Because Fiona couldn't make it last week due to being ill we did a lovely Whitby walk today. We inspected the glacial till cliffs spending some time looking at the very interesting rocks. What I thought was a Shap granite last week is not. It is also a lot bigger than I thought it was and we will have to wait until the sea washes all the mud away from it. It certainly isn't going anywhere although it may get buried by the 100 foot high mud cliffs and bank above it.

The weather was sunny with a low haze in the air and plenty of cumulus clouds because it was warm. Then again when we got out of the car the north-east breeze felt very cold. We had a delightful cake and coffee apiece at a wonderful cafe, sat in two chairs just watching the people go by and commenting on the buildings. Nice, an oldies thing I think.

Because the tide was out and I thought it was continuing to go out although Fiona knew it was coming in we went along the East Beach of Whitby town to Saltwick Nab. Very interesting and I saw a 240 million-year-old riverbed complete with ripple marks in the fossilised sands. Several of these huge oblong shaped rocks had these. Really good. I kicked myself that I did not take the Whitby cliffs guide to the Jurassic because I could have understood the sequence of rocks a lot better. I will have this next time.

So, it was pretty obvious that Fiona was right and that the tide was coming in so I turned around to go back and saw that the small headland had about 10 feet of sand still uncovered and I knew it would be underwater within 15 min. I was not sure whether the bay beyond it was completely flooded so we jogged the 500 m to it just in case. What a hoot and I was genuinely worried because we wouldn't have got cut off but we would have definitely got our feet wet right up to the thighs as well. If I had hung around gawping at the  rocks another 15 min longer we may have got more than wet thighs. If any guy out there ever reads this: sometimes it is good to listen to your wife!

After that adventure Fiona was asleep within 20 min of being in the car and the lads were pleased to see us when we got back in that lovely puppy dog sort of way they do even though they are pretty big dogs these days. Woof woof! A magical trip out with a magical woman called Fiona Saunders-Priem.