The weather forecast dictated the order of play today. A dry morning with heavy rain spreading in from 1pm.
So every excuse for getting up and about early. Tilly and I were in the car by 9 ready for our 10 minute drive to Beadnell Bay. The normal Brunnehilda couple of lazy hours in bed with a cup of tea followed by a magnificent Kim cheese and mushroom omelette was unfortunately just a pleasant memory. In fact, breakfast was awful! I realised I didn’t have any butter when the bagels were toasted. I really didn’t fancy bovril on bagels with no butter, so I had coronation chicken. Not a culinary success, nor a nutritious start to the day.
I was first car in the car park this morning. My plan was to walk the couple of miles along the beach to Seahouses. I must admit I started off with some trepidation - my dodgy left foot / ankle, the impending lunchtime rain storm and an unpredictable dog in company! In fact, I suspect if the much more sensible Kim had been with me, we may not have even started. I never really regained her trust after the infamous 8 hour, 12 mile round trip at Weymouth that my map reading skills had suggested was an easy afternoon stroll!
The early walking was quite hard as the tide was well in. Beadnell Bay is just a wee fishing harbour with a very attractive bay and view looking south to Dunstanburgh Castle. We headed north and it wasn’t long before we were on the large expanse of sand (even with the tide in) that stretched about a mile upto Seahouses.
As you would expect, there were not many folks on the beach. There did however seem to be a high percentage of bird watchers. Tilly was doing her normal thing and barking like a mad thing at all the sea birds as she chased them manically spreading them like butter on a slice of toast.
Kim would have been horrified and would have been reaching for the lead. I just kept smiling at the folks and explained to anyone with a pair of binoculars that she’s never caught one yet. They all seemed to be ok. In fact, folks seem to be a lot more smiley up here. 9 times out of 10 my smile is returned - it maybe the dog (there’s nothing scarier than an old man on his own smiling at you!) or it could just be that people are much friendlier up here.
Seahouses is a busy wee place. A nice Main Street of shops and then a very busy working port with lots of fishing boats and plenty of charter boats too.
I bought a couple of sausage rolls to share with Tilly and a cup of tea. We ate them above the harbour as the promised rain started earlier than scheduled. In fact Tilly had more to eat than me as she polished off a scotch egg I had in my bag as well.
It drizzled for most of the return walk home. It was slightly quicker walking back - maybe the drizzle hurried us up! So we were back in the car after about an hour - at about 12.15. The beach was still quiet but noticeably full of couples - not bird watchers! Given the time of year, most of the couples were my sort of age - empty nesters / grandparents enjoying a break out of season. Seeing couples of a similar age to me sets off the sadness followed by the anger emotions mentioned in yesterday’s blog. I have a new strategy to counteract this … as they approach I convince myself that feeling jealous of them is pointless as one of them may have a terminal disease and the other one may have dementia. By the time our paths cross I have a lot of sympathy for them and I greet them with a smile full of sorry and compassion for their situation! Not a very sustainable or particularly nice strategy but it seems to work?
By the time we got back to the car the rain had stopped and we saw the days only sun - for about 5 minutes. Tilly and I headed back to Brunnehilda. We got back at about 12.30 which incidentally is the time that Kim and I would have been heading out for the day after a wonderfully relaxing morning. A cup of tea and an episode of The Wire as the promised rain storms really kicked in.
I fancied a trip to Alnwick. I thought that would be a good idea for a wet afternoon. We made the 20 minute trip finding a parking spot on the high street at about 2.30. With Tilly on the lead we had a look around. We had a few aggressive moments with a couple of dogs she didn’t like the look of and she did that annoying sheepdog thing where she looks like she’s trying to round up the passing cars.
We did have a nice hour or so walking round though- what a lovely historic town. The biggest disappointment was that both Alnwick Castle and Alnwick Castle Gardens did not allow dogs - so Tilly and I didn’t partake.
On the way out of town I passed 2 fuel station both fully open and no queues. At the third one I filled up - again no queues. The conclusion… northern folks are a lot more community spirited, generous and sensible than their selfish, paranoid southern cousins!
I enjoyed a MacDonalds drink at a wee lay-by overlooking some wild Northumberland coastline. I went back to Embleton via the really cute fishing village of Craster.
What a lovely place. I know it’s late September but it seemed very unspoilt by tourists and had a very genuine look and feel to it.
As I drove up the hill out of the harbour, the eerie mist from the rain was added to by the billows of smoke coming from a fish smokery. I parked up and hurried back up the hill from to buy some - big disappointment, they had shut 20 minutes before!
Back to Brunnehilda for another cuppa and chilax before heading out to find something to eat at about 7pm. I went to the next village - High Newton by the Sea. The Drovers Arms is a self proclaimed “gastro pub” but I didn’t let that put me off. Certainly not as friendly as last night but they did a rather splendid steak frites - very French! In and out very quickly tonight, as I’m finding out, eating out on your own is all about speed. Get it ordered, get it eaten and get out!
Back to Brunnehilda for more tea, more Wire a couple of episodes of This Country and a nice chat with Bobby. Tilly is very stiff - all the sea water and exercise has caught up with her. More tomorrow as well but hopefully better weather.
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