Journey of the Hosteller

The cliffs between Robin Hood’s Bay and Ravenscar, looking south. I n early January, the cold still had its claws sunk deep into the Yorkshire soil. April may be the cruellest month (an assertion that I still find doubtful, sorry T.S.), but January is often the bleakest. With the cold of the start of the year, however, comes the dramatic low winter Sun that makes walking a delight. As you may have noticed, I will never stop extolling the photogenic virtues of that light. Ravenscar was a childhood mainstay of mine, and I have fond memories of fossil-hunting along this particularly rich stretch of the Jurassic Coast. When the tide allows, there is ample opportunity for seal-watching (from a respectful distance, of course), as they bask on an outcropping just away from the headland (‘South Cheek’, on Google Maps - I confess I have never heard it referred to as such). On this visit, however, the tide wouldn’t allow for beach access without approaching the seals too closely. There are a mul...

Top Withens, as viewed from a crook by a creek. January’s chill (and what a chill it is even now, here in the UK) could not deter my thirst for good walking. So it was that my partner and I ventured out into the frosty landscape, bound for the wily, windy moors. For this is, of course, Brontë country. YHA Haworth, in the West Yorkshire village made famous for its association with that literary family, is a grand Victorian Gothic mansion, with all the trappings of former wealth you might expect from a building of that era. Painted glass and ornately carved oaken inner balconies abound. As undeniably beautiful as the building itself is, the surrounding moor surpasses it. The first evening of our short stay, we gained our bearings and explored Penistone Hill, Lower Laithe Reservoir, and the village itself, even spotting the heritage steam train (the 45212 LMS ‘Black 5’ to be precise) on its way from Haworth station on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway line. The walking routes are v...

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Well, perhaps. If I were to compare my blog posts to the filmography of Nicolas Cage, as my wandering mind dictates that I must, today's entry would have no more natural a fit than Gone in 60 Seconds . Just as the world breathed a collective sigh of relief to have avoided the millennium bug, and greeted with grateful tears that Nicolas Cage vehicle(!), so too must you welcome this flight of fancy disguised as a blog post about YHA Penzance and YHA Youlgreave after the tumult of more detailed entries. Let us start 2025 with a whimsical energy, guaranteed to never wear. “But why?” I hear you ask. “Why these two in particular?” But your question is answered only by an enigmatic smile, that to the viewer schooled in the human condition (or to those who have read the title) suggests that the solution is simple: I simply forgot that I had visited these two hostels. Their inclusion was recently kindly recommended to me by a mo...