Canada comes to Craster

 

Canada comes to Craster. January 31st.

For today's  walk we have been joined by my niece Sarah who has come all the way from Toronto to join the gadgie team for a day out.  And Margaret is out again, broken arm protected by a sling. Poor Brian has to carry her sandwiches and flask as well as his own. Six gadgies and two gadgettes off for a well known walk from Sea Houses Farm, south of Craster.

Two maps: OS Explorer 332 Holy Island and OS  Explorer 340 Alnick and Amble But not essential.

             Parking at Seahouses Farm south of Craster. The farm boasts its herd of Limosin cows.

Once all eight were ready and introductions had been made we set off down the path from the car park to the coastal path. At this point it is called St. Oswald's Way/ Charles III Coast path /England coastal path. Regardless it follows the coast on fairly high cliffs some of which are home to Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Fulm,ars or even plain everyday gulls. Too early in the year for the breeding pairs to arrive.

                 The famous bathing house for the ladies of nearby Howick Hall. A path leadsdown to the sea and in the rocky shore there are several pools for the ladies to bathe in. 

The path leads on to  Craster, Sadly, the old cafe remains closed and so too is the "caravan" the Piper's Pitch near  the quarry car park. No bacon sandwich here, so on we went. Walking pastt he harbour we took the footpath across the fields towards the castle.

                  Craster harbour. The block of stone is the remains of the terminus of a wire system that brought stone from the quarry to be exported. Now there are fishing boats.

Soon we reached the castle ruin.

Dunstanburgh Castle Gatehouse and the Lilburn tower. The castle was built in the 14th century by the Earl of Lancaster. After the Wars of the Roses it fell into ruin. Built on the dolerite Whinsill it remains a magnificent ruin.

Beyond the castle we walked carefully round the edge of the golf course, observing, of course the famous anticline.

The famous anticline, officially named Greymare Rock. The most photographed anticline in the blog. Possibly the only one.

Close by is a WW2 bunker:

                                              WW2  bunker. 

And shortly after we descended to the beach on Embleton Bay. The sand was quite soft today.  At a gap in the dunes we left the beach and headed for the Dunstanburgh Golf Club House. They did bacon butties! Some of us enjoyed this delicacy as others ate there sandwiches and sharings at the benches outside. (Herbie time: Double Deckesrs, Cherry Bakewells and sweet and savoury from Mrs A.)

Lunch over we moved on, walking the perimeter of the course to the small car park at Dunstansteads. From here we took the "tank road", a concrete strip to Dunstan Square and turned left to the Heughs.

The "tank road" passes a lime kiln and WW2 bunker which is an unusual one.

                                     Lime Kiln

                     Unusual WW2

                             Happy horse?

The footpath behind the Heughs comes out at the Quarry Car Park and Piper's Pitch. From here we walked the footpath to Craster South Farm and across the fields to the car park at Howick Hall. A little known path going through the hall woods cuts off a corner but still reaches the road back to Sea Houses Farm.

Surprisingly, on the way home we stopped at The Ridley Arms in Stannington!

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

The walk is 10.5 miles, easy going great sea views and pretty country too.

Our Canadian guest has sent a photographic record of her day in Northumberland. She thought we had picked a beautiful walk and enjoyed the free lessons on History, Ornithology and Geology, And the bacon butty. For some reason, known only to the computer, the photos have got out of sequence but Toronto will love them.