Over the years, I have spent a lot of time walking on the North Yorkshire Moors - with much of that happening along the Cleveland Way. This is one of the more underrated trails around the country - offering a full mix of farmland, moorland, cliff views out from Sutton Bank, and then a stretch of coastline from Saltburn down to Filey.
I have so far explored a bit of the coastline, heading down from Saltburn to Skinningsgrove and back, but have completely ignored the stretches further down - and so today I am heading out to Filey, for a first day of walking up to Scarborough. From here I will stay over, before then walking up to Whitby on the following day.
The first task for today is to take the early train of the day down to Seamer (the stop before Scarborough), and here I change trains, to swap to a train heading south, and on to Filey.
And at Filey we also meet up with the Yorkshire Wolds Way, which heads across very quiet chalk countryside (similar to the southern downs of England) - and there is a writeup of a walk from Malton to Filey along that trail here.
From Filey train station, the first task is to head out to the seafront, and then head up north along the cliffs - where there is a chance for both a diversion out to Filey Brigg, and also to check out the marker for the start/end of both the Cleveland Way and the Yorkshire Wolds Way.
And for this first section of walking, from the train station down to Filey Brigg, we will be following the Yorkshire Wold's Way - and there we will proceed onwards via the Cleveland Way.
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| View from the cliffs |
Filey Brigg is worth a quick explore - and juts out beyond the rest of Filey, giving great views out both to the north and south.
But that diversion does not take very long - and soon I'm heading out form this furthest end of the
Cleveland Way, enjoying the views out from North Cliff.
After a short while there is a jink in the path, and here we head past one of the numerous holiday parks that can be found in this area - and here we also find a stretch of slightly unstable cliffs - with the path starting to get a bit pinched between the holiday park and the eroding cliff line.
Last year the original route of the
Cleveland Way was lost to erosion along this stretch, and it doesn't feel like it will be too long before the holiday park will start to be at risk from erosion as well.
But once we clear this holiday park, the walk returns to more open countryside, continuing along the cliff line, but with more space to walk in.
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| You can see the erosion on the far cliffs (underneath the holiday park) |
From here we head out to Lebberston Cliff, and then pull back once more as we come up to Cayton Bay - where the landscape levels out somewhat, with a beach opening up below.
You can pop down to the beach from here, but you will then have to come back up - so you had better be ready for the trip back up, as well as the one down - but but this isn't a bad spot to stop for a bit, and there are once again toilets marked on the map here (by the car park).
Here the landscape sits in a large bowl, with Cayton Cliff being part of that bowl shape - and a consequence of this is that we start to get forced inland, as we reach the far side of Cayton Bay. And as we cut in, this inland route takes us briefly through the town of Osgodby.
Soon though, we are able to return to something that looks more like countryside - as we turn right and head down between fields and a row of houses - where the path then takes a left turn, to once again start to head in the direction of the coast line.
Here we are still further inland than we would like to be, and on the edge of that previously mentioned bowl - and as a result there isn't all that much for us to see until we come round to Wheatcroft Cliff, where views out to sea open up again.
And whilst we have much less dramatic cliffs here, we do at least start to get out first sights of Scarborough in the distance.
Indeed it is not long before we enter the outskirts of Scarborough - and here we find a world of polished parks and gardens - with walks along the coast at numerous different levels, along the cliff face.
Scarborough is at it's core a Victorian seaside town, but it also became a town of importance during the medieval era - and this leads to an interesting mix of the fishing port houses you can see at Whitby, with grand Victorian-era buildings (like you would see in Saltburn, but grander).
During the reign of Edward II the town was even important enough to be granted to his favored advisor - Piers Gaveston - upon his return from exile in 1311 (following a prior Baronial revolt, where peace was agreed on a number of conditions that excluded the exile of Gaveston). And this was done on the basis that Scarbrough would be a secure place for Gaveston to reside.
His return from exile led to an inevitable war between the king and his Baron's, who besieged Scarborough in 1312 - and eventually persuaded Gaveston to surrender the castle. Under his terms of surrender it was agreed that Gaveston would be taken to York, where the Barons would once again negotiate with the king.
But after the initial negotiations, one of the Barons (who had not provided a guarantee for his safety) kidnapped Gaveston, and had him executed. The king subsequently punished the town for his original surrender by revoking it's royal privileges, and placing it under the rule of appointed governors.
Over time the town regained importance as a key port for the wool trade - and it's position as a key sea port ensured that there were always some level of on-going conflict surrounding the town - with it most notably being involved in the English Civil War.
During this conflict the castle suffered a five-month siege as the Parliamentarians sought to take any final strongholds away from the Royalists. And this bombardment partially destroyed the castle's keep - and as provisions started to run out, the castle surrendered in the summer of 1645. By this point only half of the 500 defenders were still alive.
The castle was repaired and taken over by the Parliamentarians, but after the soldiers went unpaid in 1648 (now during the second English Civil War) they swapped sides to the Royalists anyway - and the castle was once again besieged, before returning to the Parliamentarians once again.
Finally in 1662, following the restoration of the monarchy, the castle returned to the Crown, which retained ownership ever since.
But even before this restoration of the monarchy, Scarborough was already beginning a newer journey to become Britain's first seaside resort - for in 1660 Dr Robert Wittie had published a book about a stream of acidic water that had been found to run from one of the cliffs to the south of the town.
This publication was soon attracting visitors - and the site of this original spa, is the site of the newer Scarborough Spa building that can be seen two pictures down.
As a seaside resort, Scarborough grew in popularity, and was further boosted by the arrival of the railway to York in 1845 - before going into decline through the 20th century as British seaside resorts fell out of favor.
These days the town is no longer a resort of any great consequence, but it still retains a lot of it's original charm.
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| Looking out from a higher vantage point above the path |
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| Only very slightly above the official route at this point |
And here I am not very pressed for time - and so rather than choosing one elevation, I try a few, and ending up repeating the same sections of coast a few times.
The route of the Cleveland Way is the lowest route and actually this was my least favorite of the routes along these cliffs (hence why the photos are from above).
But if like me you are staying in Scarborough, there really is no harm in sticking to the official route, coming back at the highest elevation and then finishing off by taking a route halfway up the cliffs (as I did today).
This meant I got the feeling of having done a lot of exploration, whilst also killing a bit of time ahead of my finding food and accommodation.
And one of the great things about staying here is that it is very cheap. In winter a room can be as little as £30, and, even in the very peak of summer, I have never paid much more than £40 for a room. Given how much prices have increased elsewhere, this feels like a bit of a bargain - and I'll certainly be back to do more walking in this area.
Total Distance: 11.4 miles (7.8 miles on the Cleveland Way)Total Ascent: 1,318 feet (912 feet on the Cleveland Way)
Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ ★ ★ / 5
Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 101 OS Landranger map - while there is also a Cleveland Way guidebook or a Yorkshire Coast Path guidebook (Redcar to Humber Estuary) - which include OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.
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