Large Outdoors

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Walk on the North York Moors coastline and walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs

I’m no stranger to walking along the North York Moors wonderful coastline as we’ve been organizing trips to this area for several years, but I certainly now see it from a new perspective after a day’s fossil hunting!

This week I headed out into the bracing autumn weather to Burniston Bay just north of Scarborough to join geology specialist and fossil hunter Will Watts from Hidden Horizons.

Will’s enthusiasm was infectious and as we walked along the rocky seashore, I was soon absorbed by the hunt for fossils and dinosaur footprints along one of the UK’s best Jurassic coastlines. With Will explaining the impact of the last Ice Age on the cliffs and in the ancient, giant river delta that carried huge amounts of sediment down to the coast, we soon discovered an amazing number of rock features that normally we would have walked straight past.

Cast your mind back 165 million years and imagine dinosaurs wandering through lush vegetation.

It’s then hard not be amazed when, like we did, you discover six footprints belonging to the giant beasties in the space of just one hour, along with numerous fossilized plants such as Gingko leaves.

Look out for the fossil-hunting excursions on some of our upcoming trips along the North York Moors Coast.