Esk Valley & Runswick Coast

The Esk Valley runs from the high moors of the North York Moors down through a narrow river corridor to Whitby. The River Esk threads small villages, stone bridges and wooded banks, and a rural network of lanes and footpaths follows its course. A local rail service runs along parts of the valley, crossing cuttings and viaducts and serving stations that sit close to the river. Historic mill sites and old packhorse routes still mark how water and transport shaped settlement patterns here, while farmed fields and pockets of semi-natural woodland fill the slopes between moorland and village.

Runswick Coast sits as a small bay and village on the North Yorkshire coast, where a curving sandy shore meets sandstone and shale cliffs. The foreshore is a regular spot for fossil finds, where eroding layers reveal ammonites and other Jurassic remains. A coastal path runs along the cliff tops and links the village to nearby headlands, and narrow accesses lead down to slipways and fishing cottages that reflect the area’s coastal working history. The shoreline and cliffs are read in terms of geology and old coastal industry rather than large visitor infrastructure.