A169 Pickering to Whitby
 

Hi, is the A169 from Pickering to Whitby scenic?

Very! It crosses the whole of the North Yorkshire Moors Nat'l Park. Amazing. there are a couple of pretty steep grades (like 1 in 3 and 1 in 4) but they are short and should not be a problem.

Even better than drivig it though is to take the N.Yorkshire Moors Steam Railway which basically parallels the A169.

Yes, very scenic, with (at right time of year) purple heather growing all around. Along the way is a sign indicating detour to a Roman Road which you may want to park by and walk along for a short distance. Even if you don't, the same detour takes you by Goathland, an amazingly picturesque village that was the film location for the TV series 'Heartbeat'.

Thanks to both of you for your responses. Can I expect to see the purple heather the first week of June?

I can't answer your question about the heather (we were there last July), but this is a great route to get to the sea. Goathland station (the N. Yorkshire Moors Railway) also is "Hogwarts Station" from the first Harry Potter movie. And we just happened to be in the village on a day when they were filming a scene from "Heartbeat."