Scarborough fair and a walk on the cliffs

Shelley and Josh suggested we do a trip by train to Scarborough and then walk along the trail  that runs along the top of the cliffs to the seaside town of Filey. This route is part of the 110 mile long National Trail called Cleveland Way so it is well marked. The distance is officially 10 miles from Scarborough to Filey.

We ended up walking a lot farther though.

When we got to Scarborough we headed downhill to the water. Like Whitby it is a charming English seaside town.

Scarborough's Fair!

 Of course we started walking along the boardwalk at the harbour. Lobster traps and fishboats a plenty.

We had packed a lunch and thought it would be nice to sit on the beach to eat it. Instead of heading towards Filey, though, we puttered down towards North Beach which is on the other side of the big rock with castle on top of it.

Here is a view of the town and the remains of the castle on the hill. 

 It was a bit of a walk around the point but we were rewarded with a huge beach.

 The tide was out and the wind was blowing fiercely. North beach is dog friendly so we enjoyed watching all the antics of the owners and their dogs as we munched on our sandwiches. There were a lot of dogs!

We did a calculation and figured we'd better head back to the town and find our trail before it got too late. 

It was another hour  or so before we got to the trail.

On the way there while we walked along the beach a local fellow with a bright orange bucket came up to us and asked if we wanted to see what he had. Turned out to be a small lobster he cleverly caught in a tide pool (he had to outwit him by putting the bucket behind him because lobsters travel backwards.) He was going to eventually let him go but in the meantime he was showing him off to anyone who seemed interested.

When we told him we were heading to Filey he looked concerned and said something like "Ya dooan't want to walk along theere with t' tide coowming up" but we assured him we were going up top, along the cliffs  on the trail and he looked much relieved.

 

We had already walked a good 5 or 6 miles that day, not including hoofing it up to the train station in York so we had a little break and contemplated our long journey ahead.

We carried on and just as Shelley and Josh had said, it was a gorgeous trek. Many times we were right beside a dropoff that was  a hundred feet or more. If you thought about it very much it could be a little nerve wracking.

 Many places the cliff had eroded away and it was very clear that the trail had been moved closer in for safety's sake. I kept thinking of the recent visit of the remains of hurricane Bertha, which had sent huge amounts of torrential rain to the coast of England that previous day.

My favorite comment of the trip was from Leif. At one particularly eroded place he peered over the side and gasped "Oh-My-God!" and then called back to us "Keep walking keep walking keep walking keep walking." 

Close to where the fox was

A big treat for us was to see a fox. A magpie was making a big fuss and as we came up to some bushes, there about 50 feet away was a magnificent red fox, standing stock still and looking at us. after a moment he slunk away into the underbrush. I am afraid we didn't have time for a picture but he was standing just like the fox picture I have in my previous blog posting.

Another animal encounter was a herd of cattle. The trail runs beside fields, just outside of the fence. The cows saw us and all thundered over to say hello.

A mini stampede! It was really fun. We felt very appreciated and who knows, maybe made their day.

One of them almost licked my camera.

It was a long long walk. There were a few places to sit down and have a bit of a rest, thankfully.

My guess this is a bit of leftover WWII - exactly what I am not sure.

 The cliffs here are 50 meters high.

Almost there!

Finally, after about four hours we were heading down steps towards the streets of Filey. Quite a day's walk. By this time it was almost six o'clock, so we stopped at a store to get a loaf of bread to go with the crockpot lentil soup that was waiting at home for us. 

Filey

Later that night Leif calculated that we had walked a total of 17 miles that day. We all slept well that night.