Scarborough to Filey

It had been raining in the night, but it was fine when we left the hotel. We retraced our steps around the headland and past the harbour and we arrived at the Sandside TIC to have our passports stamped shortly after they opened at 10am. Then we climbed up to M&S in the town centre to buy sandwiches. We crossed the bridge and tried to stay towards the top of the cliff, aiming to walk above the Spa Complex - but we failed! - we kept finding ourselves on paths that petered out, requiring us to go up or down, and every time we went up we had to come down again. So in the end we followed the path along the seafront past the former swimming pool. Eventually we climbed up a concrete path over the land that slipped in June 1993, destroying the Holbeck Hall Hotel. Towards the top of the hill we turned onto a more minor path through the scrub woodland. We skirted a golf course then climbed up through a ravine and round a headland. 

At the edge of a new housing development the path had been diverted because of a landslip in the woods beneath Knipe Point. It seems crazy that new houses have been built here, perilously close to the landslip, and we couldn't help but wonder how long they will be here (we later discovered that some of the houses, only built in the 1980s, have already slipped into the sea). The diversion took us up a path to the main road and then along the pavement (usually separated from the road by a wide verge) until the end of the woods and the beginning of Cayton Sands. We left the road and skirted a caravan site then began to climb up towards Lebberton Cliff, with good views back to Cayton Sands. Eventually the Scarborough headland (with the castle) came into view behind Kinipe Point. 

Lebberton Cliff is high, with lots of nesting sea-birds. Round the headland, and after a rather smelly field (where the farmer had been muck-spreading), we sat down by the side of the path for our lunch. Then we walked up onto Cunstone Nab where we suddenly had splendid views of the colourful cliffs leading down to Filey Brigg. 

We caught up with a large group of walkers and couldn't overtake them, so we stopped to let them get ahead. Then it started to rain; our stop to put on waterproofs gave the other walkers chance to get further ahead, but we were catching up with them again as we approached the stone seat that marks the end of the Cleveland Way and the beginning of the Wolds Way. Fortunately only 3 of the walkers went on along the cliffs (Carr Naze) to the Brigg. We photographed the signpost saying it was 109 miles to Helmsley (a mile further than Sampson says!), the stone seat, and then walked down to the Brigg. 

We celebrated the end of the walk with a Magnum ice-crea at the cafe at the Country Park, where the lady who stamped our passport congratulated us and suggested that we should sign the book to say we had completed the walk. We did - when we could get to it past the group of walkers who were now drinking cups of tea in the cafe! Then we went down the Sailing Club's ramp to the beach and I couldn't resist the temptation to celebrate the end of the walk Offa's Dyke style by having a paddle, despite the fact that it was starting to rain again. 

We walked along the beach to Coble Landing and had a wander around Filey which, since the closing of Butlins down the road in 1983, is distinctly more genteel than Scarborough. It is sheltered by Filey Brigg/Carr Naze in one direction and Flamborough Head in the other and has a little entertainment area, colourful fishing boats (cobles) parked on trailers on the slipway, a very modern lifeboat, and elegant Victorian houses on the front. The Gables was easy to find and we were welcomed by Linda Wood and her two dogs. We had a choice of rooms and opted for one on the second floor with a bath. This turned out to have been something of a mistake (we were disturbed in the night by a strange noise that we think was caused by a seagull sitting on top of the fan duct) but the bath was lovely! We enjoyed Linda's delicious home made cake and (later) had a pleasant (if large) meal at the Gold River chinese restaurant. We explored Filey a little more both in the evening and the following morning. Filey is a lovely little place and a very suitable end-point for a delightful walk.