Freddie Gilroy & The Tunney’s Apprentice

Monday 6th October 2025 | As a result of poor weather courtesy of Storm Amy we decided to postpone our weekend walk until the Monday which Diane had already booked off work. In the aftermath of the storm, the forecast was a good one: sunny and warm, if a bit breezy.  Location-wise, I thought that the former fishing port of Scarborough, on the North York Moors coast, might be worth a 150-mile round trip.

Apart from its many other charms, the main reason for our visit would be the town’s THREE Ray Lonsdale sculptures: Freddie Gilroy & The Belsen Stragglers on Marine Drive, North Bay; The Tunney on the East Pier, South Bay and The Smuggler’s Apprentice on Merchant’s Row, in the town. We’d met “Freddie” when walking the Cleveland Way, a couple of years ago, but hadn’t realised about the other two, which would be our principal focus today.

Diane was nursing a couple of issues, including a nasty scald on her arm, so we thought we’d keep is short: something around 10 miles. After trying and failing to incorporate the Tabular Hills Walk I opted to start from Burniston, on the A171 (Scalby Road), about 3 miles north of Scarborough. Handily, it intersects with the NCN 1 cycle route known locally as “The Cinder Track”. This was formerly the Scarborough & Whitby Railway which operated between 1885 and 1965. Going clockwise, we’d use it on the return leg from Scarborough having used the Cleveland Way/England Coast Path to get there.

If you’re interested in Ray Lonsdale’s work, you might like to read a couple of my other posts: Tabular Hills & Dalby Forest Hike and Big Fella & The Big Dance.

Stats at a Glance

Distance 16.5 km/10.2 miles | Elevation Gain  187 m/613 ft | Maximum Elevation 62 m/203 ft (Field Lane, Burniston) | Going Generally firm with potentially muddy sections; road, track, trail, farmland, urban | Exposure Exposed on the Cleveland Way and North Bay sea front | Navigation Way-marked on Cleveland Way (ECP) & Cinder Track (OS Explorer 301; Landranger 101)| Hospitality & Supplies Burniston (PH); Scalby Mills (PH); Scarborough (All) | Start & Finish Burniston, North Yorkshire YO13 0HR (what3words: ///puns.bravo.rope) | Grade Moderate | GPS File

Heading There

Having allowed the school traffic to clear, the drive down to Burniston was as trouble-free as I’d hoped it might be. Parking was equally easy as, with the holiday season behind us, there were plenty of roadside options available. We’d parked quite close to The Cinder Track which, had I realised it at the time, might have influenced my route out of the village.

Instead, we wound our way through a couple of back lanes onto Field Lane, on which we passed under the Cinder Track heading for the coast at Crook Ness. We ambled along for the first mile or so sampling — at Diane’s insistence — rose hips, hawthorn berries and crab apples. Verdict: interesting but hard to recommend. At the end of the lane, near Cliff Top House, there’s a free car-park which is another feature that, had I known about, I might have chosen to use.

Travelling clockwise also meant that the hilliest part of the route comes in the first few miles. While that’s always a decent plan it would barely be noticed on today’s profile. The views on this impressive section of Jurassic coastline, are distracting enough anyway. The going also helped as, despite the recent heavy rain, the trail remained dry with the weather set to ensure it stayed that way.

Despite the lure of the views seaward, the farm at Scalby Lodge, with its little tower, caught my attention as it did the first time we passed. It’s one of those that puts me in mind of the farms of La Haye Sainte or Hougoumont at the Battle of Waterloo. Although I’ve never actually been, nor have I any idea if it’s anything like them, I think it’s got a “Napoleonic vibe”.

Almost as soon as we’d passed Scalby Lodge, we arrived at the intersection with the Tabular Hills Walk path. As I’ve already said, I’d tried to incorporate this trail in our walk today but it’s not as easy as I thought it might be to come up with a decent circuit into and out of Scarborough. We’ve done enough bits of it now to make me want to complete it, so it’s on the ‘hit-list’.

From this point onwards there’s very much a “Scalby” theme: there’s Scalby Sands and Scalby Ness, with the sinuous Scalby Beck winding it’s way to the sea below Long Nab. Apart from a long flight of steps down to the promenade, Long Nab also offers a nice panorama of North Bay, terminated at its southern end by Scarborough Castle’s Great Tower on Castle Hill. On the promenade we decided — even though it seemed early — to take our first hospitality stop for the day at the c17th Old Scalby Mills pub. Despite having only covered three miles it seemed ideal, with the weather being nice enough to take our drinks outside.

Three Sculptures

From Old Scalby Mills it’s a 2-mile trip along the entire sea front on North Bay. First up is North Bay Promenade which takes you past the Oceanarium, the miniature railway and an attractive row of brightly painted, multi-coloured beach huts. This morphs into Royal Albert Drive, where — with the incoming tide remorselessly consuming the beach — we reacquainted ourselves with the oversized presence of Freddie Gilroy sitting quietly on his bench, complete with walking-stick and looking impassively out to sea. The flat cap and overcoat in which he’s clad seemed more appropriate to the frigid, late afternoon November sunshine of our last encounter. I took a quick photograph to record the very different character of the day and we moved on.

As the Great Tower looms nearer so Royal Albert Drive gives way to Marine Drive. This part-cobbled road around the headland was constructed at the end of the c19th — at significant expense — to link Scarborough’s two bays. Assuming you’re not in a hurry, there’s a detailed history to be read, both on the interpretation boards and on the bite-sized “Portholes in Time” lining the sea-wall. As South Bay hove into view, we passed a group of sightseers were keen to inform us about the dolphins (or porpoises) breaking through the waves in the bay. Even though I was somewhat fixated on the next sculpture, which I knew to be nearby, it was indeed a pleasant distraction.

Our second objective lay only a few metres further away — “The Tunney” is a 7-foot long, fabricated steel fish on the end of a stylised hook and line overlooking the East Harbour. Scarborough once had a strong association with tuna sport fishing, the fish being known locally as “tunneys”. Together with all of the sculptures we’d visit today, “The Tunney” — created by Ray Lonsdale — was commissioned, purchased and donated by Mrs Maureen Robinson, a Scarborough resident and philanthropist. There’s a fourth sculpture of a sea angler in nearby Filey titled “A High Tide in Short Wellies”.

With “The Tunney” and it’s accompanying verse (always a bonus) duly recorded we continued along Sandside, through light crowds of mainly senior citizens, to a coffee shop opposite the beach. By chance we’d chosen to stop right next to “Gillys Steps”, a steep flight of stone steps leading directly up to Merchant’s Row where we’d find the final statue, “The Smuggler’s Apprentice”. Another set of steps, a few metres further along Sandside (“New Steps”), will also get you there.

The location, overlooking the harbour, is a nice half-way house between the touristy seafront and one Scarborough’s main commercial thoroughfares. Here, I spent more than a few minutes doing battle with the harsh shadows cast on such a bright, sunny day. One thing I’ve learned is that the sculptures are often in locations that are far from ideal photographically. Sometimes it’s a squeeze, sometimes it’s busy and sometimes it’s just plain uninspiring but it’s always been interesting. Unless you can use substantial quantities of flash, light cloud, as for portraits, is best.

Heading Back

The second half of the route, back to Burniston, begins with almost a mile of shops, along Newborough, Westborough (past the railway station) and Falsgrave Road. Being a Monday however, it was relatively quiet. It’s not often that we’d choose a route like this which is why, today, it seemed so interesting. Our goal was the NCN 1 cycle route known, less officiously, as “The Cinder Track”, mentioned previously. I was expecting to be able to pick it up near Sainsbury’s off Falsgrave Road.

It all went very much to plan BUT almost as soon as we’d joined it, I mistakenly led us on a slight detour (even with GPS), just after passing the park near the superstore. Instead of continuing UNDER the bridge (Wykeham St.) I took us up onto the road and we spent the next couple of hundred metres exploring the local back streets. Both of us had failed to spot the multi-coloured way-marker which (I feel) blends in somewhat with the artistic graffiti in the recreation area under the bridge, through which runs the path.

The name “The Cinder Track” is something of a misnomer in the town as it is, in fact, very smooth and well surfaced; it’s not until you reach Scalby that the name gets more descriptive. For the first couple of miles the track was thronging with school children — and parents in many cases — given that it was now around 3 pm. It’s a great facility for safe cycling but less so for a satisfying walk in my opinion. I applaud its many virtues, I really do, but I prefer my recreational walking to have ups-and-downs, bends-and-turns and bits-and-bobs. If you like yours flat, straight and predictable you’ll love this part of the Cinder Track.

Scalby is where it starts to wiggle a bit and where the gravel begins, abruptly on the outskirts of the town. At this point however, we only had about a mile-and-a-half to go. As the suburbs receded, so the view expanded, across low, rolling fields, particularly towards the coast. To top it off, the sun decided to join us after a brief hiatus, improving the ambience even more. I can say with confidence that warm, sunny autumn days are as good as it gets for me.

The final mile to Burniston is dead straight and almost equally flat. I’d already realised that the track would cross the road in Burniston not too far from where we’d parked the car. We might not have noticed the pub however in which we stopped for a swift half before continuing the journey home.