THE NORTH YORK MOORS - A Northern Coast to Coast Walk: From St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay - page 123

Only a final scamper to Robin Hood's Bay remains, and we'll do that on all fours, if need
be!
Now go right, following the coastal path, a popular, well-used and well-
worn route that requires little description. Accompanying it most of the
way is either a fence or a wall, sometimes both, usually on the seaward
side, each field boundary crossed by stiles, as the route curves round
North Cheek (Ness Point).
Shortly after passing a coastguard lookout station, the broad sweep of
Robin Hood's Bay finally comes into view, a tremendous, uplifting moment
as you gaze across the bay to South Cheek (Old Peak) and Ravenscar,
where the Lyke Wake Walk, our sometime companion, meets its end.
Eventually, at a gate go left along a path enclosed by hawthorns to
emerge on a grass track in front of a row of houses. This leads on to Mount
Pleasant North, at the end of which turn left on the main road down into
Robin Hood's Bay, ending in a final and steep descent, through the charm-
ing cottages and shops of the old part of the village, more correctly known
as Baytown, to reach the seashore.
ROBIN HOOD'S BAY
Legend has it that Robin Hood found a quiet bay on the edge of the northern moors and
decided on this as an ideal retreat from danger. Here, under the name of Simon Wise,
he returned time and time again, keeping a small fleet of fishing boats, which he used
to put to sea whenever danger threatened.
The North Sea, Robin Hood's Bay
The village that bears his name was once a fishing community, with not a little em-
phasis on smuggling, though it has now caught the imagination of tourists, and is a
popular holiday and weekend resort. Its houses and shops perch precariously at or
above the water's edge, in imminent danger of collapse or flooding, many of its red-