Yorkshire walks – Cloughton to Hayburn Wyke
26 May 2005
Hayburn Wyke isn't accessible by road, so it's a special, quiet spot, reached via a walk down to the sea through woodland.
After
following the clifftop path from Cloughton Wyke, the National Trust sign
marks the boundary of Hayburn Wyke, a wooded area leading down to a small
pebbled cove.
For more information, and maps, see the foot of the page.
The path is steep and descent, particularly when it's muddy, requires concentration, so you don't fall on your backside. Though if concentrating too much on the ground, you might miss the beautiful effects of greenery at so many levels, from the tops of the trees down to the woodland floor. Perhaps at its best here, in late May, all fresh and lush after spring rain.
Here, as in so many parts of our countryside, on so many stretches of public footpath, our progress is helped by carefully constructed steps, gates and stiles. These steps downwards were particularly appreciated on this rather muddy and steeply descending section of the path, as without them we would have slid down this muddy bank in an totally ungraceful and possibly dangerous fashion.
When you emerge from the trees and the steep and winding path, you walk out onto a large rocky platform, looking out across an expanse of pebbled beach. We arrived late afternoon – this photo was taken at 5pm.
A small waterfall emerges from the wooded area, onto the beach.
Though we met one person on the path through the woodland, when we arrived at this small bay there was absolutely no one else around. Bliss.
The beach is pebbles of every shape, size and colour. It's not the easiest surface to cross, and there was a fair bit of clumsy clambering around.
Though the area, and the whole walk, was generally free of the usually ubiquitous litter, there were a few areas at the bottom of the cliffs where rubbish had gathered behind rocks, presumably after being washed up from the sea. On one flat rock I saw this interesting ensemble, which appeared to be various found items from that debris, assembled as something resembling a shopping basket.
I imagine that this was put together by an unknown artist, and that the sea didn't create it. Though you never know.
I took so many photos of 'Variations on the Theme of Pebbles', that I had to include at least one.
There was also a fair amount of interesting driftwood on the beach, some worn smooth like the pebbles. This old tree though showed interesting indentations in the bark, resembling vegetation that may have once clung to its trunk.
As we left the beach, I wandered over to the wooden bridge that crosses the stream leading to the waterfall shown above. From the bridge is a clear view of Hayburn Wyke from the other angle, looking back down the coast towards Cloughton Wyke, and the way we had walked along the clifftop path.
We made the steep ascent back through the woods. A gap in the vegetation on the edge of the cliff allows this view of Hayburn Wyke below – though care is required to avoid falling off the cliff. It was early evening when this photo was taken. The sea doesn't look like we expect the north sea to look – but almost like it belongs in some more exotic location.