A slightly shorter one tonight! But another great day in glorious Northumberland. More of the same I’m afraid - long walks, beaches and antisocial dogs. No psycho-analysis tonight though - I’m all self analysed out and just a bit pooped!
3rd day and still no rain. In fact it was warm sunshine until about 1pm. It clouded over then but came back later in the evening.
Out by 10 this morning as I wanted to get to Holy Island before high tide and the causeway shutting (at 11.15). Still had time for a bacon and egg bagel though! In fact I was parking up in a very pot holed car park just over the causeway - quite a long way from the town / action - at about 10.45.
This was planned as I wanted to try and walk around the island and end up at the castle / village. A bloody good plan as it turned out. Even though the village, castle and monastery were all heaving it was so very quiet in the far flung corners of the island.
Here again this is something I would have never have done with Kim - we would have parked up at the main car park and headed for the action. I’ve got to say though, today I was glad I wasn’t doing it that way.
I really can’t find the words to do the walk justice - and all in the perfect autumn sunshine as well. So, as my words have let me down, I’ll stick to the geographical facts:
Parked up at Jack Mathisons Bank car park and headed across the dunes. There was a warning about something called Peri peri grass (yeh, who knew eh?) that would stick to anything - especially dogs. And by jingo they were right - the 2 collies have more bits of undergrowth stuck on them than you could possibly imagine - the scissors will be out when I get home!
A short stumble over the dunes then onto the biggest expanse of empty beach I’ve seen outside of Birkdale on a cold day. Then, at the end of this beach I picked up the footpath that went all the way around the island. It passed through some beautiful secluded bays, warm and sheltered dunes, exposed cliff (although not very high) edges and a nature reserve. Snipe Point and Emmanuel Head we’re the main highlights before getting to Lindisfarne Castle.
Here we suddenly hit the crowds and the dogs had to be on a lead. And as if by magic, the wonderfully behaved Tilly turned into a monster. Bigbee from Trainspotting had returned. If she could speak she would have been saying to every dog (and crikey, there were an amazing amount of dogs) - “what you Fcukin’ lookin’ at”. Followed by a mean sounding growl, a bit of a lunge and all this while wagging her friggin tail!
She calmed down eventually and we had a fairly uneventful walk through the village. Before we headed out to the village, I did ask the National Trust folks if they had somewhere I could keep the dogs safe while I had a quick look around the castle. She said no, and that most people take turns. I pointed out it was hard to take turns with myself. She seemed quite surprised I was on my own - I took that as a compliment!! She did offer a place to tie them up round the back but given little miss “whatyoulookinat”, I didn’t think that was a wise move.
I did manage to find a nice quiet bench and read my book for a bit - with a gorgeous view to compensate for the miserable / snappy hound tied up at my feet!
We walked around the town and monastery but it was soo busy. I wanted to get a coffee but the queues were lined with well behaved dogs on leads. I then fancied a pint but the beer garden was peppered with dogs lazing around minding their own business. If I took Bigbee in there it would be like trying to tiptoe through a minefield. So nothing for it but to head to the main car park and find an ice cream van - without a queue involving a dog!
I bought a bloody huge tub of vanilla which I shared with the dogs - God, they both really love ice cream! The empty tub served as a water holder for the dogs as I had once again forgotten their bowl. Earlier on in the walk I / they had made do with a rock with a little hollow in the middle.
Once more across the dunes - even bigger and longer this time. And then onto that aforementioned huge beach again. It wasn’t quite so nice now as the sun was gone and there was a bit of a wind in our face. We got back to the car at about 3.15.
I had a WhatsApp call scheduled with the kids at 5.30 so I decided the best bet would be to head home and pick up some food on the way. I drove through Bamburgh as I considered stopping there but the call of fish and chips from Neptunes in Seahouses was too much to ignore! I went here last year and I remember them being particularly good.
Parked up, bought them (with a curry sauce) and headed back to Brunnehilda. And yes, I remembered correctly - it was good!
I thought I’d kill 2 birds with one stone and go to the beach, for the dogs final walk of the Northumberland stay, while WhatsApping the kids. We sat on the beach and had the call. Dodgy reception meant I had to head up onto the golf course (get a bit higher up) half way through. It was lovely to see and speak to them all - although I’m not sure how much they heard of me over the sea, the wind, me shouting at the dogs (especially Benny who seemed to want to go off with all the passing walkers and their dogs) and the lousy reception. It did me a world of good though.
Back home to Brunnehilda and more of the usual. Sat out reading my book with a beer, then an episode of the Waltons and a couple of episodes of Better Call Saul and a pot of tea - rock and roll 🤟. I even found time for a sneaky supper as well.
Oh well, back down to Derbyshire tomorrow and hopefully some non-canine, non-fungi related conversations mixed in with the solo walking.
It’s been a strange trip. I don’t think my head was quite in the right place to fully appreciate it but each day has got better and … this bloody place is amazing - so, just like Arnie, “I’ll be back!”.
Oh finally, say hello to Clive … I rescued him on the huge Holy Island beach. He was a long way from safety but had the good grace not to nip me as I took him down to the waters edge. You’re welcome Clive!
No comments:
Post a Comment