A coastal walk

 A coastal walk in Northumberland November 7th.                                    After the ups and downs of last weekend we are off on a coastal walk from Bamburgh to High Newton. 

Drive to High Newton on the A1 north, turn off at Alnwick, for Denwick and head for High Newton on minor roads.

At High Newton catch the 418 bus (1028 am) for Bamburgh, get off and head south.

A map is not essential but OS explorer 332 Holy Island and OS explorer 340 cover the walk.

              A bit of a cheat really because I forgot to take a car park picture. This is from November 2023.

      But this is the bus shelter in High Newton, taken on Saturday. It's better than the shelter near my house which is open to the elements.

The bus arrived on time and let us off on time close to Bamburgh Castle and the cricket field.

Bamburgh Castle on the Whin Sill. A fortified place for ancient Brits, Romans, Saxons and Normans. A bright blue sky too, very warm for early November. The left foreground is the cricket outfield. Not surprisingly this ground made the top ten prettiest village cricket fields in England, according to The Times. Quite right. Over the castle wall is six and out.

 There was a coffee stall close to the castle and after we had partaken we set off on the path close to the cricket pavilion. It headed north then turned to go south on the seaward side of the castle.

The path is King Charles III Coastal Path or the English Coast Path or Northumberland Coast Path. Take your pick, they all follow the same route.

Sometime on the beach, sometime on the dunes, mainly to avoid slippery rocks, and sometime on the road side we headed for Seahouses. (mile 4).

Seahouses is a small coastal resort, famous for fish and chips and the boats which will take you out to the Farne Islands, a nature reserve well known for Puffins and seals.

Sadly the mist had rolled in, the blue sky had vanished and the Farne Islands were well hidden. 

             

                               Statue of a fisherman

                             Seahouses Harbouir.

We walked round the harbour, followed a path by, but not in, a caravan site and reached the golf course.

The footpath across the golf course is well marked, but beware of flying balls. Nearly at the road, on the edge of hole 12, we came across two benches which made a fine Herbie Spot, even though the temperature had fallen. (Mince pies, sweet and savoury from Mrs A)

Lunch over we con tinued south, sometimes on the road side but mostly on the dunes until we reached Beadnell. (Mile 7)

Beadnell is always quiet, especially this time of year as many of the houses are holiday lets. It has a fine set of Lime Kilns and a small harbour.

Approaching Beadnell we saw this hard lady in the North Sea.

Makes me shiver just looking at her!

                          Beadnell Harbour

When I get round to it, this will be star in my Book of Kilns.

From the harbour the route follows the curve of Beadnell Bay and we set off on the sands rather than the footpath. The tide was coming in and at one point sense and sensibility sent us up on to the path, the water was lapping at the sandy cliffs.

The path took us to the delightfully named stream Long Nanny, which we crossed by the footbridge. We agreed we had never seen the water so high.

Bit of a cheat again, these two, Long Nanny and the footbridge were taken a couple of years ago.

Followingpart of St.Oswald's Way we reached Newton Links house and took the road back to High Newton and the car park.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2025.

The walk is about 10.5 miles, easy going. Sea views, plenty of birds and on occasion Dolphins.

The Sill, the Wall and the wicket

 The Sill, the Wall and the Wicket. November 2nd

A Sunday walk with the Greens, starting from The Sill,  the modern Exhibition Centre, restaurant and Youth Hostel next door to the Twice Brewed pub and brewery on the Military Road (B6318). 

The Sill has a big car park, a whole day costs £6.

The map to use is OS OL 43 Hadrian's Wall, but not essential.

                                 Bit better?

                                      The Sill.

After breakfast in the Sill we crossed the Military Road (B6318) and walked towards the wall. Just past a house we went through a gate and paused to discuss which way to do the walk, with the clock or against it. The thought of getting the more difficult bit over with first and with the wind on ouir backs decided for us, anticlockwise and off we went, down hill to join the wall. Then immediately uphill.

Peel Crags, the wall sloping uphill on the right.

This section of Hadrian's famous wall is undulating, the up and down bits are steep in places  but on most of the ascents and descents paths made from large stones have been made. Still a bit of hard work at times though.

Not too far into the walk we came across the stump of the famous Sycamore Gap tree.

The Sycamore Gap stump. Felled in October 2023 by a couple of idiots it really came to fame in Kevin Costner's film "Robin Hood, Prince of  Thieves" Their act caused uproar. The tree trunk is in the Exhibition Centre in the Sill.

After a mile or so we reached Crag Lough, the wall is high above it, it's my favourite bit of wall, first visited in 1965!

                      Crag Lough from the west

After several more ups and downs we reached the section of wall near Housesteads, probably the best known of the forts along the wall, and called Vercovicium by the Romans. Run by the National Trust it's a popular visitor attraction. But we sat on the wall outside and ate our lunch. No sharing with the Greens. As there were nine of us it was probably as well.

Moving on, and meeting only a couple more pairs of ups and downs we reached the King's Wicket, a stile and a gate in the wall. (Nearly mile 4) 

                               The King's Wicket. I don't know how it got its name.

Once through we turned west and headed back following a path across fields. At times the path was very muddy, but it gave a different view of Crag Lough.

                               Crag Lough from the north side of the wall'

As we approached the car park on Steel Rigg (mile 7) we turned south, crossed a field and were back at the gate by the house where we started, almost. We walked own to the Sill and went to the Twice Brewed pub/restaurant/ brewery next door, first visited in 1965!

               The Twice Brewed 

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2025

The walk is just under 8 miles. The half along the wall is the best for views and history. It's a section of a long distance walk of about 80 miles, there were a few walkers out today as well as a few people just out for a stroll.

A few wall pictures

                                    The Pennine Way crosses the wall

                              Milecastle

                 Gate on north side of Housesteads

                         The Sill