The bus stop in Hornsea is right opposite the museum – I would have liked to have had a look inside but we need to get this last walk done before driving back to London tomorrow. We haven’t even made time to have a look at Hornsea Mere, which lies to the west of the town and is the largest freshwater lake in Yorkshire. Another time perhaps……

As we wait I have a little look at the information board which stands in a small public garden to our right – “plastic free town since 2018” eh? Think I need to check that out.

As the bus approaches Aldbrough we push the red button to get out at a random spot which looks like it may be the centre of the village. We now have to walk the mile long Seaside Road to get to the coast – we pass a war memorial and a church.

The church tower looks like there’s something missing above the clock – a parapet or a few pinnacles?

Half way down Seaside Road we meet our bus coming the other way – it must have driven all the way down to the coast and is now on its way back – annoying.

Walking past a caravan site on our right we get to the end of the road – which is indeed the very end. Due to coastal erosion it has fallen over the cliff.

Sooooo…..what to do? The cliffs here are twenty metres high on average but they are stepped due to the different rates of resistance to erosion. I for one am not happy about trying to climb down the cliff so as we stand humming and hawing a local appears who directs us to a path the fishermen use.

The step cut into the cliff looks promising but leads nowhere so Damian has a go from the right hand side of the step and like the mountain goat that he is, hops (albeit carefully) from one mound of sandy sticky soil to another. He makes it half way down before pronouncing the path doable but I bottle out. Sorry – I’m going to find a path along the top of the cliff.

As I stand feeling sorry for myself, a woman walks by with a dog and a very useful piece of information. We can walk along the cliff until we reach the (decommissioned) bombing range, where we officially should turn inland but if we continue straight on we will find another way down to the beach – a path that she uses sometimes.

We walk through long grass and on unstable ground until we reach the warning signs – the red flag is not flying. This area was known as RAF Cowden until erosion of the cliff edge forced the closure of the site in 1998. In 2001 plans were announced to turn the area into a nature reserve but that entailed a programme of deactivating and destroying ordnance left on the site. The clean up began in 2021 and to date 10,000 items or ordnance have been cleared with an expected 650,000 items still awaiting disposal. In other words, keep away from anything that looks like a rusty old bomb!

Anyway – there is more excitement to come……….

We walk past the signs and around the edge of a copse of trees which takes us back to the cliff edge. Suddenly I hear a yelp from Damian who appears to have found another way down to the beach. This time I am determined to brave the descent and fortunately it does look easier. Two or three steps have been neatly cut out of the cliff face which then lead down to a couple of stable looking mounds of clay and from there it looks like a short hop down onto the sand – I do half of it on my bum. I am so overjoyed that we have made it down that I completely forget to take a photo of the path – a pity.

From now on it’s just plain sailing, although Damian did tell me later that he had noticed some curious metal objects, decidedly military, lying not far from where we landed on the sand. Hmmmm……

Empty beach – we meet only one dog walker who tells us that the Aldbrough cliffs are easier to scramble up than down – not sure I want to be testing that theory.

Happy now…………………

After three miles or so we reach civilisation – on the other side of the breakwater is a concrete path strewn with debris that serves as a way up to the caravan site at Hornsea.

The concrete slipway then morphs into a metal staircase and suddenly we’re on the promenade. Colourful paintings are displayed on the seawall from the winners of a community led art competition, started in 2014 and which the organisers hope will continue for decades to come. I hope so too but as always it’s a matter of funding. I particularly like these two…..

This has been an eventful walk – I need a drink.

Distance: 9 miles