Day 86 Runswick Bay to Middlesborough

 

 Date: Monday 8^th August 2011   Distance: 34.18 Miles

 

 We’d had a lovely quiet night and were ready again for the up out of Runswick Bay. Then it was down all the way to Staithes cycling right by the coast. 

 

It was a really steep down to the harbour that would have been full of fishing boats in Victorian times but now has only a few cobbles. Staithes is at the bottom of a narrow valley and is surrounded by high cliffs.  Large boulders and a breakwater protect it from the sea. The tide was well out today. The houses are packed closely together and it was hard to see how we could reach the other side of the water to carry on Northwards. A little way back up the hill we found a little footbridge and then we climbed up the other side, past the end house with a tableau of gnomes, mountain rescuing among the rocks in the garden. We think we saw a Merlin(bird!) and there was plenty of sea kale by the roadside.

 

It was a long time climbing the 205 metres to the mobile phone mast and it was spitting with rain. There were good views looking back but the sky was angry. We had only done 4.2 miles! Then a lovely sweep down, with rain, sharp with ice particles hitting our faces, ended with a walk at the bottom of the hill because banking cars had taken off the surface at the bend.

 

We were at Skinningrove and we couldn’t find anywhere for refreshments. The houses are quite modern. It does have a fish and chip shop and a Mining Museum .We didn’t go to it but Iron industry once flourished here. Today it seemed depressing in its lacklustre! Recreational fishing happens and the brook, still rust coloured from iron ore waste, flooded in 2000.

 

Another walk up hill, passing several factory- like complexes, took us to what we thought was another part of the village though it looked more like a small town. Howden’s huge yard was the centre for quite a drama. Fire engine, police and an ambulance all turned in after hearing sirens going for some time. It looked as if someone was stuck in the tipped forward front of a lorry!

 

We crossed the main street and then followed the cycleway again, wrinkling our noses at the muck- spreader, who’s path we followed. After climbing another 150 metres we reached a roundabout with a model of a mineshaft wheel in the middle. This route we were taking can take you all the way to the Orkneys. Hard to believe when we find ourselves going round a hospital car park, through little streets with terraced housing and dipping our heads to fit beneath the arch of a tiny bridge under the Railway. Gates have been difficult here and Bob had to turn the handlebars several times to get them through. Another annoyance was the lack of mobile phone signal, especially when we needed to arrange a meet up with my sister and her family the next evening. There was a mast here and at last we made contact!

 

It was downhill into Saltburn and the milometer said 53 mile per hour.                   Could this be right? We took the bike along the prom past the pier, considerably shorter these days but it nonetheless it won a prize in 2009. To us it seemed to be just an arcade, a metal platform and railings out into the sea.

To the right of the pier, Lifeguards watched the sea, between the black and white flags. Rougher sea to the left had several surfers braving the waves. We sat in a seafront cafe on high sprung stools, eating jacket potatoes and watching the seascape.

We rode on into Redcar under a dramatic sky along the promenade edged with sea kale and struck by the character of the groynes here. There was a bumpy bit of road and then prom again.

 

We passed a building housing the oldest lifeboat in the world. We could see it through the glass but it wasn’t open. There was a town clock tower that looked interesting. The cycleway took us across several busy roads that showed lack of proper planning. As we exited Redcar through housing estates and by the racecourse, some small children tried to exchange a partially drunk bottle of lemonade for a ride on the tandem. In this day and age we would have been accused of abduction and we didn’t fancy the lemonade anyway!

 

Later we passed several beautiful alms houses and then also in the conservation area of Kikleatham, the Old Hall Museum ,first opened as a free school in 1709, and the Owl Centre. There was a cafe and interestingly named “Princess Exhibition” but we had passed it before we saw what it was.

 

The Wilton Chemical Works was close by, on our right but then beside the road became forested  and there were deer signs. The Plant was then hidden from view. This road seemed to be the major into Middlesborough, luckily there was a cyclepath at the side.

 

We decided to try Ormsby Hall for a coffee break but there was a sudden storm and the heavens opened. We kept surprisingly dry against a wall and under 2 old trees despite the amount of water being pushed around by the steady flow of traffic. When it subsided enough to leave we were disappointed to find the N.T. house closed. There was a cafe in a park later on but with unstable weather we decided to carry on.

We took a right turn, for taxis, buses and bikes only, off the  main road which took us past many schools and colleges. This ended at Tescos in a suburb of Middlesborough. The huge roundabout had a cycle route round it and then we took the green bridge over the Tees. This bridge is the first vertical lifting one in Britain and is the largest of its kind in the world. It has not been used for vertical lifting since 1990 however but it has been given preservation status.

 

We had avoided the unpleasant aspects of industrial urbanity and now we were on a track beside the river watching cormorants, arctic terns and oyster catchers. A small freshwater lake was on our right and signs telling visitors about the wildlife. At the end of this, without having to go on anymore roads, we reached the back of the Premier Inn.

 

This place had a bike lock up for a redeemable £10 deposit. Unfortunately there was no real ale but we enjoyed the Beefeater meal.