Whitby Walking Tours

As we sink into the glories of autumn and Halloween begins to loom, the ghost walks are in full swing. But I haven't really said much this year about my favourite walk - the Walking Tour of Whitby. I meet with so many interesting people who privately book this tour and often get to know them a little better than the good folks who come on the ghost walks, because there is a personal connection made during the booking process.

Often people will come to celebrate an occasion, a wedding group, a hen party, a family or group of friends who have gathered for a visit to Whitby; groups of people who often come together from all over. And taking the tour is part of their Whitby experience.

It is also highly popular with schools, universities and colleges, and can contain specific content as requested.

Over the winter I will be making a series of tester recordings and short videos which will be uploaded to the website so that people can get more of an idea of what is on offer, and get a taste for the unique atmosphere of Whitby and this tour.

I meet the groups at the top of the 199 steps outside St. Mary's church and we begin on the edge of the graveyard with the spectacular views over the town, piers and harbour, looking out to sea and towards the cliffs of Sandsend and Kettleness. Iconic views lending themselves to iconic stories; here I give an overview of the extraordinary history of this ancient town nestled on the estuary of the Esk, great salmon river. Whitby - a town forged by its relationship with the wild North Sea and isolated by the North York Moors, one of the wildest landscapes in Britain - a supernatural landscape cloaked in superstition and old beliefs.

Whitby - From the dinosaurs to the modern day, the only problem I have on this tour is how to arrest the endless stream of rich history, curious stories and local folklore that stuff my cheeks and tame them into a rich and entertaining experience that is only constrained by a frame of time necessary to contain the tour.

The tour lasts a little over an hour, sometimes longer on request and finishes down in the old town in one of the yards.