We’ll share fossils!
Much like Taylor Swift, Yorkshire Coast fossil trips should be all about the ERAS*: Enjoyable, Responsible, Accessible, and Safe. Accessibility is probably the biggest challenge, though. If you’re a wheelchair user, for example, where can you safely go fossiling?
Many of Yorkshire’s most fossiliferous beaches are surrounded by steep cliffs. Places like Saltwick Bay and Port Mulgrave do not have step-free access. Runswick Bay is better: you can drive down to the Bank Bottom car park, and a beach-suitable wheelchair should then be able to get onto the beach via one of the boat slipways. There are no dedicated disabled parking spaces, though, so if you drive down the hill and the car park is full, you’re stuffed.
So, when I was asked where Andrew, a fossil-loving wheelchair user, might best be able to go hunting for his own prehistoric treasures, my reply was immediate. The best family-friendly fossiling spot pretty much anywhere in the UK. Redcar!
There are many reasons I love Redcar. Fossils are incredibly easy to find in the shingle. There are no cliffs to worry about. The public transport access is good. There’s ice cream, a cinema and the Zetland Lifeboat Museum on the seafront. And the wonderful Tees Valley Arts team always offer a warm welcome at the Redcar Palace.
And if you’re looking for wheelchair access, there are plenty of disabled parking spots on the esplanade, various concrete slipways down onto the beach, and you can borrow beach wheelchairs free of charge from the Northern Renewables Centre.
I met Andrew on Granville Terrace, and we headed onto the beach via the Lime Road slipway (having checked that the tides were going out, of course). Turning left (or north-west if you prefer to keep things cardinal), we moved across the sand and shingle at a steady pace, finding Jurassic fossils galore. And when the ridges of bedrock prevented us going any further, we looped back round and retraced our route back to Lime Road. In the blink of an eye, three hours had elapsed!
It had been a great morning, and we agreed that a) Redcar was now the birthplace of We’ll Share Fossils, and b) we should try another Yorkshire Coast location in the new year. Our current plan is to go to the north end of Filey Bay (access via the Coble Landing), possibly with a dinosaur footprint-hunting trip along the Cleveland Way in Scarborough South Cliff on the same day. I’ll report back in due course.
In the meantime, I’ve discovered that you can also borrow beach wheelchairs free of charge at Bridlington, where fossils can be found on the North beach, and the Whitby, Scarborough & Ryedale Disability Action Group also hire out wheelchairs. Much more could be done – much more should be done! – but it’s a start. Maybe We’ll Share Fossils can be one of Earth Science Outreach UK‘s 2026 campaigns?
(*alternatively they could be Accessible, Responsible, Safe and Enjoyable, but the advertising campaign would have to be led by Father Jack.)
