My 5 day stay at Skinningrove for walking adventures by Katey Jane the Wild Thing Motorhome

Skinningrove Redcar and Cleveland North Yorkshire coast

My visit to Skinningrove from the 9th of October for 5 days along the North Yorkshire coastline after moving from the Moores due to an approaching storm.

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Skinningrove has been on my hit list for about two years. I happened to notice it on Google maps and thought that looks like an interesting place, but never knew it would even be in person.

One of the first major storms was heading down from the north and after watching the weather I thought the sea could get kind of interesting and dramatic, as I was out in the open on the Moores I knew 80-plus MPH winds could do major damage to the motorhome as it was a no-brainer to head to Skinningrove some 24 miles away.

I arrived at about 9 pm and the winds were already getting moody, when looking out the window of the motorhome I could see crashing waves and spray flying past the lights. Well, that night was so noisy, the rain bounding the motorhome and the wind sounding like a hurricane, I could not sleep so at about 7 am, I looked at the tide times, which was due at about 9 am I decided to take a walk along the beach front, heading to the jetty and wow, the waves were massive, it was my first ever sight of stormy seas like this. The views were simply spatula with waves about 15 feet high smashing against the jetty, and what impressed me was the jetty would judder and the strength of the sea.

As dawn broke I got to see the tall cliffs that disappeared in both directions and the beautiful beach heading off to the North. I took interest in the area's past so did some research and soon noticed the church in the village so decided to photograph that later in the week.

I thought I would try and mingle with the locals and met one of the last fishermen and his son and spent almost an hour talking about how Skinningrove changed mostly caused by the new sea defences that caused a change in the sands, blocking fishing boats from heading out and almost many tons of unwanted seaweed, that in turn has ruined their lives and as I told them English traditions have almost died out.

Walking along the stunning sandy beach that reaches for roughly a mile and a bit the next day the wind was still in the upper 30s, the sand was gliding along the beach, the noise of the sea crashing and I had the whole beach to myself until a lady came along trying to jog in the wind, we both laughed and said this is so cool! There's an old world war two pillbox that's slowly heading out to sea and just past that the cliffs become dramatic and are directly on the beach and tower far above. The beach ends in pile upon pile of rocks, boulders and pools which you could walk around but I didn't.

Back at the motorhome, I would sit having tea while watching the tide slowly come in and head up the river that runs through the village and most nights there would be lots of people, walking their dogs or sitting on the beaches enjoying the views, the only problem was the dog crap that was everywhere. in the grass, on the beach and along the path leading to the beach which is a disgusting sight.

The village has a run-down left to the elements look about it which is fine by me, and people were saying years ago outsiders were not welcome, car tyres slashed and violence was common which is just like my home town of Wisbech, but times changed, unlike my old town.

The next day I headed up along the cliff top, photographing the church and taking a look at the old steal works, there's an old diesel engine right in the corner near the cliff and if you headed along the clifftops you would eventually come to Redcar where that can be seen once you are past the old mine steam drove ventilation building. The mine shaft vent is an interesting site, you can go inside and see the giant shaft once used to pump air into the mines.

The views from the clifftops overlooking the sea are stunning no matter the weather or time of day, but early morning or dusk is when the beauty stands out. The sea takes on turquoise green colours turning to blue which I have always loved to see.

On the 5th and final night I sat up on the clifftops, overlooking Skinningrove and the sea thinking wow what a beautiful sight, it was mild for the time of year, sunny with no wind and felt sad to move on,laterthat night I moved around to Castleton back on the moors for a few weeks.

Katey Jane Andrews visited 9th October for 5 days in 2021 and wrote this blog in 2022
© Katey Jane photography

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