Trip 7, Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough
We took a different route to Scarborough. As recommended by my brother in law. This took us via the motorways , then around Driffield and a B road up to Scarborough, a three hour journey.
The campsite on Oliver’s Mount has plenty of room and we chose a space in the sun. After lunch and some reading we went for a walk to the Memorial
and then we decided to follow a path down to the race track’s home straight. At the main start line we found a board that listed all the past winners of the two main races.
There were some famous names that have raced here and won, Guy Martin had won both races several times but other well known racers included Augustin, Mac Guinness, even John Surtes before he transferred to formula One race cars.
We saw the memorial to Barry Sheen before following the race track back upto Oliver’s Mount.
We settled down and read our books before tea which was another excuse to use new CampinGaz bbq for sausages and burgers. A great first day.
Day 2.
The day started with heavy rain but by 9am it had stopped. We did all the normal jobs and then set off on a walk to the Japanese gardens. A short walk from there is the Scarborough North Shore Railway. We got two return tickets to Scalby Mill where there is a pub.
The railway has four engines that look like steam locos but they are powered by diesel engines. The tickets are only £5.49 return but the ride only takes 15 minutes. We could have walked along the sea front but I wanted to see the trains.
Once we were at Scalby, there is the SeaLife Centre next to the railway. We gave that a miss and walked up onto the cliffs. Oliver’s Mount is 4 miles away and it looked further from our viewpoint.
We walked back down the cliffs and called in at the Scalby Mills pub. It did lack atmosphere so we only had the one beer and then went back to the station. We ate lunch at the station as we waited for the train to return to Scarborough.
We walked a different way back through Scarborough which seemed to be the centre for B&Bs and Guest houses. The climb back up Hells Drop to Oliver’s Mount went quite well. We walked to the cafe in the hope of having a beer but they were only serving Coffee and Cakes. Sue gave in and had an Ice Cream.
The sun is breaking through the cloud cover so we sat outside and read our books until it was time to cook.Total mileage today was 8.2 miles.
Day 3:
Very heavy rain from 5am, the rain eventually stopped at 15.00, but Oliver’s Mount was covered in mist. The solar panels were struggling to charge the batteries.
After lunch we read but by 15.00 we needed to get out so we walked down to the bottom of the mountain, arriving at The Mere. The Mere is a collection of lakes with several paths. There is a cafe but it was closed, with so much rain the lakes are full and the paths were very wet in places.
The bonus was that everything had young. Swans with signets resting by a bridge was the first group we came across and then we met some Canadian geese, the goslings just wanted to check us out but mum and dad were not so keen.
We came across a fisherman who had just caught a very large bream and he was in the process of landing it. A little further on we came across another clutch of goslings, as well as mallard, coots and moorhens all with chicks of varying ages.
We made our way back upto the campsite but instead of following the race circuit as we did on Monday we found a path upto the rugby pitch which is normally a car park on race days. It was hard work but quicker than walking up the steep hill of the race track.
Tonight Sue is making a chicken Curry with rice and naans. Hopefully the cooker will warm the van up a bit. We have enough gas but we need plenty of battery for the TV.
Day 4:
Today it was meant to be fine. It was not sunny but we decided to walk to the gardens so we could compare them with our last visit.
The gardens were looking good with plenty of TLC since we were last here. We took some pictures and continued our walk along the sea front to the harbour.
We went as far as the Castle headland where last year we saw Dolphins, unfortunately they were not visible today.
Sue found a bargain on the seafront, 5 donuts 🍩 for £3.50. So we indulged. There were fresh shellfish stalls but the crabs were £8 and they were not very big. It is early in the holiday season and a lot of places were still closed.
We climbed upto the Grand Hotel and found the esplanades which runs along the cliff tops before heading inland towards Oliver’s Mount. The climb up Hells Drop seems to get easier.
The wind is quite strong today and cold so we retired inside Iona and passed the afternoon reading. Today’s walk was 6.75 miles
Tonight we are having steamed fish parcels, prawns in garlic & herb sauce with garlic bread.
Day 5:
Full cloud cover but it is a little bit brighter today. We are staying around the van today, hopefully the sun will show at some time.
In the afternoon we put the quest room away but left the windbreak up. Once we had our tea we packed everything away ready to leave in the morning. It was a good 5 nights away with plenty of walking and reading, we could have done with more sun but we still enjoyed the trip.
Iona’s Travels 