Glorious Scarborough

The rugged east coast of England is one of my favourite places and I’ve made many visits to it this year, mainly to walk the beaches and cliffs, but the rest of the family have enjoyed the shopping and museums too.  This last week we stayed at Scarborough which was delightful sunny for most of the week, but a rainy Scarborough isn’t that great so we also drove down the coast to Hull for a day.

Last year when Debbie and I visited we stayed at a top notch apartment for four days, but this year we decided to downgrade slightly in quality, but increase the number of days and the space so we could bring Thom and Anna too.  It worked out well.  We rented the ground floor of a house on Scalby road, which right at the very end of north beach.  It’s a long walk from there into town, but it hardly matters when your main objective on holiday is to go on long walks and so enable the eating of lots of great food.

We had a lovely time, despite me suffering a bit and Debbie having a mild cold.  Scarborough is a breathtakingly beautiful place, full of amazing views, quaint shopping streets, great beaches, a great family holiday buzz and even a couple of good reading cafes for me.

A typical day would involve getting up early and walking along the prom for a couple of miles to the Watermark Cafe, which is right on the sea front.  The food there is amazing, all locally sourced from an organic farm, the view is great too.  I will spend an hour reading there on my own.  Unfortunately it’s also very popular and about an hour after opening is too loud for reading, so that’s the signal to head home. 

I collect Debbie and we head off walking together and maybe spend some time looking around a museum or gallery, of which my favourite was definitely the Rotunda.  There are endless walks around Scarborough, as there are two huge bay side promenades, cliff top walks, parks and gardens and gloriously elegant cliff top hotels and houses to admire.

After a couple of hours with Debbie I will then be ready for a long reading break so I will camp out at Esquires Coffee while Debbie goes shopping.  When she’s shopped out we will then take a late lunch together, normally a picnic, before strolling home, ideally calf deep in the surf. 

I will then spend some time meditating before a big family dinner (home made by Debbie) and then we will go for an evening stroll and maybe watch an hours TV with the kids.  We also spent a day in Whitby, which is also lovely but more of a tourist town, Debbie and I escaped the hustle and bustle though and walked north along the prom and I was much happier there. 

A holiday like this is supremely relaxing and I can feel the difference in my body even after a few days, the top quality food, many hours spent moving, reading and mediating ease away the pain.  Of particular note is the effect on headaches, which are an almost daily occurrence during the normal working week, but fade away completely when I’m on holiday.

I’m still in Scarborough as I write this,  Debbie, Thom and Anna went home yesterday, I’m staying in a Premier Inn until tomorrow when I will be moving a few miles down the coast for a think week at Filey.  The weather is threatening rain, but I’m ok with that.

The top picture is the view from my favourite shady picnic spot, the other is a sample of the elegant housing, in this case a mix of flats and B&Bs.