This series of seventeen photographs, taken at the beginning of last summer, incorporates a York sunset in bands of gold, pink, and blue; a Mallard duck and her ducklings; three views of the countryside from a northbound train along the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle; an exterior walkway emerging from the departments of physics and electronics at the University of York; and various shots of the North York Moors around Cloughton and Cloughton Wyke; ending with a perspective upon the corner of my bedroom.
Cloughton is a small village about four miles north of Scarborough. The walk from Cloughton to Hayburn Wyke is one of the suggested routes largely within the North York Moors national park: extending for several miles along the Cleveland Way, overlooking a stretch of coastline afforded heritage coast status for its array of wildlife and outstanding natural beauty. The walk starts at the village’s old railway station, now converted into a tea room; traverses an old railway line; and reaches Cloughton Wyke before turning up and onto the Cleveland Way, finally descending at Hayburn Wyke with its pebbled beach and waterfall.
‘Wyke’ is a fairly common term in Yorkshire for such small openings onto the sea. The word ostensibly comes from the Old Norse vík, indicating a creek, inlet, or bay. Within Yorkshire, it has persevered with a distinct reference to the high moorland which hangs over the sea, and to the paths from this moorland down to the shore.
