Northumberland

Saturday, 28 June 2014

We left Braemar around 9.00 and headed south.  Crossed the Firth of 
Forth on the fabulous bridge and dropped into Berwick on Tweed.  Neither of us recognised it and wondered why until we finally realised that we had never been there.  The last time we were in Scotland was in 2006 and we stayed in North Berwick, and not Berwick on Tweed!

Found our way to Seahouses and found the cottage without too much hassle.  It was about 5.30 when we arrived and moved in.  The house is on three levels and is nicely decorated with a seaside theme.  The living area is a bit squeezy, but adequate and has a nice Ikea kitchen.  Couldn't believe that it has a table and chairs exactly the same as the ones Janiece had in her apartment in Hong Kong. 

Having settled in, we decided to go for a walk along the Northern Coastal Trail.  After all my complaints about farm animals, we could not believe that these were the first notices we saw when we started walking the Northern Coastal Trail!

Continued for a while across the golf course, but it was cold with a strong wind blowing, so headed back for our first fish and chip meal.  Fish was very nice, but were not too impressed by the chips.  Brian has decided that the only people who make decent chips are the Belgiums.

The village is right in the middle of a long stretch of coastline - and fishing has been and still appears to be the main industry.  There is a small protected harbour with a lot of boats.  Because it is close to the Farne Islands which are nature reserves, tourism is also very important, with a number of boats taking people to see the birds, seals, dolphins etc.

Sunday 29th June.

A very cold wind blowing, so we rugged up and had coffee at the Bamburgh Inn which is not in Bamburgh, but overlooks the Seahouses Harbour.  Decided to walk down to the next village,  - past the flying golf balls - and along the beach to Beadnell.  Had an ice cream and headed back.   Fish, but no chips, for tea.

Monday 30th June.

 A very nice day so we went north to Holy Island.  Expected it to be a bit like Caldey Island in Wales, but it was not nearly as interesting.  There is not much left of the Priory and what is, is a ruin.  Couldn't see the point of paying to go inside when you could see the same ruins from the outside.   Took lots of photos and visited the Church of St. Mary which had a fantastic wooden sculpture as you walked in, but I couldn't find any information about it anywhere.  We looked in all the shops to see if there were postcards of it, but no joy.  Maybe it is a case of the locals  knowing what it is about and not thinking it is worth telling anyone else!

 Brian found this on the net.  It is a sculpture that represents the return of St Cuthbert to Holy Island.

Priory from the Lookout

St. Aidan

 Unlike the Akers, we left in plenty of time to make sure that we were not caught on the causeway as the tide was coming in, and decided to visit North Berwick.  It at least was a bit more familiar than Berwick on Tweed, but was much busier than we had remembered.  There were lots of people on the beach and there is a very big sea pool at one end of the beach.  It reminded me of Manly Beach in Sydney.  Had coffee in a deli, and bought some delicious salads to accompany some home cooked cod for dinner.  Brian had bought it and some other fish from the shop next door.  It is a favourite of Rick Stein's and has a smoke house which has delicious smells emanating from it when we walk past.

Large sea pool in background.

North Berwick Beach, which reminded me of Manly Beach NSW

Got back late from our long drive - North Berwick is almost back to Edinburgh - and had our cod and salads for dinner. Didn't take any photos of dinner, but afterwards, I went down to the harbour and across the top of the cliffs that lead away fromSeahouses toward Bamburgh.  Took some sunset photos of the islands and think I managed to get one with one of the lights flashing from the southern end light house.  Zoom in to see it.

  

 Must admit that I probably feel more at home in this environment by the sea, than anywhere else in UK. The only difference I guess is the weather.  When we were driving back from North Berwick yesterday,    very nice sunny day, we were talking about it and both felt that it was very like the scenery around Byron Bay in northern NSW.  Rolling green hills and cultivated fields.  The village of Seahouses is also unlike the other seaside places we have been to in UK.  It is nothing like Yarmouth or Scarborough in Yorkshire with their grand hotels and amusement parlours - there is a small amusement parlour here - but nothing like the ones in these other seaside places we have visited.   To my mind while they have aspects that are delightful in their own way, they are not as natural as Seahouses.  This is probably due to their history and the different purposes they served, tourism versus industry, but I like the more natural aspect of Seahouses as opposed to the tourism of the others.

 

Shelf like Coalcliff NSW

Harbour at Seahouses. I left out the modern buildings.

TUESDAY 1 JULY 
  

Today we did a walk north along the beach to Bamburgh, and when we returned Brian was saying that except for the houses, we could be walking on a beach anywhere in Oz.  I had to point out to him though, that unfortunately, Seahouses has lost some of its uniqueness, by allowing some very modern 2000 type building to built on the seafront which are totally out of character with the rest of the buildings.  Again it was a beautiful sunny day, and we even when paddling in the north sea.  Brian said he thought it was warm when I said it was cold!  I thought it was Mary who is supposed to be contrary?

You'll have to zoom in to see him

He didn't chop my head off.  Like the shadow

 
Beforehand, we went down to Alnwick - it is the closest place that has a library - so that Brian could print out the ticket to get us from Newcastle city to the port of Newcastle on Saturday week.  It and the other market town Wooler which we visited on the way back were interesting towns.  We might do some walking in the Cheviot hills from Woolmer, so stay tuned for more posts from this region.