St Oswald's

Just a few miles south of Scarborough is Filey, a much smaller and quieter town which became a resort in Edwardian times. The Cleveland Way ends here. More acurately, the Cleveland Way ends at a stile slightly north of Filey Brig (which is a rocky headland above the town itself). The reason for the sudden (and rather unremarkable) end of the path is that this marks the border of the old North and East Ridings of Yorkshire. In reality, of course, walkers treat Filey as the end.

Filey has a five mile stretch of sandy beach, but my main memory of Filey from 1990, is of the park. I can't remember what it was called and I am struggling to find anything other than the golf course on the map today, so maybe it has changed hands. It was certainly large and open, with a pitch and putt course and that is what we did! After two weeks of walking, we celebrated the end of our holiday with a game of pitch and putt. We played in the morning, went off into town to find some lunch and then decided that we had enjoyed ourselves so much that we wanted to do it all over again. Don't ask me who won. Haven't a clue! I just remember that it was fun!

My picture is much more recent, taken in 2007 when we stayed in the area and came for an evening stroll on the beach. The footpath from the cliff top down to Beach Road goes right past this church. I was attracted by the shape of the building, the colour of the stone and the name; St Oswald's - one of our Saxon saints! It almost looks more castle than church!