Sea kayak trip around Flamborough Head, 9 September 2023

The hottest summer this year came to England at the beginning of September. All week the temperature was above 25 degrees. Even in the north the sea was warm enough for swimming. We had recently been to the south coast of England with its chalk cliffs and decided that our northern cliffs should be just as good. We set off on a kayak trip around Flamborough Head. It's just over an hour's drive from York. We parked near Thornwick Bay Caravan Park and walked about three kilometres to Danes Dyke.

The red, blue and black lines show our track to Danes Dyke, kayaking and returning to the car. Shift-click on the track link will open it in nakarte.me.

We reached the beach at Danes Dyke. by around 11am. To our surprise, there were very few people on the beach for such a wonderful weather. Victor inflated the kayak and we set off.

Danes Dyke from the sea: a rather deep, forested gorge leads directly to the sea. Chalk cliffs approach it on both sides and a beautiful sandy beach stretches along the sea.

We were kayakuing along the cliffs and suddenly seals started to emerge here and there. We started taking pictures, but it was not easy. As soon as you pointed the lens, they disappeared, as if they were playing hide and seek with us.

We managed to capture this one several times: he even showed us his flippers before disappearing under the water.

The white cliffs are reflected in the water. Everything looks so different from the sea.

Sometimes young curious seals would swim behind our kayak. We would look back and there would be a whole procession of seals following us. We saw a guy lying on a paddleboard surrounded by a dozen seals.

Eventually we got to a place where there were a lot of them: some (probably males) were "standing" in the water, sticking their heads up. Were they asleep? They did not even dive under the water when we approached them.

A large group of seals. The solitary seals we met at the beginning probably live in this colony too. We would kayak into small coves and the seals would follow us.

A curious young seal.

There is a path to Selwicks Bay from the top of the cliffs, so there were lots of people on the beach, in the water, swimming, paddleboarding and kayaking. The seals don't come here.

The remaining stack in South Breil Bay is called Queen Rock. There used to be a King Rock next to her.

Chalk cliffs, arches and caves continue further north.

We kayaked into several caves. Some of them are interconnected.

We finished our trip at Thornwick Bay. There are two bays here separated by a double-headed rock with an arch in the middle.

We were very lucky with the weather. It was hot, but we didn't feel the heat on the water. There was hardly any wind or waves, so it was quite safe. The water was warm enough for swimming. Everything came together, and we had a wonderful trip. We were afraid at first that the seals would overturn our kayak, but they just followed us. It is amazing to see wild animals so close and realise that we live in the same world with them.