Favourite thing to do on holiday! Walk along a beautiful beach. Or sit stationary while the dog is walked while I take photos!

From the cottage we were never more than thirty minutes to a beach and this week we (and the dog) have been spoilt for picturesque beaches, harbours and beach views.

My favourite, possibly, by a grain of sand was probably Saltburn. We took an hour along different twisty, turny, steep and long stretches of roads to get there on our last day. And even that had some of the quaintest Victorian seafronts with colourful beach huts, ramshackle pier and shops up windy steep paths and stairs. It was fairly busy for a Saturday in August, but not the busiest place we’ve been to all week.

The dog had his best life when we discovered a pet shop full of doggy wonders and bought him some treats of doggy delight! He needs a new collar and the owner told us they are advising against leather collars these days but she didn’t have a range she recommended for our sight hound.

And we had delicious sandwiches at the little deli over the road. We forgot to buy toilet rolls (a Sainsbury was ignored for quaintness) so we stopped off at the Sleight Spar and a bottle of local Whitby gin was bought in the butcher cum deli next door.

There was some excitement when the coastguard helicopter was spotted having to rescue people round the bay possibly a little bit further than this cave. The tide came in and went out alarmingly fast and we did hear that people were rescued after getting trapped by the tide.

This coast was delightfully unspoiled and there was something for everyone if you don’t get vertigo (which as regular readers know I do) which meant slow moving, stick walking, and clinging to people and handrails all week. Beauty comes at a cost for me. I did miss some of the treacherous trails and coastal wonders which my more intrepid companions managed.

Finished off the last day with strawberry tarts! Yum!