King Charles Coast Path - Bridlington to Bempton (Puffins) (★★★★★)

Having spent the previous day doing a long stretch along the Yorkshire Wolds Way, I was planning today to do a shorter walk, and settled on doing some more coastal walking. More specifically I plan today to head down to Bridlington, and walk back up towards Filey (in the end I stopped at Bempton).

Part of the intent for this walk is to (successfully!) try and see some of the puffins at Bempton cliffs, which is something I have wanted to do for some time.

And so, having stayed locally overnight, I am heading to Bridlington by the train - from which I head out through the arcades - which feel a touch odd to walk through early in the day, when the noise of all the machines can still be heard, but when there are no other visitors. And from here I make my way down to the beach.

From here I follow the beach up from Bridlington to Sewerby, where it is time to move back up onto the official coastal route, as from here the path continues along the cliffs, heading towards Flamborough Head. 

This early walking has had a Victorian seaside town vibe - but at Dykes End the first more dramatic cliff-top views appear, followed up by a clearer view out from Flamborough South Landing.

Flamborough South Landing

Here we find a life boat station - just out of view to the left - and although there is a bit of beach here, there is no onward walking via the beach route. Instead the path heads back up onto the cliffs on the far side. 

And from here the path continues to track along the top of the cliffs for a few miles, before approaching Flamborough Head - where the number of people out increases substantially, with this being a popular visitor spot.

Flamborough Head Lighthouse

Having cleared the lighthouse, the prettiest section of Flamborough Head beings, as we pass Selwicks Bay - and here it is possible to head down to the beach below using the steps down (although don't go all the way down when the tide is in). And here I do indeed go most of the way down the steps - taking in the beauty of the cliffs from below.

Selwicks Bay at Flamborough Head

The view out having gone down most of the steps

Heading back up on the other side

This is a really lovely spot, and it is nice to dawdle a bit here - and take the sights in - before continuing up on along the cliffs. If the tide is out, you are likely to be able to spot some seals basking on the beach here, which adds another point of interest (if you come at the right time of day).

From here the path is heading north-west, and the next major destination is Thornwick Bay - which is a town of sorts (although with a much larger holiday park than actual town).

Thornwick Bay

There is a bit of a walk to be done navigating round all the juts in the cliffs heading out to sea - but this is a good spot for bird watchers, with numerous birds flying about and nesting on the cliffs (you can often smell them before you see them).

There is supposedly a good puffin spot here, but I see nothing - and so my puffin hunt continues on, heading north-west along the top of North Cliff - and it is here that the level of bird activity really ramps up.

Whilst there are endless birds flying about, it is pretty windy, and so working out what the birds are is not particularly easy - all I know is that some were big ones, others were small ones, and they were all flying by pretty rapidly.

Some of these do look like puffins, but at the speed they are going it is impossible to tell for sure that this is the case.

However, as the path reaches Bempton Cliffs - and as the path becomes much busier once again - I pass a spot where a load of photographers have gathered. Standing behind them at this spot, I finally see some puffins.

Admittedly it is hard to see the puffins very clearly in the video, as I'm using my phone as a camera here - but with the naked eye you can see the puffins, bopping about on the cliffs.

But whilst the zoom on my camera is pretty dire, I do at least have proof that I saw a puffin via this pixelated abomination :

My submission to the National Geographic

Since Van Gogh may as well have painted that puffin, here is a picture I nicked off someone else to show what I could actually see: (actually what I could see was half way between what you can see in the picture above, and the picture below)

 

Puffin at Bempton Cliffs

From here, the going was pretty slow - not because the walking was hard, but because there were plenty of birds, and cliffs, to stop at - and I would certainly recommend a trip to Bempton Cliffs if you are in the area (this really wasn't a long walk, but packed an awful in). 

That said, if you do visit, definitely head out from the main area, as the best spot to see the puffins was further to the south-east - on the edge of the core visited area (which was much further than most people were walking).

The bigger birds I could photograph no problem

Cliffs at Bempton - the birds are living on those cliffs

Reaching the visitor centre at Bempton, I did consider continuing on to Filey (to connect this walk up with the Cleveland Way) - but having really enjoyed this spell at Bempton Cliffs, I figured it would be best to return at a later date, to spend some time here on a less windy day.

And so whilst I will return to complete that missing section from Bempton up to Filey, today I headed out along a path running alongside the road down into Bempton - where a train could be caught to take me home.

The vast majority of the visitors to Bempton Cliffs clearly come by car (I think there were two or three of us heading back on the train) - but this is a site that is very easy to get to from the train station if you wish to visit by public transport.

Total Distance: 13.5 miles (11.5 miles on the coast path)

Total Ascent: 1,526 feet (1,430 feet on the coast path)

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 Yorkshire Coast guidebook which includes OS mapping and runs from the Humber Estuary up to Redcar (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.