10 October 2017

Report

Scarborough Cricket Ground seen from our apartment
We are back home in Sheffield after a very pleasant birthday weekend in Scarborough.

On Saturday we arrived at our apartment in Trafalgar Square. It was clean and spacious. The kitchen-lounge room overlooked Scarborough Cricket Ground which I visited long ago with my father to watch the Sir Frank Worrall XI play an England XI. I remember getting the autographs of Wes Hall, Seymour Nurse, Gary Sobers and Sir Frank Worrall himself - all famous West Indian cricketers. I must have been ten years old.

We wandered around the shops in the upper part of the town and had some tea and snacks in a corner cafe then we went to "The Sun Inn" to watch the Rugby League play-off final between Castleford and Leeds. It was a noisy and unpleasant establishment but we stuck it out to the end. Leeds won convincingly.

Then we went to seek a curry and ended up in the Tikka Tika restaurant on Castle Road. The meals were scrummy. Afterwards we had another drink but this time in The Tennyson Arms where a singer with backing tapes was crooning the night along.

On Sunday morning we were out of the door at nine thirty. We visited the grave of Anne Bronte in St Mary's churchyard. She was the youngest of the Bronte sisters. She died on May 28th 1849 at the tender age of twenty nine after battling with pulmonary tuberculosis. It was the same condition that had taken her sister Emily just six months before.
Anne Bronte's grave
Then up to Scarborough Castle on the headland. Historically, it is a very interesting place. There was a Bronze Age settlement there. Later the Romans came and built a signal station. Then the Normans built a castle that was developed further through the next five hundred years. It was bombarded by parliamentary forces during the English Civil War and later still, in World War One, it was shelled by German warships. There's a lot of History to take in but it helped that we joined a guided tour with a knowledgeable volunteer called Andy. For more about Scarborough Castle go here.
The castle seen from the Roman signal station
Down to North Bay then along Marine Drive that circles the headland. Marine Drive was opened with much pomp and ceremony in 1908 and is a tremendous feat of civil engineering given the cruel way in which the sea batters the headland every winter. It had to be built very strong indeed.
The Grand Hotel, Scarborough
We had reached South Bay with its two harbours. There was more aimless wandering about to be done before we climbed back to the upper town and traditional Sunday lunch in "The Scarborough Arms". Delicious. Shirley declined dessert but I treated myself to homemade apple pie with ice cream.

Then we got the car and headed out of town to Irton Moor where generations of my family lived and worked in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I felt their presence and later I walked along the path that they had proceeded upon into St John the Baptist Church in East Ayton for baptisms, weddings, funerals and countless Sunday services.
Where generations of my family lived and worked
We also visited the ruin of Ayton Castle before jumping in the car and heading up the coast to Ravenscar. With boots on we strolled along the clifftop, relishing the view to Robin Hood's Bay. Ravenscar is a rather strange place. A nineteenth century entrepreneur wished to turn it into a significant seaside resort but the grand plan never quite came off. For more about Ravenscar go here. 
Cliffs at Ravenscar
Then back to Scarborough and a couple of pints in "The Angel" watching England beat Lithuania 1-0 in the final  World Cup group game before descending to Foreshore Road on South Bay once more for golden  fish and chips in The Golden Grid.

We didn't get back to our apartment until after ten. Though cloudy, it had been a great day and a wonderful way to mark my sixty fourth birthday. I am now officially a boring old git. Tomorrow - the old git takes you down the coast to Filey.
Scarborough rooftops

20 comments:

  1. Aaah! I'm all nostalgic now, reading the familiar place names and seeing the familiar sights!
    Scarborough Castle is quite something, isn't it; that vast open space between the sheer drop of the cliffs and the castle ruins.
    A lot has probably changed there since my last visit in 2006, but only for the better, I hope.

    Sounds like you really had a great birthday!

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    1. Did you know that the headland plateau was twice its current size when the Romans built their signal station? That's what coastal erosion does.

      We passed the old "Albion" pub building and it has indeed been turned into apartments.

      Go here:-
      https://www.facebook.com/albioncottagesscarborough/

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  2. I'd say you had very Bronte weather from the looks of those skies. I can imagine how good the tea and the beer tasted after a day spent traipsing through history. Great choice for a memorable birthday.

    Robin Hood's Bay sounded familiar, but I only know it as the end point in Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk. The book I have has a photo of the same cliff you show.

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    1. The weather was grey but dry. It's hard to take great pictures on days like that. Robin Hood's Bay was once a humble fishing village with tiny cottages but now it's a place for second homes, holidaying and artistry. The fisher folk have all gone - resigned to history. Theirs was a very hard life - except when great shoals of herring headed south. The resulting catches were bountiful.

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  3. Git maybe, but boring never. (What is a git, anyway?)

    Bronte's headstone looks like it needs some refurbishment! See, in the states, we'd have installed an entirely new and shiny one, and we'd charge people to see it. Capitalism, baby.

    Seriously -- great photos as always.

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    1. Anne Bronte's headstone is weathering badly now. I saw a photo of it taken in 2005 and the facing of the stone was almost complete...but nothing lasts forever.

      A git is an inquisitive fellow who works in a school library and takes arty photographs.
      See Wikipedia:-
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(slang)

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  4. A very pleasant travelogue, indeed! The writing was excellent and the photographs were superb, especially the ones of the family in bright colours. I am not familiar with "scrummy" -- it sounds horrid but I suppose it is short for scrumptious.

    May your 65th year be better than your 64th, and so forth and so on.

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    1. Thank you for your exceedingly polite and hearty response which, as a senior citizen, I entirely appreciate good sir. My regards to Mrs Brague.

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  5. Hey, happy birthday. You're having a great tour for you're birthday.

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    1. Thanks Red. It's not every day one gets to be 64!

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  6. I doubt you will ever be a "boring old git", Yorkie...and old git maybe, but never boring! :)

    It sounds/reads like you had a very enjoyable birthday...just the way birthdays should be...enjoyed in the manner befitting an old git! :)

    However, just to set the record straight...in the true meaning of "git"...a git you will never be, my friend.

    "Contemptible" and "fool" do not apply to your own good self!

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    1. You really know how to sweet talk an old git Lee!

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  7. Great way to celebrate your birthday and the Scarborough rooftops are A1.

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    1. Thanks for calling by and leaving a nice comment once again Alphie.

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  8. How vary fortunate you are to have a partner who enjoys rugby and football.

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    1. She's not my partner Graham...she's my wife. And yes, it is nice that she rather likes football and rugby.

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  9. And what are the fuzzy critters in photo four and why do they not correspond to the text?!

    Thank you for the rest of the "Report" which was very instructive.

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  10. I meant to comment on the rooftops - there's something about a view of rooftops that appeals to me, and these are lovely.

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  11. Great way to celebrate your birthday and the Scarborough rooftops are A1.


    แตกใน xxx

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