Beautiful Britain - Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire

Although hailing from Yorkshire, Martin hadn't visited Robin Hoods Bay since childhood and it was somewhere I'd never been so we decided we would make the effort to visit on our wedding anniversary.

I say 'effort', as it's one of those places where you park at the top and walk down and, unlike the very lovely Clovelly and Polperro, there is no sneaky little landrover or horse drawn cart to bring you back up.

We were both a bit wary as neither of us are at the peak of fitness, and that is putting it mildly, but we both really wanted to see the bottom part of the village.

We headed out from Wykewood in brilliant sunshine and dressed for the weather. As we hit the main road we were a bit surprised to see a bank of very low cloud and mist, which appeared to be hanging directly over Robin Hood's Bay.

Undeterred we made our way through the cloud and were pleased to find it was considerably brighter when getting a bit lower down into the village. We parked up and started to make our way down the main road.

Our plan was to hit a recommended fish and chip shop at the bottom and find somewhere in the sunshine to sit and eat our anniversary lunch.

We called into the first little gift shop we passed and were pleased that we did. The owner very kindly shared with us a map of the village, and pointed out all the little cut throughs, as well as a less arduous way back up.

We slowly made our way down to the bottom, passing lots of quaint little cobbled footpaths leading in and out of the houses, most of which appear to have no vehicular access at all, so unpacking g a weekly shop must be a bit of a nightmare.

The lady in the gift shop had told us that all of the little access paths were open for public access so we wandered up and down a few marveling at the pretty little houses we found.

At the bottom there is a cafe and a couple of little moochy shops.  It was quite busy with people, having made their way down, deciding where to go next.

We had a mooch round a little antique shop before spotting a sign leading up some steps to the quarterdeck and I went up on a recce to find a lovely quiet and sheltered spot, overlooking the beach, with plenty of benches, which would be an ideal lunch spot.

It was then back to the chippy, tucked away down a little side street for fish and chips for Martin and Whitby scampi and chips for me.

We were soon sat in the sunshine, the mandatory selfies took and posted to Facebook, and enjoying some cracking fish and chips.  We would definitely pass on the recommendation, it was most certainly worth the walk down.
It was soon time to think about the climb back up the hill to the car and we took the advice we'd been given and went back a different way, in and out of the small cobbled alleys, sneaking peeks into peoples' front rooms and lives on the way.

It was a far easier trek back up than we thought it would be and it was just the very last bit that felt like a bit of an effort.

So, another lovely little place visited and stored away in the memory bank. If you're thinking of visiting Robin Hood's Bay, do. Don't be daunted by the walk and the steep hill, it's definitely worth the effort, especially if you have a fish and trip treat at the bottom.