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| Robin Hood's Bay |
Robin Hood's Bay is unusually both a Bay and a small fishing village on the North Yorkshire coast. Although the village has now extended up the hill where the car parks and larger accommodation are located, the main focus of attention is on the separate historic area at the bottom of the steep lanes.
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| Door Knocker, Robin Hood's Bay |
It's lifeblood seems to originate from events of the sea and walking around the village, I always get the feeling that it is a place that is full of smuggling history.
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| Roofs, Robin Hood's Bay |
Sailing back into history though, there's not a lot to find specifically about Robin Hood's Bay beyond the 15th century.
Legend suggests that the name comes from Robin Hood rescuing the local people from the French pirates who came to steal their boats and returning the assets to the people of the village.
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| Chapel Street, Robin Hoods Bay |
It might be unbelievable but then again as I take you on a walk around the village, everything is unbelievable.
Fishing and ... err .. smuggling (an 18th century tax evasion haven as it imported goods such as tea, tobacco and rum from mainland Europe) were the main industry but the geography of the village would be a determining factor as to why the former declined in the 19th century and the latter succeeded !
Whole families would be involved in the fishing industry by part owning a small boat or transporting the goods to other parts of Yorkshire for sale.
A short distance to the north, Whitby has a more accessible harbour and the fishing business still survives to this day.
Following a comment in the section below, I decided to revise the above image to straighten the verticals when I acquired the relevant program and expertise...
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| Old Post Office, Robin Hood's Bay |
In order not to tantalise you with art and photography, here are a few photos that depict the village
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| Old Bakery Tearooms, Robin Hood's Bay |
The Old bakery tearooms overhanging the river with it's wooden extension.
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| Robin Hood's Bay House |
The most recognised house in the village (title photo) seen here from a slightly different angle.
Tourism is the main industry these days for those who enjoy the romantic images of fishing villages from the past, artists and ... err ... photographers !
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| New Life !! |
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| Onwards and Upwards ! |
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| Guest House (Bramblewick Robin Hood's Bay) |
An author called Leo Walmsley used the village as a picturesque location of his Bramblewick books.
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| Muir Lea Stores, Robin Hoods Bay |
The village shop that seems to sell everything in all seasons !!
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| (Coast to coast walk, Robin Hood's Bay) |
Alfred Wainwright, the famous Lake District writer, artist and fellwalker, moved on to other projects later in life. One of which was to design a walk that went through glorious countryside across Northern England. The route which can be done in either direction goes through three National parks (Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors) but the favoured route is west to east where the walker has to dip their feet into the north sea to complete the walk ...
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| Tide watch !! |
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| Happy sailor in a window box ! |
I realise that I've missed a whole season out but I'm reminded that I must get those Christmas cards written for posting next as I don't want to be left out in the cold ....
This is a superb post......the best pictorial tour of Robin Hoods Bay I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteThe first image is a real belter...it's perfect.
If I may make a criticism. The last seven images...excluding the people on the slipway are not as good as the rest. The first fourteen are in a class of their own. Shot on two separate occasions perhaps? If I can't criticize then feel free to delete my ramblings.
PS. You'll not pull these buildings straight.
Adrian... Thanks for your praise and criticism. I have only been once with this camera to Robin Hood's bay albeit on 3rd Jan 2011. I don't consider myself to be a pro but aspire to that. Like my character, I try to put a bit of photographic fun into the posts but maybe it didn't work with the last two. I realise that there are 3 programs to buy for the computer and not all to do with photography, time as you'll notice by my reduced amount of posts recently is becoming increasingly difficult. The time factor of simple photo editing and reduction in space is difficult to fit in with my career. I'm going to start a series after new year which will show that I have been a busy person in the latter half of this year and it wasn't always pleasant. There was a risk recently that I might not continue with this project here but have inspiration from at least one person to continue in the format I continue to use. Thanks once again for your comments, it tells me what my next step should be.
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you for posting on Robin Hood's Bay! I am more than ever inclined to visit there after seeing and reading this post.Every one of those photos, with the possible exception of stepping into that cold water, lures me in!I like the composition of your 'new life' photo.I think it's interesting what Adrian had to say. As I read his criticism and then looked at the photos again, what I'm noticing is that except for the last 7 photos, perhaps, every one of the others would be a stand-alone photo or poster. (although I think the last one fits in that category too). Maybe it's just because many of us tend to like that well-composed, close-up, object type of photo. So, to me, the majority of the photos are compositions, whereas the last ones (minus the dog photo) seem more like snapshots. I'm not a photographer, but I found Adrian's comment very interesting.I was going to name a favorite, but I have so many that I can't narrow it down to one or two. These are beautiful, J!! and please don't stop posting your tours. Even if they become few and far between, I love knowing that they are there.
ReplyDeleteSomeone please let that poor dog into the building and give him a cookie! I'm buying.
Thanks for the reply. I dislike sycophancy. I try to be positive. No problem with this post, one of your bestest. I would like to go pro. I look at Joe Cornish...he shoots crap and middling but doesn't often or ever publish it. He has an editor.
ReplyDeletePS or PS Elements is essential. The camera costs a fortune. Lenses even more. So sixty quid is a small price to pay for an edge to an image. Have fun because it is.
Fishing villages have a specific charm about them, and I think you've managed to bring it out in your captures from Robin Hood's Bay village.
ReplyDeleteJudging by your pictures , Robin Hood's Bay seems to be good not only for fishing and smuggling but also an ideal place for photography.
This journey around Robin Hood's bay, brings back so many memories of family holidays spent in that area of Yorkshire over the years.
ReplyDeleteMy ancestors on one side of my family were all based around the Whitby area until my Grandfather had to move due to lack of work opportunities in the area.
Another grand post J......reminded me of the last time I visited Robin Hood's Bay which was on the day I completed the coast to coast walk....You have captured the feel of the place very well for me here.....
ReplyDeleteFor the record..I would be sad if you felt that you had to stop posting your Tours.They are one of my 'internet delights'.
-Trevor
Jay I think you tell a great story with your pictures. I think there are two types of photographic blogs or rather blogs with photos. Some that go for one or two very high quality photos, that wait for the right lighting or conditions and take a lot of care to set up the shot. and I might add take a fair amount of time prcessing those photos. Then there are the blogs that hope to have the best pictures possible given the time, lighting and conditions of your visit. Sometimes pictures that are less than perfect can still tell a story. I think you are doing great as you are as I can appreciate how much time goes into a post!!
ReplyDeleteFrom a photography standpoint, this place seems like a dream come true. Winding streets, quaint doors and buildings. AND, such history! Really wonderful captures you have here.
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasure to scroll through these photos, then go back to the top and read the text. I love the street scenes and I've always liked the way you present a place honestly. The photographs are beautiful.
ReplyDeletebeatiful lanes and beatiful...roofs:)
ReplyDeleteI like also the localization, it's romantic to look through the window and sea the sea:)
Everyone ... Thanks for all your comments so far, the location is a dream to photograph, it's just a question of keeping a watchful eye out constantly.
ReplyDeleteAdrian ... I appreciate what you say about the buildings, you've been saying it for some time stretching as far back as Wells Cathedral & I even commented about it on your page. I'm not happy about my lack of progress on it either but it'll have to wait until after Christmas as I have two large travel projects in the New Year that need paying before Christmas & one of them is very very large....
Everyone ... if you can't wait until then, feel free if you have any spare cash ;-)
Midwest to Midlands... everything I've ever thought in the last year about blogging & what I do, you've masterly condensed it into a paragraph.
I'm not in the business of defending my photos but I want to put something in perspective about the last 7 images. As I said earlier, this set was taken on Bank Holiday 3rd January 2011 and this was only my third outing with this camera at less than a month old. I was struggling with a few problems of having to re-format the card & had other technical issues experimenting with snow shots on the North York moors on the way here. I had never ever used a 24mm lens before as on previous cameras I opted to zoom up from 50mm so this was experimentation. Looking back through the album it may surprise everyone to know that I took 127 photos between 1:46pm & 3:24pm with 30min late lunch break, it's a difficult and time consuming challenge to limit the final cut to 20. RHB is famous in it's own right for the Coast 2 Coast walk and I wanted to include that story. The photo of the sea was more an experiment with the light on the stones (click to enlarge). The shop was all about colour & selling seaside objects on a freezing cold day & the last three ... well if you don't know what I'm about by now ...... I'm not giving the secret of my blog up just yet :-)
Dear J..
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comments on every post of mine.. It us sometimes hard for me to find a translation for the German poets..
But nevertheless I keep trying!!
It is so nice to "travel" together with you and your camera!!
Good Gosh Man! I am putting this on my list of "Must Travels"!!
ReplyDeleteI had heard about this "Walk" while visiting Australia from a couple who had done it. I was facinated then and now I must do it!! Your pictures pulled me right in!! I fell in love with all of England when I was doing a home exchange in Lymington Hampshire. So beautiful!
Thank you for inspiring me!
Merry Christmas!
Debbie's Travels