retiredmartin

April 2026. Skinningrove. North Yorkshire.

It wasn’t until the last few years of Beer Guide completion that I really got to appreciate the Scottish coastline, but I always assumed 30 years of ticking meant I knew most of our seaside villages.

But apparently not. A night in the campervan in a car park in Loftus (the council will close it down if I name it, even though I personally grew the economy by 30%), leads me to Skinningrove.

A lovely 20 minute walk through the hills overlooking the old ironworks and a dedicated Land of Iron museum that looks so exciting I’m making Mrs RM come with me next visit.

Skinningrove still has a steelworks in specialist form, but not much else.

No pub, the mysterious “Sheila’s General Dealer” temporarily closed, the chip shop shut by 3,

and the new micropub carved into the cliffs having hit planning issues.

At leastr there’s still pigeon fancying,

in a hut that competes with the Wakefield Labour Club in the form over function stakes.

Talking of huts….

ChatGPT reckons those are fisherman’s storage huts. And ChatGPT is never wrong.

All sound a bit sleepy ? Oddly, then, there’s some really classy places for your holiday.

Plenty of late afternoon visitors to the beach,

the very definition of unspoilt gem.

“Not much good with a chippy and a pub, RM”.