WARNING: this is a long one with no particular theme or interesting subject matter - not a great advert to invest your time in reading it I’m afraid! I’ll leave it up to you and won’t be offended either way!
No rain due today + lots of rain due tomorrow = walk twice as far today and put feet up tomorrow. No! I think it fair to say that the 13 mile walk I did today was just a little too much for my crappy old feet! It was another one of those walks where I suddenly found my self 6 miles from home, sore feet and still walking in the wrong direction!
It all started well. A good nights sleep with a substantial 2 course breakfast! I left Brunnehilda at about 10.30. I decided I wouldn’t use the car today so I would head down to the coast and turn left and find my way to Beadnell. Completing this stretch means that I’ve now walked all the way from Bamburgh to Alnmouth (minus a short section by Boulmer). That’s over 20 miles by car so probably a bit more by hugging the coast line.
Lets deal with the geography first - I walked on the footpath from the farm down to the Coastal Footpath. I then got on Embleton Bay beach and walked to Low Newton by Sea.
After that it was across to Football Hole Beach (yes, really!) and then dropping onto the huge Beadnell Bay beach. Walking the length before going through the village of Beadnell. Then I followed the Coastal Path back to Low Newton and headed over the fields to the caravan site.
Overall the walk was about 13 miles at my usual slightly over 2.5 miles per hour. That’s nearly twice as many miles per day as General Sherman’s “March to the Sea” in the US Civil War. Although to be fair he had a lot of earth scorching activities to complete while I just had to deal with 2 crazy collies!
Oh and the collies were crazy again today! We had our usual game of “Carry the poo”. The idea of the game is for them to maximise the time I have to carry their excrement. And boy, they’re good at it!
It was a classic start. One of them waits until we’re 200 yards past a bin and then they perform. I pick it up and then turn back the 200 yards to deposit it. They smile and walk a further 500 yards and then the other one performs. Clearly I can’t go back again. So I do what a lot of my dog walking friends do and get a stick and flick it into the hedge. Ok, I’m on top of this. Then another half mile later one of them does another one - although this time it resembles a chicken tikka bhuna. That’s getting flicked no where fast so I reluctant bag it and start praying for a bin. There is never one when you want one and, as if to rub my nose in it (figuratively speaking), they finish me off by depositing a puréed chicken tikka bhuna - as we’ve now had 1/2 a mile of them drinking sea water! I admit defeat and keep the bag at arms length until I eventually find a bin. I gave them a celebratory drink of water.
For folks that don’t walk on their own, this maybe a surprise to you but it’s not a lonely experience as you are talking constantly. Not out loud (well just occasionally!) but internal conversations and arguments about all sorts of tosh. The dog poo being one example.
The other substantial internal debate I had today was the usual one of birds and twitchers! Firstly, let me say, I don’t like bird watchers! They seem to have sizeable chips on their shoulders and are so engrossed in watching said birds that they don’t have time for the rules of common courtesy- a smile, a few words.
Lots of signs about dogs on leads and flippin nesting birds again today. Mostly on NT land. I wouldn’t mind but they bloody nest from March to August? Couldn’t they bloody do it in the winter? And, while I’m on it, it rather goes against Darwinian principles for us all to go out our way to protect something that hasn’t got the evolutionary good sense to build its darn nest off the ground!
I also spent some time drafting a letter (in my head) to the NT to make my case but i suspect it very unlikely that this particular correspondence will ever get written!
Meanwhile the scenery was wonderful - the sea was wild and ferocious and the sky was grey and threatening. It was bloody cold as well (7 degrees in May?!) but as usual there were very few folks about - about an equal number of dog walkers and bird watchers.
I had a bit of a mare with lunch as well. I planned to eat at Beadnell but that was easier said than done … I walked up the beach spotting an ice cream van in the distance. Like some desert mirage it seemed to take ages to get there and then just as I was within 25 yards it drove off. I muttered under my breath and headed for the main village but the only place I could find didn’t open until 5. But at least there was another ice cream van! Unfortunately just at this time I realised I was busting for a wee. No problem, there was a public toilet close to hand. The gents was locked and out of order but helpfully the sign said the problem had been reported- well thank God for that!! Anyway, I can’t enjoy an ice cream when I need a wee so I headed through the large caravan site and onto the dunes to seek relief. So much for eating at Beadnell!
The dogs and I ended up picnicking on the beach much later on. Mini pork pies, chocolate cookies and Doritos slipped down nicely! At this stage I had my only physical conversation of the day. I said a few niceties to an old gay couple but my bloody deafness prevents me from accurately recounting their witty retorts!
Ok, it’s 11pm now and, apart from sticking a fish pie in the microwave, I haven’t moved from Brunnehilda’s bed and the dogs haven’t moved from under the table for pretty much 6 hours. Doesn’t bode well for the morning but it’s due to rain anyway!
And I’ve still gotta a bloody leaky tap to fix!
I read to the end ! You might enjoy viewing on iplayer one evening Canal Boat Diaries - another man travelling on his own on a barge through the winter months.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I’ll give that a go. I have considered selling Brunnehilda and getting a narrow boat?! I think the crazy collies would be even more stressful on water though!
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