On Monday 3rd September 2012, we made our first visit to Kilnsea for over two years. Kilnsea is a small village at the mouth of the Humber and is the start of a three and a half mile extension of the Holderness coastline out into the estuary. At the end of the road is Spurn Point, a base for the Humber Lifeboat crew. We have visited here regularly for over 25 years and watched the sea gradually erode the clay cliffs back towards the village.
On this occasion, we made a day trip to Kilnsea, arriving around lunchtime and staying for about four hours. After dining at the Crown and Anchor, a delightful little pub sitting on the edge of the estuary, we went to a hide at Canal Scrape to take some photos of the birdlife on the pond.
Looking out to Spurn Point from outside the Crown and Anchor pub in Kilnsea
We walked down to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s information point at the start of the road to Spurn Point and chatted to the guide. He told us that the families who lived at the Point have had to be evacuated as the sea is starting to reclaim the Point, as it does every couple of hundred years.
The road to the Point had just been renewed following a breach in August and the guide told us that the sand dunes are already being naturally rebuilt more to the west of their current position, which suggests that the existing line of dunes could be breached at any time.
After visiting the Blue Bell Cafe in Kilnsea, we took a look at Westmere Farm, a highly recommended bed and breakfast on the edge of Kilnsea village, with a view to spending a few days there. It was very clean and perfectly located with excellent views of the estuary. One for the travel notebook.
Before we left for home, we also visited Easington, a village three miles up the coast, and then Withernsea, about eight miles from Kilnsea, which is the nearest town. Both have hardly changed over the years. Easington is a larger village than Kilnsea, with three pubs and a shop, while Withernsea is a seaside town that has lost a lot of its popularity in the last 20 years and is in decline.
With Spurn Point going through a transformation that could lead to its destruction, I intend to make regular trips to the area to take photographs and document the changes.