Day 108 – Scarborough to Speeton

With Mike now a permanent member of the group for our equivalent of the “Tour de Yorkshire”, and with Sticky having been replaced by his slightly smaller sister (Twiggy?) we again rendezvous at York station, and catch the 10:45 train back to Scarborough. En route, John becomes so preoccupied with historic walk data that our arrival takes him somewhat by surprise and he has to carry out the donning of boots and puttees on the platform at Scarborough. However, this does afford to the rest of us sufficient time for other preparations – i.e. loo visits and the first sun cream smearings of the year. We’re back on the sea front just before noon and, after a relatively short stroll along the promenade, we make our first climb of the day up some steps and a concrete pathway to reach Wheatcroft Cliff. Much of the remainder of the first hour involves minor diversions away from the cliff top through trees, around a golf course and then along a road towards Osgodby. However, having then descended a steep set of steps to a small harbour and climbed back up to a path overlooking Cayton Bay, we get closer to the cliff edge and Ben has to opt once again for an inland route – despite this initially involving a rather undignified crossing (with John’s assistance) of a barbed wire fence. We reckon that we’ll be able to reconvene in Filey in about a couple of hours. John, Mike and Gary continue along the coast, passing above Gristhorpe Sands and seeing a couple of warnings of steep drops and cliff erosion which serve to confirm the prudence of Ben’s decision. Ben arrives in Filey shortly before 3 o’clock by which time the rest of us are to the north of the town walking round Filey Brigg – to include in John’s case a short visit down to the rocky promontory extending into the sea at the foot of the Brigg. However, this gives Ben the time to purchase crab and prawn sandwiches which are available at a shack alongside the sands when we meet up there at 3:15. Another stop a little further along the sea front at Downcliffe House is necessary not only for some liquid refreshment but also to allow an extra half an hour for the high tide to recede which means that we get over an hour of beach action to get from Filey, below Primrose Valley and Hunmanby, to Reighton Gap. At this point, the coastal route goes inland to Speeton but, before we leave the beach, Ben casts a rather concerned glance towards the approaching Buckton Cliffs and decides that he will probably be staying inland during the initial stages of our walk tomorrow. In the meantime, the final stages of the walk today take us alongside a golf course and around some fields to arrive at The Honey Pot Inn, a pub just outside Speeton alongside a minor road between Filey and Bridlington. Our arrival time is just after 6pm, which is convenient given our intention to phone for a cab to take us to Bridlington and to sample the delights of the Honey Pot while we wait. Unfortunately, the Honey Pot isn’t available for custom – it appears that it is shut on Mondays – so our phone call and wait take place in the pub car park. Fortunately our driver, Ernie, arrives within 15 minutes, and we get to our overnight stop, the South Dene B&B around 6:45. On the way, we arrange the return journey to Speeton for 8:20 tomorrow morning. Ernie says he won’t be around, and John’s call to book a cab is made at the same time as Ernie taking a call from his office on the car intercom, so we hear the phone from John’s call ringing in the background. Slightly weird. The South Dene is quite basic, but perfectly acceptable for £25 each. Showers/baths are taken pretty quickly and, on wandering down to the sea front, we discover that Wards, Ernie’s suggestion of a good place for a fish supper, is a chippie rather than somewhere we can sit down, so we continue to the harbour and discover Rags, a hotel, bar and restaurant which has a table and fish/chips/mushy peas (very tasty) available. This is washed down with beers and a couple of bottles which, uncharacteristically, are both of a white variety. A Shiraz free trip for once, but not sticky free. On our way back to the B&B, we call in at the Southcliffe Bar for a large one each – with an occasional glance at the Belgium v Costa Rica friendly on TV.