Gorse at Long Nab – Card

The Cleveland Way is one of the shorter national trails, beginning in Helmsley in North Yorkshire. The path takes you to the coast at Saltburn by the Sea, and then all along the coastal path to Filey Brigg. In May 2025 I ran the whole path over the course of a week. I was on my own for most of it, then joined by my best running friends at Whitby for the last couple of days. I carried a little running pack with everything I needed for the week on my back (I wasn’t camping!) and the smallest drawing kit in a pouch on my front. I stopped to draw whenever inspiration struck. I took photographs too, but mostly the paintings are based on the sketches.

I think this little picture sums up why I wanted to do the whole of the Cleveland Way. It’s the places in between the places that everyone knows well. There are many paths like this, where steps take you down and up again, over little bridges and streams that flow out to the sea. As we neared Scarborough the colour palette changed and there was a lot of yellow. Luminous fields of oilseed rape, yellow gorse and buttercups. It was also one of the places where you hear songbirds and the waves.