Day 90 Seahouses to Berwick upon Tweed

 

 Date: Friday 12^th August 2011   Distance: 35.31 Miles

 

After a good night, though Bob was coughing quite a bit from the cold and wet, we had left by 9.30 in sun peeping through the cloud. Our clothes had been kindly dried overnight in the boiler room. We took cycle route 1 again via Seahouses , three quarters of a mile away. As we passed through we noticed several fish and chip cafes and the ever present Indian Restaurant, the kind that has saved us from a hungry night several times now. Trips can be taken from here to the Farne Islands but it wasn’t the weather and unlikely that there would be puffins as it was past their breeding season.

It was 3 miles to Bamburgh and as we cycled we could see its castle and the Farne Islands at the same time. The castle dominates the village. We passed St. Aiden’s church where we looked for and found the monument to Grace Darling who with her father, the lighthouse keeper, rescued by rowing boat, 9 people shipwrecked and stranded on a rock in a gale in 1838. She was only 23 then and only lived 4 years longer, dying of consumption. There is a museum to her memory here too.

It was uphill out of Bamburgh and then down to Budle Bay, a nature reserve followed by some distance to the A1 where we had to cross.( silly idea for a cycleway!) We were lucky as a people carrier hazardously blocked the oncoming traffic for us so we could venture into the road.

The cycle path then took us through Belford and up- hill past a forest exuding a wonderful pine smell- they must have been cutting the trees for it to be so strong.

We crossed the A1 yet again and stopped at a garage for “nibbles” and loo. Turning right from here took us by a caravan park and then a level crossing. The lights were flashing so we waited dutifully for the barriers to come down. We waited and waited for a train and traffic was building up behind. After 7 or 8 minutes and still no train, the barriers went up while I was leaning on it. A lot of irate car drivers roared by straight after.

Further down the road is a Bird of Prey Visitor centre which had a very nice cafe. We had a good view of Lindisfarne from near here.It was nearly lunch time and it was getting busy so people had been reserving tables. We only had drinks and a little rest before following part of the Northumberland Coastal Path through rough and muddy areas and many a gate.

 

 It was then past a caravan park with a lookout tower at Beachcomber House. At Cheswick on the sea side of the path we passed a golf-course. One of the many gateposts had a note pinned to it telling walkers that the club house there are the nearest loos. Cheswick village comprised of a manorial looking house now a B and B and smaller old cottages, alongside the road, that, as indicated by their names would have housed “estate” workers. We didn’t see much else.

 

It was back on another cinder track near the sea and then a bit of road, followed by cliff top grass and no clear track! The sea views were lovely but it was quite hairy riding sometimes, especially when a group of black heifers hugged the land side and sent us close to a steep drop to the sea and rocks below. The next bit felt like a corner but the map said differently -anyway we had a good view of Spittal and the promenade there. The train track runs close by and we wondered how long it would be before erosion takes it.

 

We came down through the town past well built Victorian dark stone houses. Then we had a good view of the harbour, the walled town of Berwick and the 3 bridges. Particularly the railway Royal Border Bridge, impressively spanning the Tweed with its 28 arches, inspires a photograph. The old footbridge is the more romantic route to take, despite cyclists being encouraged to take the modern concrete bridge. “Foot-passengers” have to walk on the correct side of the bridge, depending on which way they are going so we pushed the bike. The streets were fairly busy and hilly and we walked to the top of the street before we realised that we wanted the bank, at the bottom.

 

We had lunch in a little cafe tucked away off the main street so the bike wasn’t blocking the pavement or out of sight. They were nice people but the meal a bit disappointing – cooked frozen fish! We couldn’t spend too long finding food as we only had half an hour before our train back home.

 

The station is quite small and the ticket office told us to go a silly route via York to Manchester Airport but luckily Bob had planned the best way for travelling with the bike. After the platform’s customer services person helped us put the bike in the goods van, which is then locked, he phoned Newcastle to say we wanted to get off there and to unlock it again for us. After Newcastle we chilled all the way until we had to ride the last 6 miles home.