Yorkshire Day 2: Scarborough

I got up at my own leisure this morning, as we had no bookings arranged. This trip is going to be a lot more chilled out than Japan was. Because Tokyo was my once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I don’t know if I’ll ever make it back there, I packed in as much as I could while I was there and ignored my fatigue to the point it took me several weeks to recover from it. I know for a fact I will make it back to Yorkshire in my lifetime, as it’s not massively far, so I can actually treat this like more of a holiday and relax. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still getting plenty of exercise and walking a lot, but it’s a much less manic pace and I’m thankful for that.

Once we were breakfasted and dressed, we went out to the point of the Esplanade that we started at yesterday. This time, we walked a little further south to the Spa Cliff Lift. There are three of these lifts in Scarborough, all from the Victorian times. One is defunct and now makes up part of the St. Nicholas Café. Another is in the centre of the seafront and still rides up and down the big hill to town. The one we saw today is more out of the way and leads to the old spa, which is now a live venue and usually hosts lots of different events (obviously not lately).

Instead of taking the lift, we decided to walk down the zig-zagging slope. It was fairly steep and the ground was uneven, so that was a laugh. We made it down in one piece, though, and had a good look around the spa area. So much of the original Victorian architecture (including a really cute pagoda) has been preserved and it was delightful. There are gardens dotted about on the steep slopes, and you can almost fool yourself into thinking you’ve gone back in time.

We strolled towards the seafront and took in the air. It was a lot less busy today so I felt a lot more secure walking around the prom. As we walked, we kept spotting quaint old things that remained from the 1800s – I love how much of Scarborough is still really old-fashioned. My favourite thing was a board with tide times, hours of sunshine, wind direction and a barometer. It was clearly very old, maybe even the original thing, and everything on it is still updated every day.

A fish bar caught mum and Martin’s eyes at this point and they went over to get some little trays of seafood. I still haven’t quite gotten brave enough to try cockles and prawns, so I gave it a miss. I loved the girl working there, though – her accent was so classically Yorkshire and it was delightful.

As we did yesterday, we walked all the way past the harbour and the amusement park. However, today we kept walking on Marine Drive, all the way around the castle mount. We were aiming to get over to the North Bay and see what it was like. On the map, it appeared to be a lot less busy, mostly consisting of hotels rather than shops and attractions.

It’s a lot less busy and touristy, and there’s a lot more space to walk around. The promenade is wider, and the beach is what I would call a ‘walking beach’, whereas South Bay has more of a ‘sitting beach’. The north beach is incredibly pretty, and looking back towards Marine Drive offers a dramatic view of Scarborough Castle perched up on the headland.

Sitting on the promenade is a larger-than-life statue of a man. The statue is based on a real person, Freddie Gilroy, who helped liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in WW2. There was a sign next to the statue giving information about him and his life, and what the statue (sculpted by Ray Lonsdale) represents. It’s a really moving piece – I hopped up onto the giant bench he’s seated on and took in the details of his face. He was sculpted as an old man, and his face was lined with years and a deep sadness. One of his shoes is untied, a tiny detail that I absolutely loved. I’m really glad that I got to see it. While I was up there, Mum wanted to take a photo of how tiny I looked next to Freddie.

Further down the promenade we found some lovely beach chalets – they were all painted in bright rainbow colours. There were even some fancy two storey ones! I found out that one of the fancy ones would cost at least £300 to rent for a week, which actually isn’t as awful as I thought it would be. They’re really, really cute.

In all, we walked for about 4 miles and we were rewarded with a pub at the end. It’s called The Old Scalby Mills and is a little white, traditional-looking place. It has its own brand of dark ale, which Martin was pleased about. I even had a little sip to try it out, and wasn’t immediately revolted. I’m not the biggest ale drinker so that must mean it’s good. I had some cider and we sat outside – it was a bit grey overhead, but the temperature was pleasant enough. We decided to have a little bite of lunch before continuing and ordered some baguettes. I had a tuna one, and they did not skimp on the filling. There was so much! It was definitely worth it.

I was also happy at the pub because there were so many dogs. This group of people sat near us and they must have had about six dogs with them. I said, “It’s dog paradise!” and the owners were so pleased. We took our time finishing our drinks after we’d eaten – it was nice to sit and chill out for a bit after our brisk walk. There were partitions between the tables to ensure social distancing, but it was still strange to be in what was essentially a pub garden with plenty of people around.

I was itching to explore the bridge next to the pub, as it lead over to some uneven stone steps up the cliffside. It was a bit of a climb but was so worth it when we got up to the field on top. On one side was a valley full of trees with the Scalby Beck river winding through the bottom. On the other side was a heathy field with the cliff edge and endless sea. It was so beautiful.

We walked around up there for a while, looking back toward South Bay and spotting the castle in the distance. Mum took an obligatory me-sitting-on-the-cliff-edge photo at this point. I also had a peek over the other edge of the cliff and found a completely empty, rugged beach. It looked so beautifully bleak in the grey day. We took our time wandering around there, but eventually decided to start heading back towards town. The clouds were threatening rain and we didn’t want to be caught short if a deluge happened.

About a half hour walk away from where we were, and on the way back to the apartment, was a park we wanted to visit. It’s named Peasholm Park, and features Japanese-style gardens and ‘oriental themes’. It was established in 1912 and has been expanded a couple of times since. Usually, they have several battleship re-enactments there too, but they weren’t running while we’re here. This was a shame, it would’ve been cool to see that. We went there anyway though, just to see what it was like.

One of the first things we noticed in the park was the very tame squirrels. They came really close to us, to see if we had treats for them. I was enamoured by them. There were seeds and nuts scattered here and there in the park for the wildlife and the squirrels took full advantage of these. We also saw a young deer picking its way through the trees. I felt so lucky to have seen him as he was doing his best to be elusive. We saw him again later, further up in the valley hill. It was so magical.

As we went in, Mum made a joke about how I’d probably begin nitpicking our surroundings because I’ve been to real Japanese gardens, but I really liked what they’d done with it. There were obvious Japanese flairs, but it wasn’t overdone or tacky. It was a really peaceful and pretty place to walk through. It’s one of those lovely parks where you kind of forget you’re in the middle of a town because it’s so peaceful and quiet, and plenty of trees blot out the surrounding buildings and roads. I took a lot of photos here.

Another reason I wanted to visit this particular park was the fact that it backs right onto a huge old cemetery. You know it’s not a holiday until I’ve found a graveyard, and this one was stunning. It’s called the Dean Road and Manor Road Cemetery. It was established in the 19^th century and is apparently 22 acres in size! Most of the graves are at least a century old and they’re all delightfully weathered, crooked and atmospheric. There are stone angels and Celtic-style crosses, and so many little sections off of the main path. I could have spent so much more time there, and again a lot of photos were taken. We noticed a fair amount of damage to some of the headstones and trees, and wondered if there had recently been a big storm to cause all of it. It was a quiet and reflective place, and I really enjoyed walking around there.

As well as a handful of Commonwealth War Graves, there is also a large cairn that was erected in 2014, in memory of WWI. You can use the information here (which is also available in leaflet and phone app form) to find all of the war graves scattered around the cemetery, which I thought was a nice touch.

Beyond the cairn, I saw a sign that said ‘Secret Garden’ and was immediately intrigued. I think the secret is that there’s loads of litter in there. It was a shame that people had obviously hung out there and trashed the place, because it used to be a grotto-style garden, winding up one side of the valley. It was made because they couldn’t bury anybody there on the steep slopes. I could see the original features that made it look pretty, but it was somewhat ruined by the state it had been left in. I think it’d probably be a nice place to sit and picnic in the summer (as long as you clean up after yourselves!!).We scrambled on the rocky path that took us up the valley hill, and emerged into yet more graveyard. I was thrilled.

Once we’d managed to find the exit (it took ages), we walked all the way back home (this time we used the bridge instead of clambering up and down the valley). By the time we’d returned to the apartment, my Health app said we’d walked over 8 miles. My knees are absolutely killing me. Martin made a fry-up for dinner, which was really nice and simple. This week, I’m free from calorie counting so I’m making the most of it.

I wrote a bit this evening (full disclosure: I’m still working on my blogs from Japan, writer’s block is a bitch) - I’m in bed by 9pm and reading because I feel so tired from today!