A Stroll With Stu: five-miler from Sandsend to Whitby which escapes the winter mudslide!

Old railway lines, the track to Danby Beacon, and the beach are the only places where you won’t slither sideways whilst collecting several pounds of mud on your boots.

However, I ventured out on a promising blue-sky day in late November, and to paraphrase Monty Python’s Spam sketch, I’m pleased to say this walk – five miles or so from Sandsend to Whitby - doesn’t have much mud in it.

Hop off the X4 bus at the foot of Lythe Bank and head inland on a path into the village of Sandsend.

Stay right of a car park, alongside pretty cottages on the approach to St Mary’s Church.

As churches go, it’s a fairly simple stone building dating back to Victorian times, but an intriguing notice invites you in to see their display of ‘2000 Angels’.

There was nobody around so I turned the iron handle on the big wooden door and in I went.

Sure enough, an incredible display of 2000 white Angels hang from the ceiling.

They were made by local people of all ages during Covid lockdown and were inspired by something similar in a Cathedral in San Francisco.

Spectacular stuff, and well worth a look!

Cross the bridge over Sandsend Beck opposite the church and work your way back to the seafront.

The tide was in on my visit and with an angry growl some hefty waves were chewing away at the sea wall.

Occasional fountains of foamy seawater shot up over the railings so I stuck to the landward side of the road, trying to stifle the odd giggle as a few pedestrians got an unexpected shower.

Cross East Row Beck and turn right on a lane leading towards Mulgrave Woods.

At the end of the cottages on your left, follow a signposted path that begins climbing diagonally right in woodland.

As indicated earlier, you can’t avoid mud and slop completely on a November walk, but persevere – it’s not too bad, honest!

Eventually, you will emerge through a gate into open country and you need to cross three fields diagonally in the following order - grass, turnips and beans.

The grass/turnip boundary has a marked stile, but the path has been planted over, so head over to the tree, then go left ahead of the fence and at the top of the field is a gate leading into the bean field.

Continue on the diagonal and you will ultimately find your way to a stile in the hedge on your left.

This drops on to a narrow lane near Dunsley via a series of impossible steps, designed by a man who had just returned to the office after a liquid lunch and fancied a bit of a laugh.

Turn left and head down the lane for half a mile or so, passing a crenelated water tower that you will first have seen as you emerged from the woods half an hour ago.

Just after Raven Hill Farm on your right, take a path through wooden gates into a grass field, then through the left of two adjacent gates, and you’ll soon enter the woods of Saltmoore, the sprawling spa and wellness hotel formerly known as Raithwaite Hall.

The path is really nice, heading slowly downhill in woodland that has shed its clothes and nodded off for a few months.

Soon you’ll cross the beck on a bridge that obscures a noisy waterfall somewhere down below, before you emerge among the various buildings of the hotel.

If you’ve not been here before, it’s probably worth a little look around – especially at the very pretty lake just a short walk further inland.

Go slightly right anyway, then left through the hotel buildings as this is the access road back to the A174 about half a mile away.

On the main road, cross over and turn right for half a mile next to the golf course. (There is another path through fields, but I think it’s a bit of a quagmire, so I’m recommending Tarmac).

Pass the entrance road to the clubhouse, and take the next track on your left (beware low flying golf balls).

This leads down Upgang Ravine and just two months ago, you’d have passed under a footbridge for golfers (which followed the line of the Whitby to Saltburn Railway).

It has recently been dismantled - presumably before it did the job of its own accord.

As the path forks, take the left option and depending on the tide, choose the beach or the path into Whitby, for your well-earned hostelry and chippy of choice.

May I wish all readers of the Gazette (and especially of this column!) a very happy Christmas and a peaceful new year.