Wednesday 11th June LOCKTON – SCARBOROUGH
– ROBIN HOOD’S BAY
Robyn writes: Another lovey day today – the sun was shining when we woke
up, and despite a bit of cloud now and then, has shone for us all day! Our
stated aim for the day was Scarborough, and we set out just after 9 for the
half hour drive to the Park & Ride at Seamer Road, only about half and hour’s
drive. We parked there, and were rather surprised to see very few cars there at
all, but went over to the waiting bus. I tried to get into the building to walk
through it, but all the doors were locked. We walked around it to the bus, and
as we were getting on, the driver said,
“There’s travellers down the bottom, so you leave your car
at your own risk. That’s why the building’s locked.” Anyway, we paid, and got
on and rode into town, thinking furiously all the way, and when we got there,
Lex said, “I think we should go back and move the car!” So, in an excess of
caution, we did. When we were driving away, we realised that the travellers
were actually down at the bottom end of the car park. From Seamer Road, we
navigated to the Filey Road Park & Ride, caught the bus from there, and
finally made it properly into Scarborough by about 10.30.
It was the most picture-perfect day; we hopped off at the bus stop near the Rotunda Museum, just in front of the beach. There’s a handy walkway underneath the road with an open circle shape in the middle of the roundabout so you can get to the beach or cross the road safely. And a public toilet where you pay 50p to pee! We headed first of all up on the town side and walked along until we came to the Victorian funicular railway, so of course we just had to take that up to the next level of streets. It was extremely cool. From there, our aim was to take morning tea at the Grand Hotel if at all possible; it’s the massive Victorian hotel, built in the 1860s that dominates the skyline wherever you look in Scarborough. We went in through the extremely grand entrance and had a wander around its magnificence, but sadly the coffee lounge was closed this morning. Second choice was the café at the Victorian railway, the Cat’s Whiskers, where we had a lovely cuppa and cake.
Next, we walked up and over the lovely Victorian bridge and down through the Victorian terraced gardens for a look at the Victorian spa building. (Do you sense a theme here? Yes, Scarborough was indeed beloved of the Victorians for a perfect trip to the beach!) Then we walked down the steps to the beach, and had a lovely long walk right along it to the sea walls at the other end. I did miss Flash so much, there were heaps of dogs having the most wonderful time, and she would have adored it. We also saw the well-known beach donkeys waiting to be ridden (shout out to Sherryle, whose dad used to take children for donkey rides as a lad in Scarborough! )
From there, we came up to the sea walls and walked along looking at the sights of the harbour and the shops (we’d come to the ‘fun zone’ arcade bit by now.) We started idly looking at lunch prices, thought the better of it (at least three cafes advertised the best fish and chips in the UK), and determined that there was a Wetherspoons a bit less than a kilometre away, so decided to head in that direction on the principle that by the time we reached it, we would be hungry! This involved quite a deal of climbing stairs, which I guess was excellent for building an appetite, anyway. We never did make it to the Wetherspoons, as walking past Emma’s Coffee Lounge, we noticed extremely reasonable prices on things we’d like to eat, so went in there instead. Lex had the Breaded Whitby Scampi (famous local delicacy) and I had some lovely crumbed chicken, so everyone was happy and well fed.
From there, we made our way to the Rotunda Museum (again, Victorian – it was one of the first designated museums to be built in Europe.) It was small and quirky, and we enjoyed looking at all the things the local Victorian Great and Good had brought back from overseas or found locally. I must say that they had the best children’s play and learning area I’ve ever seen in a museum.
After this, we decided that we would go to the Art Gallery. I had a map from the museum, so we set out over the little bridge and through the terraced gardens, but my map reading skills, alas, are not good! (In my defence, there were a lot of twisted paths involved.) We were pointed by locals to one small art gallery, but after going up and down steps all day, when we realised that the gallery we wanted was indeed right over the hill, we suddenly lost interest in art.
Instead, we headed across the road to the bus stop, and waited for the next 165 to come along and carry us back to our car. As it was still only about 3 o’clock, we decided to drive north up the coast road, which we hadn’t seen before, to Whitby and then come home from there. It was a nice drive once we’d battled our way through the Scarborough after-school traffic. We realised we were near Robin Hood’s Bay, which Lex had read about as a lovely little village, so thought we’d pop in there, as it was only about ten minutes off the road.
Robin Hood’s Bay is perched on the beach at the bottom of a hill,
and winds its way up the hill. The car park is at the top of the hill, and
visitors aren’t allowed to drive any further. Just as we were getting out of
the car and contemplating if we wanted to pay for parking, a bloke pulled up,
and said, “You just got here?” Then he gave us his parking ticket, valid until
tomorrow! I thanked him profusely, so we put on our jackets (the wind was COLD
by this stage) and headed down the winding streets of the hill. It’s such a
pretty little town, with some adorable shops and hotels, so very much a tourist
hotspot. We saw a lot of holiday houses there. I’d been hoping to have a walk
on the beach (apparently it’s a well-known place for finding fossils), but
there it wasn’t – it was very much high tide and no beach in evidence. Sad. At
least the National Trust’s Old Coastguard Station café was still open at the
very bottom of the road, so we went in and had tea and toasted teacakes.
Delicious!
From there, we hauled ourselves up the slope again, stopping to look at the views, and in one case popping into a local artist’s shop, where I just had to buy a souvenir. It was good to finally get back to the top, to our car, and head for home. As we left, we gave the parking ticket to a young family who were just arriving! The drive home took just over half an hour through green farmland and moorland, and we were home by 5.15. The weather has really been kind to us today – I think it probably reached around 20, and at times it was lovely and warm. (At other times, of course, we had our jackets on and done up.)
Lex went for a short walk, and almost made it to the next village (Levisham) before turning around and heading home. the roads were steep at 20 degrees and he was well exercised by the time he got back
Thankfully, there was leftover pasta bake for tea, because this evening we have to pack once more. Tomorrow is yet another travelling day, and we’re off to Newcastle!
No comments:
Post a Comment