A Stroll With Stu: nostalgic 'school trip' walk from Flask Inn to Robin Hood's Bay

The first mile or two was through newly planted woodland and I wanted to see how it now looked, five years on.

This was the main event in my annual walking weekend away with nine old pals – seven of whom I went to school with.

We are in various stages of physical disintegration and the walks have shortened over the years, with escape routes planned for the especially infirm.

It is kind of nice to still be in touch – indeed enjoying a weekend away – with people who I first met over 50 years ago.

And in fact, some of us attended Junior school together in Thornaby from 1960, when a young dude called Elvis topped the charts and the moon was still made of cheese.

I remember being taken to school as a five-year old on my first day by my Mam.

It was half a mile away from home and she took me there in the morning, telling me to remember the route and she’d see me at home at dinnertime.

Social Services would be waiting there these days!

The 60s were such a great time to grow up, and so different from now.

No mobiles or Internet, two channels on a black and white TV that took three minutes to ‘warm-up’, no foreign holidays, jobs for life, snow in winter, jumpers for goalposts, fish and chip shops around every corner and we still hadn’t won the World Cup (actually, it doesn’t necessarily sound so good, but believe me, it was!)

Obviously, we all went our separate ways after High School, but come back each year to re-tell tall tales of travel, key achievements, failed attempts to woo that blonde girl from Tollesby in fourth year, and any new additions to our repeat prescriptions.

We were staying in Scarborough and caught the X94 bus, alighting at the Flask Inn on the moors road.

Across the road, follow a track down to Low Flask Farm, soon bending right amidst cottages, then heading east for a few hundred yards before jagging sharp left alongside a hedge.

Look out for a stile slightly to your right in the fence at the end of that field (avoiding a clearer track that continues to the right), and follow the path slowly downhill in that new woodland I mentioned.

Unfortunately, many of those newly planted trees seem to have succumbed to the beast from the east, and are just withered sticks still attached to their supporting stakes.

Plenty have survived though, and the area is still a hugely attractive patch of mixed woodland supporting a wealth of wild plants, birds and butterflies.

The path continues for a mile or more, crossing a beck before emerging onto a wide track which takes you left up to Colcroft Farm with its friendly horses.

Turn right on the quiet lane leading down from the Moors Road, and admire the skylarks and the super views over to Stoupe Brow on your right.

After a mile, you have a choice.

The Lane crosses the Cinder Track, which you can access with a sharp left turn downhill signed for Fylingthorpe, and after half a mile of cinders, climb up to the first overbridge and follow a path soon heading left in gorse bushes down to Mill Beck, and back up to join a tiny lane.

Follow the Tarmac left, taking a right down Mark Lane, skirting left around Farsyde Farm to join the Cleveland Way which will take you (left) directly to Robin Hood’s Bay.

Now, I rushed through that last bit because we didn’t bother with that valley.

Instead, we fancied coffee and cake at the café at Boggle Hole Youth Hostel, followed by a stroll along the beach to Baytown.

To get there, it’s easy!

Just continue following the lane, which passes a small car park before beginning a descent down to gorgeous Boggle Hole.

The state of the tide is important here, because once you are cake happy, the best route to Robin Hood’s Bay is along the beach, but that is inaccessible for a couple of hours either side of high tide (the alternative involves a steep climb up a million steps to the cliff top path).

The tide was half way to Denmark on our trip and we enjoyed the sandy stroll in lovely sunshine, among fossil hunters and rockpool explorers.

At Baytown, we had a planned date with several pints in the excellent Dolphin pub, before tackling the vertical bank up to catch the Scarborough bus, after a pit stop at the chippy near the top.

For us, once a year, each day continues to be a school day!