Rumination: Summer Jollies (with Trains, Birds & the Night Skies)

Featuring: Ruswarp to Whitby - 1.5 miles, via the Rail & Riverside Path. 07/09/23

Esk View cottage might be the
 best letting we've scored so far!

Back in May, I pontificated some on the real value of a holiday break away from home, having let the disappointing opening of the year pass away and getting the spirits lifted with a warm week away on the Yorkshire Coast to get my walking year going properly, and three months on from the revivifying benefits of my Spring Jollies, I can tell you that exactly the same benefit can be felt at the End Of Summer, having endured two of the most frustrating months of poor weather, low energy and lacking motivation, heading away from the persistent gloom and changeability that has blighted July and August to be rewarded with the bright and warm week and the universe knew I spiritually needed. It’s another Friday-Friday let that we’re taking, going back to the coastal edge of the North York Moors after Mum expressed an interest in staying in the vicinity of Whitby, and I pulled up a very plausible pair of walks on the moors that got plotted when I was first seeking out rail trails at the start of my walking escapades in 2012, having managed to find a cottage at a significant reduction in price for the week after the end of the schools Summer break, just outside the town in the village of Ruswarp (which is pronounced Ruh-sup, if you were wondering), in a peaceful little idyll of its own, away from the tight streets and general throng of visitors that comes with this most beloved of coastal settlements. Even arriving having passed over moors under the heaviest of damp palls hanging in the air via the A169 does not do anything to temper our enthusiasm that we feel for Esk View cottage, and even on arrival we know that we’ve scored ourselves a gem that will be absolutely ideal for our rest and relaxation needs, amply sized and quietly out of the way at the end of its close, right on the north bank of the river Esk, with its own terrace and directly across from the railway bridge, which means that there will be entertainment to be had, even when settled in at our holiday base, be it on the rails above the water’s surface, or on the banks and their surroundings. 

I was already aware of the setting when the booking was made, as every letting we take needs to be judiciously studied beforehand, and since I’ve become wedded to using Live Rail Record for all my train observing needs, our trainspotting could be done with some amount of precision, without too much aimless waiting around in anticipation of the next service being due, but I don’t think I was prepared for just how entertaining it would be to have the North Yorkshire Moors railway services tootling past your backyard as they share the Esk Valley line with Network Rail, as there’s something so bracing about the sound and smell of steam trains in your atmosphere. It would not be a lie to note that nearly every service got observed as it went past across the course of the week, with LMS 5428 ‘Eric Treacy’ being our regular steam turn initially, with diesels 31128 ‘Charybdis’ and D7628 ‘Sybilla’ being the alternates in the mornings and late afternoon, and the Black 5 gets observed from all available angles when I'm venturing out especially to Ruswarp station or from the road bridge, with the only observational disappointments being the southward aspect placing us opposite the sun and the fact that all services into Whitby run tender first, and there’s no real risk of train ennui setting in across the week either, as the last couple of days feature SR 926 ‘Repton’ as the steam operator. Of course, there’s real trains as well, running the local Northern service to Teesside, and way beyond on some occasions, and it’s good to see that the line has class 158 and 156 Sprinter units running on it, to give the local travellers some amount of comfort on the 90+ minute ride out to Middlesborough, despite them being over 30 years old at this point, as they’re a step up from the 150s that I’d expected to see running this essentially rural service, I’d just which there were a few more of them operating daily, and also running a service that’s viably accessible from West Yorkshire, but we won’t be seeing the latter as long as the NYMR exists and the Malton - Pickering line remains absent from the rail landscape. 

5428 on the Esk Bridge.

31128 on the Esk Bridge.

156 Unit on the Esk Bridge.

158 Unit on the Esk Bridge.

D7628 on the Esk Bridge.

926 on the Esk Bridge.

Of course, it would be remiss of us to not use the preserved railway when its railhead at Grosmont (pronounced Grow-mont, it seems) is only 20 minutes' drive from our base, so the entirety of our Tuesday can be spent riding the rails in the lower Esk Valley and over the moors to Ryedale, once we’ve eaten the cost of tickets for the NYMR, which aren’t cheap for a day’s outing, but do offer you the option of being used an annual pass, which virtually guarantees we shall be making a return trip in 2024 while they get all the tourist money up front, so as to cover the costs of the operation that have been hurting them since the Pandemic years and continue into this current age of everything being ridiculously expensive. There are four locomotives to run on the variety of trains on offer when we arrive at 10.30am, but the initial diesel run to Whitby is delayed as 31128 dies on cue, and 5428 has to be switched onto our service so that the surprisingly high number of day-trippers can be run out for their excursion to the coast, while we all-day riders can stay for as long as it takes to get a brew at No.54 Bistro and pick up lunchtime supplies at the Co-op (as the desired F'n'C box option is far too pricey), before we run back to Grosmont and endure another long shunting session as trains need their engines swapped over again, and BR Standard tank 80136 can take us south, three hours after our initial boarding. The 18 miles down to Pickering is a trip we know well, having done it a whole lot in the mid 1980s, and most recently in 2016, but it's not a jaunt that I'll ever tire of, pulling up the climb to Goathland and then tootling merrily down through Newtondale, and then back again on a surprisingly rapid turnaround, filling out the afternoon with enough distance to feel like you're getting your money's worth, and still having time for a second jaunt to Whitby and back with diesel haulage from D7628 before the whole operation runs out of available services, concluding at 5.45pm, only 20 minutes behind schedule despite all the shuffling of trains that we were compelled to endure earlier in the day.

5428 at Grosmont.

5428 at Whitby.

80136 at Grosmont.

31466 at Levisham.

80136 at Pickering.

D7628 at Whitby.

The behaviour of, and around the river Esk is our other point of intense interest, as we observe the rise and fall of the waters thanks to the tidal effect of being so close to the coast, with a obviously huge range to observe as the rise of the sea causes the freshwater flow to back up twice a day, which is all intensely fascinating to see with fresh eyes when you are use to the relatively predictable flows of the water-courses of West Yorkshire, and such a dynamic waterway ensures we have birdlife aplenty to watch at relatively close range, which almost causes as much interest as the trains as both seabirds and regular riverside wildlife in our stretch, convincing me further that Twitching could easily be a hobby of mine that's never been properly revealed. Obviously ducks are the main feature as this year's families of fledgling Mallards vie for supremacy on the grassy banks, while the Sparrow and Blue Tits in the local hedges emerge to demolish the nut supplies from the local bird-feeders every morning, while Robins, unphotographable Wrens, and Pigeons, that I will charitably credit as Rock Doves, make irregular appearances around the deckings, while we also see those most imperious of birds, in their manners at least, in Jackdaws and Herring Gulls strutting around on the various railings and perches thick they are also trying to make the boldest territorial statement as possible. Heron sightings are common, and not nearly as unusual as they felt before I started spending my time out of doors, and I'm absurdly happy that our sightings of a posing Cormorant and the spindly legged Little Egret are both called from memory, meaning that my time spent with my RSPB book of European Birdlife has not been wasteful, while there's also a sole Moorhen and an almost fully grown Bewick's Swan cygnet floating around too, but our boldest sighting of the lot is a Kingfisher, and not just its bright blue streak darting by at speed, as our most colourful of birds parks itself on the far riverbank in plain sight to be photographed almost at will, at the maximum magnification my camera can achieve.

Cormorant.

Little Egret.

Heron.

Kingfisher.

Robin.

Rock Dove.

Jackdaw.

Blue Tit.

Sparrows.

Mallard Ducks.

Bewick's Swan Cygnet.

Herring Gull.

The other consideration which came with our property letting, was the wide sky panorama to the south, which would hopefully allow for some stargazing after a long summer where no sighting were made since Venus dropped from view at the start of July, and cloud buried the possibility if seeing anything for over seven weeks, and while we might be too late for the August Blue Moon, or the recent opposition of Saturn, we still have the latter boldly rising high in the south-east, parked in Aquarius and teasing an oval shape when photographed with my camera that's really not up to the task of astro-photography, which is just as like likely to be motion blur as it is actually sighting the rings. The waning gibbous moon, and Jupiter also rise in the east at the start of the week, making a relatively close approach in the constellation of Aries over the nights of the 3rd and 4th, to be spotted through the trees as staying up to the small hours to snare the best possible views feels like a fool's errand to, though the clear skies and some excellent placement allows me to capture maybe my best view yet of the the four Galilean moons as they orbit their way around, and having these planets back in our sights in the late Summer aspect has it feeling like we've come full circle since I started making my regular observations in the fading months of 2022. Otherwise, the skies are the darkest I've experienced since staying in Northumberland in 2010, but there's no sign of the Milky Way or the Andromeda galaxy to be had from down here, and I'll not be having Mum drive us out onto the moors for a night sky session, despite the excellent reputation of the National Park for lack of light pollution, and thus we'll have to be satisfied with the Summer Triangle, namely Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila, as it takes pride of place at the sky's apex whenever we head out for a gaze, while the rest of our Summer panorama feels slightly disappointing, confirming the lesson that Patrick Moore taught is years ago, that the time of year when stargazing is most appealing as an outdoor task is also the time when the skies are at their most visually barren and in a state of perpetual twilight. 

The Summer Triangle: Deneb, Vega and Altair 2/9

Waning Gibbous Moon 2/9

Saturn 2/9

Jupiter and Moon 2/9

 

Moon and Jupiter 3/9

Jupiter and the Galilean Moons 3/9

Moon and Jupiter 4/9

I probably ought to share some thoughts on the other aspects of our break away, which also featured a planned encounter with Mum's old friends from Skipton, who came out to Whitby for a long weekend of their own, who we could meet up with on Saturday afternoon to join the tourist throng on the last weekend of the Summer holidays, and to have a stroll around the harbour and the old town, to catch up over coffee in the Cornish Bakery and a fish supper at Trencher's restaurant, and their presence also give Mum some bonus company while I'm out on the moors on Sunday, and grants us permission to entertain in the evening as they come around for dinner, getting in our proper meal quotient for the week. Monday afternoon has us take our first beach opportunity, as we ride out to enjoy the seasonal sunshine at Sandsend, parking up by East Row beck and taking a stroll on the sands as I show up the benefit of multi-purpose footwear and Mum finds the value of walking with a stick on uneven surfaces, taking in the coastal views and air as we seek Whitby Jet, or any other interesting stones, on the beach before the inevitable breaking for drinks at Sandside Cafe, high above the sea wall, to contemplate the temporal distance back to our previous visits here, in 2000 and 1982. After our failure to do so in May, we need to test out the fare of the local Pub, taking Thursday lunch in The Bridge in Ruswarp, and I'll have to drop a strong recommendation on their process and portion sizes, with the Hot Meat sandwich with Gravy being an excellent way of getting rid of the Sunday Roast offcuts and proving fortification for another bonus round of walking as the Rail and River-side path that runs downstream to Whitby needs to be paced, to tie our residence hear to where we walked in the Spring, entirely manageable as a short stroll out, feeling like the sort of path that simply needs to exist to satisfy casual curiosity, and hugging close to the railway line, despite not being offered as a right of way on any map.

Whitby Old Town.

Whitby Harbour.

East Row Beck, Sandsend.

Sandsend Beach.

The Bridge Inn, Ruswarp.

Ruswarp Station.

It's only a forty minute trip, and not one delayed by trainspotting as nothing is scheduled to pass in our window, through there's plenty of interest to be had as we go, taking in the shift of the Esk from freshwater to saltwater, and passing under the high redbrick spans of Larpool viaduct, which will never gets old regardless of how many times it's encountered, from up close or afar, and progressing down to the view of Whitby Abbey rising above the harbour and town from as far back as the passage under the spans of the A171 bypass road, and coming on down by the marinas and the extensive carparks at the dockside and on the old railway goods yards, where more fish than is readily imaginable used to be shipped out inland, generations ago. Mum can pick me up as I arrive at the town station, and we can drive out to West Cliff for our second coast visit, landing among the high terraces of the new town and descending for a beach walk down the cliff paths by Whitby Pavilion and along to Battery Point, where the inevitable ice-cream break needs to be made, before we walk along the West Pier and watch the atmospheric sea mist drift in to shroud the Abbey in a dramatic and Bram Stoker-inspiring fashion before we circuit back up the Khyber Pass steps and up to the Whalebone Arches and the Captain Cook monument, having witness just how quickly the mood of the coastal weather can change. Finally, taking the long way around homewards on Friday allows us to visit Mount Grace priory, splendid in its isolation below the wooded slopes of the Cleveland Hills despite its proximity to the A19, where the Carthusian monastery proves to be an absolute revelation to us, completely different in character to every other abbey complex we've visited, as the enforced solitude of the monks creates something quite different from the fraternities of other brotherhoods, established in the 15th century with only a modestly scaled church and the reconstructed monks' cell presents an appearance of an apartment and garden dwelling that's quite at odds with the impression of enforced austerity and poverty that we'd both had about the 'silent' orders.

Larpool Viaduct.

Larpool Viaduct, again.

The A171 Bypass Bridge.

The Goods Shed and former Goods Yards, Whitby.

The West Cliff terraces.

West Cliff Beach.

The Whalebone Arch, with Sea Mist.

Mount Grace Priory church.

The Inner Cloister, with Monk's Cell.

The reconstructed Monks Cell, with garden.

The benefit of a good holiday really cannot be understated, like I said back in May and at the headline of this piece, as a stretch in a comfortable and unfamiliar location allows the disappointments of an absolutely garbage Summer season can be cast away, and you can focus entirely on doing what you enjoy doing most, putting your work life and over-familiar surrounding away to recharge your brain before the press into Autumn comes along, and even if the End of Summer probes to be as disappointing as the spell that preceded it, we have this week to recall most positively, as both Mum and I feel, in its immediate wake, that this has been the best week away that we've had together, one that we'll be recalling for a good while.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 6139.6 miles

2023 Total: 217.4 miles

Up Country Total: 5,647.8 miles

Solo Total: 5797 miles

5,000 in my 40s Total: 4739.5 miles

Next Up: Getting back into it in West Yorkshire!