / top of King Street, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 10:50:24 (detail)
Sea Wall, Robin Hood’s Bay

Then we went down the length of King Street, as far as the Dock,—


Friday 3 September 2021 10:51:42
King Street, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 10:52:38
Proceeding down King Street, Robin Hood’s Bay


“Robin Hood’s Bay… The Dock”
From an original painting by Pat Bell
The Gatehouse Collection
© Gatehouse Prints, Pickering


Friday 3 September 2021 10:54:56
The Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay: King Street


Friday 3 September 2021 10:55:38
The Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay: The Bay Hotel


Friday 3 September 2021 10:56:28
The Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay: The Old Coastguard Station

—where we went in The Bay Hotel for a drink. …I had a pint of Theakston Best Bitter. Janet had a Diet Pepsi.…


Friday 3 September 2021 11:02:28
In the bar at The Bay Hotel, Robin Hood’s Bay


Receipt from The Bay Hotel, issued “10:23” (judging by the above photo, actually some 40 minutes later than this)

“Food was served from noon,” Janet recalled, “so we decided to wander around outside in the village before returning to the pub for lunch.” We went to the top of Covet Hill by the side of the Old Coastguard Station, and looked over “The Quarter Deck” on the other side—


Friday 3 September 2021 11:28:14
Proceeding to the steps up Covet Hill, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 11:28:54
“Covet Hill”, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 11:30:00
Looking down at The Quarter Deck from Covet Hill, Robin Hood’s Bay

—but we didn’t descend to it just then; instead, we turned back—


Friday 3 September 2021 11:30:36
Returning down Covet Hill, Robin Hood’s Bay

—and went left, up New Road,—


Friday 3 September 2021 11:34:56
Proceeding up New Road, Robin Hood’s Bay

—stopping in a shop to buy postcards on the way up,—


Friday 3 September 2021 11:45:04
Proceeding up New Road, Robin Hood’s Bay, with King’s Beck to the right

—and going as far as where New Road crosses King’s Beck, i.e. to where we’d come down New Road earlier. Then Janet suggested, “I think we ought to go for lunch now, because I reckon it’ll get busy.” So we turned back,—


Friday 3 September 2021 11:49:06
Returning down New Road, Robin Hood’s Bay, with King’s Beck to the left

—and went to The Bay Hotel for lunch. There was no room in the bar, where we’d been earlier, but there was one table available in the small adjacent dining room. According to the browser history on the Asus computer, I called up my Blogger account of my 18 August 2014 visit to Robin Hood’s Bay (11:56–11:57).
 “[John] had soup and bread,” Janet wrote, “and I had a mixed salad and bread.” There was a round of drinks as well. The soup had a very slightly “crunchy” texture, as perhaps of onion, and it was a bit spicy (agreeable to me but not to Janet, I deem, if she had chosen it). Janet’s salad included what she called “radicchio”, so that became the subject of a browser search, followed by searching for plants called “wort”, daisy-like plants, etc. (12:24–12:41).


Receipt from The Bay Hotel, issued “11:23” (perhaps in fact some 40 minutes later than this time)

“After that, we walked on the coastal path to Boggle Hole,” Janet wrote. We went over Covet Hill,—


Friday 3 September 2021 12:52:48
Ascending again the steps up Covet Hill, Robin Hood’s Bay

—down to The Quarter Deck.


Friday 3 September 2021 12:54:00
Descending from Covet Hill to The Quarter Deck, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 12:56:14
The Quarter Deck, Robin Hood’s Bay, looking back to Covet Hill


Friday 3 September 2021 12:56:48
The Quarter Deck, and coastline south of Robin Hood’s Bay

Seeing there a sign, “To Cleveland Way & Boggle Hole”, we followed it. As Janet wrote: “After that, we walked on the coastal path to Boggle Hole. Very precarious steps. Alarming for me! However, we made it to the end, where there was a …café[iv] and toilets.”

[iv] Janet wrote “pub/café” here, but it was a Youth Hostel, “YHA Boggle Hole”, which, although having a licensed bar, wasn’t a “pub” as such.

Friday 3 September 2021 12:57:56
“To Cleveland Way & Boggle Hole”


Friday 3 September 2021 12:59:46
On the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:01:10
On the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:02:12
Looking through the trees back to Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 13:03:18
On the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:05:46
On the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:06:14
Looking back to Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 13:10:52
Looking back, with a view of Robin Hood’s Bay…


Friday 3 September 2021 13:10:52 (detail)
…including The Quarter Deck, from which we’d ascended


Friday 3 September 2021 13:13:08
Left turn on the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:14:56
Field with livestock to the right of the path…


Friday 3 September 2021 13:16:32
…including a horned cow and a polled bull


Friday 3 September 2021 13:18:26
Horned cow with calves


Friday 3 September 2021 13:20:24
Polled bull


Friday 3 September 2021 13:25:28
On the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole

Janet asked some people coming the other way, “Have you been to Boggle Hole? What is it?” They seemed uncertain of the answer to the second question, but described a kind of tunnel formed by overhanging trees and bushes, as if that were it. The fact that we passed a sign “The National Trust: Boggle Hole” before this feature, and also after it, seemed to reinforce this notion.


Friday 3 September 2021 13:26:56
“The National Trust
“Boggle Hole”


Friday 3 September 2021 13:27:42
On the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:29:24
On the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:29:48
On the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:31:56
On the Cleveland Way, descending to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:33:18
On the Cleveland Way, descending to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:33:42
Looking back on the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:38:36
“The National Trust
“Boggle Hole”

“…We made it to the end, where there was a …café[v] and toilets,” Janet wrote. “We could only sit outside, so I wasn’t bothered about a drink. We had a pee and left 50p.”

[v] Janet wrote “pub/café” here, but it was a Youth Hostel, “YHA Boggle Hole”, which, although having a licensed bar, wasn’t a “pub” as such.

Friday 3 September 2021 13:39:32
YHA Boggle Hole, Mill Beck, Whitby YO22 4UQ


Friday 3 September 2021 13:46:50
Juvenile robin at YHA Boggle Hole

An information board said, “Welcome to Boggle Hole. This picturesque inlet has long been popular with walkers, beachcombers and fossil-hunters.” So “Boggle Hole” was in fact the inlet itself; and everything else bearing the name, e.g. “The National Trust: Boggle Hole” and “YHA Boggle Hole”, did so derivatively because it was situated by the inlet Boggle Hole. So I went down briefly to look at the inlet.


Friday 3 September 2021 13:48:50
Going to look at the cove Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:50:38
Boggle Hole


Friday 3 September 2021 13:52:56
“Welcome to Boggle Hole”

Janet wrote: “We decided to return to the Bay by a different route. It wasn’t possible to go via the beach as we’d planned as it was high tide. However, we were directed to another route back and we followed that — we hoped: for we didn’t see anyone for quite some time, so wondered if we’d gone astray. We hadn’t. Phew!”
  Somewhere, perhaps at the entrance to “YHA Boggle Hole”, there was posted an information notice with a small map on it, perhaps part of an Ordnance Survey map, such as what I’ve copied from Bing Maps, below.


Screen-capture from Bing Maps
Credits: “Image courtesy of Ordnance Survey © 2021 Microsoft”

This seemed to indicate that there was a path to the north of Mill Beck going from the Youth Hostel (“▲”) through the woods and up out of the valley in a somewhat westerly direction, turning then more northerly and ending at “Mark Lane”. So I led us along the road that’s shown, in the photos “13:39:32” and “14:01:36”, as going upwards at the right of the images. That way led to a gate, though, and to what didn’t look like public access; so we went back, and asked someone at the Youth Hostel. He suggested that we go in the opposite direction, across the footbridge, then instead of continuing along the Cleveland Way, turn back along the road that we’d find after a short distance. Then there’d be a right turn onto a road which went through a ford.


Friday 3 September 2021 14:00:14
Across the footbridge over Mill Beck and along the path…


Friday 3 September 2021 14:01:36
…before doubling back and ascending along Mill Bank

“We followed that — we hoped,” Janet wrote, for we didn’t have a map with us. I was a bit doubtful, when turning off to the right, that the road led to a farm; but it did continue through,—


Friday 3 September 2021 14:13:22
Proceeding in a westerly direction


Friday 3 September 2021 14:14:34
Winding in a westerly direction

—and we did at last come to a ford. I say, “at last”, though, in fact, we’d only been walking from Boggle Hole for some 17 minutes.


Friday 3 September 2021 14:16:42
Approaching a ford


Friday 3 September 2021 14:17:10
Crossing Mill Beck by a footbridge


Friday 3 September 2021 14:18:32
Proceeding along the path parallel to the forded Mill Beck


Friday 3 September 2021 14:20:28
End of the path parallel to the ford


Friday 3 September 2021 14:21:38
Looking back along some 70 yards of forded Mill Beck…


Friday 3 September 2021 14:21:38 (detail)
…to the footbridge


Friday 3 September 2021 14:21:50
Proceeding in a more northerly direction along Middlewood Lane

We came to a four-fingered signpost, with: one fingerpost pointing back to “Boggle Hole”; one pointing ahead to “Fyling Hall”; and two, pointing left and right, both with the words “Cinder Track”.[vi] The one pointing right[vii] added, below “Cinder Track”, “Robin Hood’s Bay ¾ m[ile]”; so in the absence of other guidance, we went right.

[vi] Cf. my diary entry for 7 September 2021: “Andrew reckoned that the ‘cinder track’…, which I described to him, was nothing other than the track of the old railway from Scarborough to Whitby. He said that the line was steeply graded, frequently making driving conditions difficult because of slipping in poor weather.”
[vii] Right, that is, relative to the direction in which we’d been walking; left, as we turned around to look at it.

Friday 3 September 2021 14:32:48
Bearing right along the “Cinder Track” to “Robin Hood’s Bay”

As we passed the ugly eyesore “Middlewood Farm Holiday Park”, I laughed out loud at the signpost standing opposite its entrance: “To Beach” — seemingly aimed at the level of intellect and sole interest of residents of the holiday park! I kept exclaiming, “To Beach!”, in a D. P. Gumby[viii] voice.

[viii] According to Monty Python Wiki:

"My B-Brain Hurts!" - D. P. Gumby's famous quote
D.P. Gumby (Michael Palin) was one of the most mentally challenged among the Gumbys. He appeared in sketches like Gumby Flower Arranging and Gumby Brain Surgery.

Friday 3 September 2021 14:37:22
Passing Middlewood Farm Holiday Park


Friday 3 September 2021 14:38:22
“Middlewood Farm Holiday Park”


Friday 3 September 2021 14:39:04
Signpost, evidently intended for residents of Middlewood Farm Holiday Park


Friday 3 September 2021 14:39:38
Middlewood Farm Holiday Park

A little farther along, there was a signpost pointing to the right, through a gated field with grazing cattle, to “Robin Hood’s Bay”; so again, lacking other guidance, we went that way. The cattle were bullocks.


Friday 3 September 2021 14:43:00
Choosing to turn right along a footpath signposted “Robin Hood’s Bay”


Friday 3 September 2021 14:45:12
Continuing eastwards along the footpath to Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 14:45:12 (detail)
Away to the left: The Parish Church of St. Stephen, Fylingdales, Thorpe Lane, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 14:50:48
Proceeding by Marnar Dale


Friday 3 September 2021 14:52:12
Proceeding by Marnar Dale


Friday 3 September 2021 14:54:10
Entering Marnar Dale


Friday 3 September 2021 14:56:04
Proceeding through Marnar Dale


Friday 3 September 2021 14:57:10
Proceeding through Marnar Dale

The path ended at Albion Road, Robin Hood’s Bay, so we continued along that.


Friday 3 September 2021 15:00:48
Continuing along Albion Road, Robin Hood’s Bay

“We finally arrived back in the Bay before 3pm so had another wander,” Janet wrote. “As we walked down a steep cobbled street, we came upon a family of four. The ‘dad’ said to me, ‘Weren’t you at Whitby yesterday, walking down that steep path from the Abbey?’ He said he’d only remembered me because of my turquoise mac — but I did remember seeing them. We discussed how precarious the path was. What a small world! We bought some postcards and a rather lovely patterned pebble I liked. We returned to the Bay Inn for another drink…”
 I think the encounter with the family, though, was on Albion Road, so not “cobbled” just there, nor particularly “steep”. The timings of the photos — “14:57:10”, finishing our walk through Marnar Dale; “15:00:48”, continuing along Albion Road; “15:05:12”–“ 15:07:14”, a panorama of views from the water’s edge at the Dock; and “15:14:18”, in the bar of The Bay Hotel — don’t permit sufficient time for much of a “wander”, not enough to browse in the souvenir shop for postcards and pebble anyway. My account places the buying of postcards between “11:34:56” and “11:45:04”, before lunch.


Friday 3 September 2021 15:05:12
Views from the water’s edge at the Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:05:38
Views from the water’s edge at the Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:05:48
Views from the water’s edge at the Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:06:04
Views from the water’s edge at the Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:06:18
Views from the water’s edge at the Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:07:14
Views from the water’s edge at the Dock, Robin Hood’s Bay: the end of the culvert of King’s Beck (“Smuggler’s Tunnel”)


Friday 3 September 2021 15:14:18
Back in the bar at The Bay Hotel, Robin Hood’s Bay


Receipt from The Bay Hotel, issued “14:32” (judging by the above photo, actually some 40 minutes later than this)


16:30–17:06 X94, Robin Hood’s Bay – Peasholm Gap
17:00–17:43 X93 MAX, Robin Hood’s Bay – Scarborough[ix]

[ix] These are my previously researched timings for buses back from Robin Hood’s Bay, using Google Maps. According to Google Maps, the X94 would terminate at “Peasholm Gap” near Peasholm Park; but we already discovered yesterday that this was an unfounded notion, and that the bus went all the way, as the X93 did, to Scarborough Railway Station.

“We returned to the Bay Inn for another drink,” Janet wrote, “then went on the coastal path back to the bus stop. The bus was late, but at least it came!” I don’t think we set out with the conscious intention of getting the X93 bus scheduled to arrive at the Thorpe Lane bus stop at 16:00, half an hour before the first of the two that I’d planned; but as we proceeded, it looked ever more likely that we’d arrive at the bus stop in time to get it.


Friday 3 September 2021 15:39:54
Proceeding up King Street, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:40:44
Proceeding up King Street, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:41:40
A right turn from King Street, Robin Hood’s Bay, to go to the Sea Wall


Friday 3 September 2021 15:42:30
Steps down to the Sea Wall, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:44:28
Northwards along the Sea Wall, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:44:52
Sea Wall, Robin Hood’s Bay, and Bay Ness


Friday 3 September 2021 15:46:50
Up steps at the end of the Sea Wall…


Friday 3 September 2021 15:48:04
…and along the coastal path,…


Friday 3 September 2021 15:51:00
…up to Station Road, Robin Hood’s Bay


Friday 3 September 2021 15:53:10
Proceeding up Station Road, Robin Hood’s Bay,…


Friday 3 September 2021 15:55:30
…and left into Thorpe Lane, to await the X93 bus


Friday 3 September 2021 16:15:32
Aboard the X93 bus to Scarborough

“We were back in Scarborough around 5pm, and found an ATM for a cash withdrawal” Janet wrote. The ATM was outside the Nationwide Building Society, just across Valley Bridge Road from the railway station then a few yards along Westborough.


ATM confirmation slip, issued “17:03” at Nationwide Building Society, 50 Westborough, Scarborough YO11 1YJ


Friday 3 September 2021 17:09:48
Returning to the hotel through Valley Park, Scarborough


Friday 3 September 2021 17:10:58
Returning to the hotel through Valley Park, Scarborough


Friday 3 September 2021 17:16:22
Returning to the hotel through Valley Park, Scarborough


Friday 3 September 2021 17:18:18
Returning to the hotel through Valley Park, Scarborough

“We arrived back at the hotel at 5.30pm,” Janet wrote. “I made us coffee then we went for dinner.” I transferred 106 photos from the camera’s SD card to the WD Elements HDD (17:38–17:39), viewed them in Windows Photo Viewer, and rotated five that needed it (17:41–17:46), before we went down at 6 o’clock.
 “We were the only ones tonight, but we didn’t care.” I think it was this evening that I had cod and chips. Janet perhaps had salmon again. I had a pint of Birra Moretti and later another half-pint, and Janet had two Coke.
 “We had a good chat with Vicky again,” Janet wrote. “[We were] back in our room at 7.30pm.” Actually, we were back a few minutes before this, for I checked my Gmail inbox at “19:27”.…
 I drafted the postcard to Chris (related browser activity: 20:03–20:14):

Hi Chris,
 Greetings from Scarborough!
 Today, as you can see, we went to Robin Hood’s Bay, which, like Buxton, has echoes of the H & P era, being the place where love’s young dream was shattered. I pointed out the “Tidd’s Corner” bus shelter to Janet as we passed it. We didn’t get off the bus, though, to go up to Scarborough Camp, or “Applegrove Country Park” as it is now.
 Thanks for your e-mail, which you sent on the day we came here, and to which I intend to reply after we get home.
 John & Janet x

But in fact I ran out of space, and this was the result:

Scarborough,
Friday 3 September
Hi Chris,
Greetings from
Scarborough!
Today, as you can see,
we went to Robin Hood’s
Bay, which like Buxton
has echoes of the H & P
era, being the place
where love’s young
dream was shattered.
Thanks for your email.
John & Janet
      xx

“Janet” and “xx” were in Janet’s hand.
 There was some mention between Janet and me of “Canada Geese” and “Barnacle Geese”, for these were the subject of internet lookups (20:29–20:39).
 Janet notes that “we were both in bed by 9.30pm.”.

[Saturday 4 September 2021]