A seven mile stretch of sand and several nature reserves too. (Northumberland) Dec 1st.
It has been a cold week with winds coming straight from the Arctic, depositing some snow on the east coast of northern England and on the hills. We mice have chickened out (mixed metaphor) of a walk on the Border Ridge to what probably will  be a very Windy Gyle and have opted for a walk down the coast.
It's a linear walk from Amble to Cresswell with some crafty planning  by Brian and use of bus passes.
Leaving cars at Cresswell beach and catching a bus

 to Amble so that we are walking south, wind on our backs. It's another repeat, covered by "How to escape Black Friday" November 2015, but then we walked south to north, must have been a better day.
The maps to use, but not essential are;
OS Explorer 332 Alnwick and Amble and OS Explorer 325 Morpeth and Blyth.
Another good turn out, John C., John Ha., Brian, Ray, Ben, Dave, Harry and me. The bus to catch from Cresswell car park is the no. 1 for Ellington and it connects with the X20 Arriva service from Ellington to Amble. It's that or cars at both ends. There was some confusion about the number 1 bus, my car load catching it going one way and Brian's car catching one the other way but all worked out in the end.
Before we get to the walk it has been pointed out to me that I forgot to mention that Ben, the gatemeister, met his nemesis last week when he failed to unravel the mysteries of one of the gates we needed to pass through. Not exactly a Gordian Knot but he was rescued by Brian, punmeister.

            Although not the starting point for the walk this is the car park at Cresswell. It was a miserable wet start to the day, everybody was dressed in waterproofs, somefelt we should just sit in the car for the day.
We all finally met up at a bus shelter in Amble, opposite a church on the main street, and began the walk.

                            Waiting for the boys at a bus stop in Amble

               Directly opposite this church
From the bus stop we headed down the street towards the harbour and joined the Northumberland Coastal Path.

                  harbour on a grim grey morning

                          You can just about see the harbour light.
From the harbour the footpath goes across the children's play ground, which looked pretty good but a large notice saying it was for under twelves put us off riding the swings and roundabouts.
The footpath, quite narrow, wanders through the dunes southeast. On a clear day there is a clear view of Coquet Island where St. Cuthbert once had a brief sojourn in a hermit's house and met a lady saint whose name I can't remember. The island is now a nature reserve.

                         Coquet Island and information board


The footpath turns south at Low Hauxley and soon we were at Hauxley Nature Reserve. A short detour from the coastal path took us to the visitor centre where we had tea or coffee  and were invited to sample turkey toastie. Very tasty too.
Some years ago the visitor centre at Hauxley Nature Reserve was destroyed by vandals. It has been replaced by a fine building which houses the information centre and café. Large windows down one side look over the pond which is home to a large variety of birds. Fairly quiet today, I blame the weather.

                            The pond at Hauxley nature reserve, taken through the window. The smear left of centre at the bottom is a bird's wing etched onto the glass.
Coffee time over we returned to the coastal path and walked south round the sweep of Druridge Bay finally stopping for a Herbie Spot at another Nature Reserve, Druridge Bay N.R..

                     Herbie Time. Mince pies, ginger biscuits, biscuits, cake and savoury from Mrs A which looked like small Yorkshire Puddings and tasted fine.
Back on the path we continued south but at Druridge we took to the road and stayed on it to Cresswell. On previous occasions we have walked along the beach which is a little more interesting but wet sand is hard work, rather like soft snow.
Changed we headed for the Three Horseshoes Horton near Cramlington. A large pub, it had eight real ales on offer, including a favourite, Abbott. The coffee was real too.
Not one of our better walks but at least we were out, exercised and refreshed. Next time it will hopefully be on the beach for more of the walk.

Matrix MMXVII     nearly the last
                                                                         steps                                        miles
NAK                                                         24442                                               10.02
IPhone                                                       22843                                               10
Dave's 3D                                                 20178                                               9.98
 "" USB                                                     19420                                               9.8
  "" NAK                                                   19376                                               9.78
Sylvia's mother                                          20617                                              10.41
OUTDOOR                                                                                                          9.34
Brian                                                                                                                     9.32
Ben                                                                                                                      10
John C                                                                                                                 18.6!!!!!!!!!!!!!