Five of us gather at the river

 Five of us gather at the River (Northumberland) April 9th

  On a cold April day, Brian, Margaret, John L., Harry and I are hopefully enjoying a coastal walk from Warkworth. The small town is north of Amble, is dominated by its castle and under normal circumstances has several cafes for breakfast bacon butties. England reopens on April 12th.

Follow the Northumberland Coastal route to Warkworth, drive past the castle, down the main street and turn into the square. Go past the church and there is parking next to the River Coquet, not a lot, but free.

This lovely walk could be done without a map but it is covered by OS Explorer 332 Alnwick & Amble.

                        Riverside car park. Busier than it looks. Some people were busy inflating canoes.

From the car park we walked along the riverside footpath past the church to the old bridge over the Coquet.

            St Lawrence's Church, Warkworth. Mostly Norman with additions, like the tower.

Once over the old bridge, which runs parallel to a modern road bridge, we crossed the road and walked up the hill towards a caravan park and a car park. To avoid traffic we followed the footpath down the side of a field. As we approached the beach we turned right and followed a good track alongside the river until we reached the stones that form a breakwater/jetty.

              The old bridge and faded plaque. The bridge is 600 years old and only used by pedestrians now.

From the jetty we turned north and walked on the sands, along with a host of walkers, dog walkers and families enjoying the last day of the Easter holiday, school on Monday.

At Birling Carrs the rocks reached into the sea and looked a bit difficult.. Brian bravely walked the narrow path between land and rocks but we more timid four climbed up into the caravan site and after a few hundred yards descended onto the beach again. 

We carried on until we reached the River Aln turned inland and climbed the small but steep Church Hill.

Alnmouth. Once a bustling little port now a commuter village and holiday centre. In 1806 a violent storm altered the course of the River Aln, cutting the village from its church, 12 century St Waleric's. The church fell into disrepair and has vanished. In its place is:

                    a cross.

Below the hill is a small ruined chapel. It looks like an ancient ruin but is the remains of a mortuary chapel built in 1870. It made a fine Herbie Spot.

                    Herbie Spot with rucksack and poles at the top. Interior at the bottom. Outside the door was a pair of ladies shoes, just visible. We shared apple pies, cheese tarts and cake from Mrs A. At least I think it was a cheese tart but I admit to getting forgetful.

Lunch over we headed back south on St. Oswald's Way/ Northumberland Coast Path. The path goes through and occasionally over the dunes. It passes the remains of the Alnmouth Guano Shed;

                   Before the great 1806 storm the shed, built in the 18th century close to what was then the river bank, it held imported guano used to fertilise fields. Built some way from the village because of the smell.

                 Close to the shed is a WW2 gun emplacement.

The footpath goes through the caravan site on a carefully marked route and then crosses part of the Warkworth Golf Course.

At one point the public footpath heads under a bridge away from the golfers, but there is a warning bell which, naturally we all rang.

                          Fairway warning.

Once under the bridge the path crosses a stream and the goes along the edge of the rest of the golf course to the footpath down from the town.

One of the cafes was open for take away drinks and food only. Bertrams, order at the door and collect from the window next to it. It reopens soon. We walked back to the cars with hot drinks, sat at a picnic bench in what was the sunniest part of the day and then because pubs were closed we went home. Pubs open on Monday April 12thn if they have a beer garden.

                        Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and data base right 2021.

The walk is about 9.5 miles of sandy beach and undulating dunes.