Gadgie Walks

Wet morning on the coast (Northumberland) Oct 5th
A slight exaggeration, it was raining when we left home, raining when we started walking but after about half an hour it eased off and then stopped, leaving us with a dry if overcast day.
Six gadgies out today, double last week's turnout: John H., John C., Ben, Dave, Harry and me.
Because the forecast had been a little depressing we decided to head for the coast, frequently drier than inland, and we started a walk from Longhoughton.
To find this little village A1 north to Alnwick, turn east and follow road signs down narrow country roads. The walk is covered by OS Explorer 332 Alnwick and Amble.
Longhoughton village is close to RAF Boulmer and several streets are named for flying heroes, like Douglas Bader. Behind what was once the NAAFI, now a community centre, is a small car park, free.

Car park in Longhoughton, behind the community centre.

Having donned boots and waterproofs we walked the few yards back to the main street, turned left and after about fifty yards turned left again on the track that leads to Low Steads farm and the beach.

A damp start

Through the farm yard to the beach

.Once we arrived at the beach we turned north and followed the footpath, sometimes narrow, sometimes slippy but always interesting. The first small bay has the sweet name of Sugar Sands, the second, where the Howick Burn enters the North Sea is called Iron Scars. The stream is crossed by means of a footbridge but on the south side a fresh water spring runs into the sea.

Left centre; a freshwater stream pours from the sedimentary rocks.

Further north, just beyond Seahouses Farm is the Bathing Cottage, built for the ladies in nearby Howick Hall to allow them to change before paddling in the sea. It is now a holiday let.

The bathing cottage.

Close by is Rumbling Kern, then Swing Den, Cullernose Point, Black Hole, Hole of the Dike and finally the fishing village of Craster.

Craster is famous for two things, Smoked Herring, or Kippers, and crab sandwiches at the Jolly Fisherman pub.

Smokey Robson and the Miracle Fish, Craster

The Jolly Fisherman, appears in the Sunday Times as a sop to the northern readers.

We decided to have lunch on the benches overlooking the small harbour, sharing Titans from ALDI, Kipling cakes, cookies and Ben's ginger biscuits. A sign that winter is approaching; several of us had soup rather than sandwiches.

All quiet in the harbour today.

Lunch over we continued walking north in the direction of Dunstanburgh castle.

Dunstanburgh, built by Thomas of Lancaster. Ruined but spectacular.

Before we reached the castle, having gone through a gate we turned left and walked alongside a wall uphill, downhill, through agate and headed south again below the heughs, craggy outcrops.

Soon we were near the car park and information centre in Craster. We took the footpath behind the centre, kept left at the first fork , and walked across the fields to Craster South Farm.

From here the footpath took us through fields, below Hips Heughs then alongside the woods bordering Howick Hall until we reached the visitor car park for the ancestral home of the Greys.

After a short distance on the road we turned right along the track in front of the hall itself.

Howick Hall and a Ha Ha.

From here a concrete roadway took us across fields to Howick Grange where a kindly, elderly Scottish gentleman directed us on the way back to Longhoughton, not that we didn't know. A short distance on the road from Howick Grange, then left across fields, right at the footpath junction and we were back at the starting point.

Changed, we headed for a rehydration event at the Cook and Barker, hotel, restaurant, pub just off the A1 at Newton on the Moor. The knowledgeable young barman offered us Rivet Catcher, Black Sheep or Spey Valley. Reminding ourselves that next year's long distance walk is the Speyside Way in Scotland we decided to get some practise in.

This is an easy, flat walk but nevertheless most enjoyable,seaside, woodland, open fields.