The weather helped - sunny most of the time with lots of blue skies. Even when the sun went in and on top of the windy cliffs it really wasn’t that cold. I didn’t have to cover my T shirt with a sweat shirt until my evening walk at 6.30!
I can’t help but compare 2021 with 2022 Northumberland visits - both geographically and emotionally! Let’s start with the touristy bit and tell you what I got upto today …
Slept in until gone 9.30. A leisurely breakfast and out by 10.45. The Brunnehilda breakfast of choice remains bacon bagels although this morning I chucked a fried egg on top as well - racey start to the day eh? Exactly as the Queen left Westminster Hall pulled by 80 sailors, I left Brunnehilda pulled by 2 crazy collies.
I decided not to use the car today. Mainly because I have no diesel (the light came on for the last bit of the journey and it’s not easy to fill up with Brunnehilda in tow) and I read that most of the fuel stations were shut today- I didn’t want to drive into Alnwick and then not be able to get back.
All good though, there is a lovely footpath from the campsite across the fields that joins onto the Coast Path (St Oswalds Way). Then it’s a quick drop to the north end of Embleton Bay at Low Newton by the Sea. It took about 35 minutes. On the coastal path I met a chap looking for his dad - he asked if I’d seen an old man with a dog. I wanted to say, “only when I pass a mirror” but he was clearly a little stressed so I said no and offered to help him. We walked the 50 yards onto the beach, agreed to split up and then he saw him in the distance. Panic over.
It was a gorgeous walk on the beach. Quite a few dogs and folks out but all went well. The ones that were off the lead were no problem and I gave the ones on a lead a wide berth. The sun felt really hot although I noticed the weather had confused lots of people - there was as many anoraks as there were T shirts!
I walked the entire length of Embleton Bay - North to South. Getting off at the end of the golf course and climbed up back onto the coast path to the foot of Dunstanburgh Castle. What a fantastic looking place - such a shame it was shut. There were quite a few folks now who had clearly made the long walk along the coast from Craster. English Heritage would have taken quite a bit of admission money today.
I stopped for a wee rest and realised I had done a 2 out of 10 job on packing my ruck sack. No dog treats, no food for me, other than some soft Oreos and no dish for the dog’s water! My cupped hand got round the dog water issue but the lack of food was going to be a problem unless something was open at Craster.
It’s here that I had my only meaningful chat of the day. I saw a middle aged lady rummaging amongst the ferns, clearly looking for something. After watching her for a few minutes, I went over and cheekily asked what she was up to. Turns out she was looking for and recording fungi! I’m not sure if she was an academic or just a little eccentric. Turned out she had found a lot more yesterday at Holy Island! We had a long chat and I now know a lot more about rare fungi than I did yesterday! I was tempted to tell her the joke about why the mushroom went to the party but I guessed she would have heard it before so we just talked about fungi and border collies.
If I had been with Kim, we would have turned back now and retraced our steps - especially with the lack of provisions - but I pressed on the couple of miles along the coast to Craster.
I went to Craster last year and bought some smoked kippers from the Smokery. Not open, nor was the pub, nor was the cafe, nor was the shop. I managed to find an ice cream van - I thought about telling him how disrespectful he was for opening but my need for sustenance outweighed any smart arse comments. The dogs and I shared a huge tub of vanilla - the tub was deliberate so that I now had a bowl for dog water!
I found another higher up footpath out of the village and back to the Castle. Then, to continue to mix it up a bit, I walked not on the beach, but the other side of the golf course on the official coast path - ironically further from the coast than the path running parallel to it by the beach. By the time I got to Dunstan Steads my feet were hurting so I fancied getting my shoes off and walking on the sand - so thats what I did!
Jings, the North Sea is cold! I walked / paddled for about 15 mins and rather than my feet warming up it started to feel like I was getting frostbite! I put my socks back on pretty darn quickly. I retraced my steps from this morning - off the beach at Low Newton by the Sea and back over the fields to Brunnehilda. Arriving back at the campsite at about 4.15. 5 1/2 hours and about 9 miles since setting off.
At this stage we all crashed out for an hour or so. I can’t really remember what we did but an hour passed before I cooked pork loin with pepper sauce and salad. It wasn’t great but I was bloody hungry so it was finished off.
Another episode of The Waltons and then out for a quick walk around the farmers fields and into the village - about 45 mins. The dogs are really knackered now!
Been blogging for ages now. So long, I’m going to have to fix some supper - bagels and marmite peanut butter?
That’s a bloody long blog and I haven’t even started on the emotional stuff yet. On that score it’s not been a great day. Not sure if it’s the lack of interaction (fungi lady excepted) or the annoyance of losing some hearing in my good ear and all the fuss / tests that’s going to bring my way, but I haven’t felt anywhere near the top of my game today.
Comparing this year with last, I am noticing some key differences in how I’m feeling - good and bad! I’m still internally processing them and what it all means. When I make sense of it all, I’ll let you know!
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