A Holy Week Holiday - description of the week in Scarborough by Maxine O'Reilly. Photographs, captions and the note about the visit to York by Tony Finnegan.

Maurice Hickman’s trip to Scarborough proved to be an unforgettable holy week experience. It was an eclectic mixture of stunning coastal walks, wind swept moors, smoke filled pubs with the best real ale, and services to celebrate Easter.

Scroll down to see photographic memories of the trip.

As you can see the hostel is in an idyllic location on the bank of the river and is within easy walking distance of Scarborough

By contrast Good Friday was devoted to visiting Scarborough, with Maurice showing us the church of St Mary of the Apostles, and the grave of Anne Bronte. The youngest Bronte sister, who died aged twenty eight, loved Scarborough so much that she wished to be buried there. At 12 noon that church had a three hour guided meditation on Christ’s passion done in fifteen minute cycles with breaks of reflective classical piano music. At 3pm we united as a group to attend the traditional RC service with moving Taize music. (No photographics were taken in this part of the day

Scarborough castle from the promenade.

 We spent the best part of one day at Scarborough Seaworld where the penguins and the otters proved great attractions

The Otters were curious for a way out of their confined location

But the girl who conducted the demo took no chances

At the end of our visit to Seaworld three of us posed for te souvenir photograph

For me the highlight of the week was our visit to Whitby. The ruin of Whitby Abbey which was venue of the famous Synod of Whitby that juts out over the sea, its cobbled streets and buildings seem to be straight out of medieval Holland or Germany. It was here, Maurice told us, that Bram Stoker got his inspiration for Dracula. Indeed if any ramblers are thinking of writing a follow up to Dracula they might, on a stormy night, like to stay in the massive youth hostel beside the Abbey. On the other hand, our hostel situated by a river in the brilliant holy week sunshine was small, intimate and friendly, even if at times, the showers were faulty.

Whitby Abbey close up

Whitby Abbey from the Cleveland Way

In fact we did a long walk on the Cleveland Way and found that the Abbey was never far from view

Whitby Abbey from across the water framed by WhaleBones

And  long range view of the Abbey from down town

Closer to the Abbey we took advantage of some free time to get photographs to record our visit

However, in Scarborough you can get a good hotel facing the sea, often with single accommodation, for around £20 per night. And for those wishing to catch a quick Easter Vigil service lasting just over an hour, you can always nip over to St Oswald’s RC church in Whitby and then be back in Scarborough for closing time.

Here are a few more pictures of a memorable holiday

The Hermitage. I think the inscription GC 1790 commemorates King George IV and his second wife Caroline. If you know different please let me know.

The whole walking group on a bridge in very pleasant surroundings.

The same group but with more of the surroundings showing.

On the same day we saw this waterfall which I thought picturesque

On another day's walk we crossed a wooden footbridge

Footwear was asking for adjustment at this point

A treat of walking in the hills was to see the sheep being very caring of their offspring

But at least one of the lambs liked to befriend humans

In a very short few days we covered miles of coastline and riverside walking.  Below are a few examples of where I got the ramblers by a river.

In the course of one day's walking we visited Robin Hood Bay, where those who complete Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk get their certificates

 On the last day of the holiday we all went our separate. Four of us spent a most enjoyable day in York including a pleasant lunch hour in Yorkshire Breweries' "Last Drop Inn". They are so friendly in York that they even forgave one rambler for asking for Black Sheep bitter in a YB pub!! Here are a few memories of the day.

York Minster from the top of the open bus.

Clifford Tower - site of the infamous massacre of the the Jews. The red tint in the stonework on the front of the tower is said to be a mysterious remnant of the blood of those massacred.

A different view of Clifford Tower

Helen, Colin, Tony and Maurice on top of the open top bus.

At the bottom of the picture below is a small remnant of the Roman Wall of the City of York. Above part of the later City Wall is visible.