Day 95 – Belford to Beadnell

On opening bedroom curtains, bright skies indicate that we may once more have cheated the weather forecast. But by the time we leave at 8:30, conditions have changed and it’s snowing. Our destination today is the Craster Arms at Beadnell (about 13 miles away) where we’re due to be picked up at 2:15 so as to get to Alnmouth for a train at 3 o’clock. The terrain shouldn’t be particularly challenging and so, despite the weather, we should get to Beadnell with enough time to spare for a drop of lunch. It’s a different, more southerly, route back to the coast, but again it involves a stretch of road (albeit shorter than yesterday evening), a field to the A1 (this time crossed without any horn blastage), and a woodland trail to the east coast main line. Here, there is no bridge across the railway, but instead there’s a telephone which provides a connection to a line controller who, having ascertained the number in our group and our estimated time to walk over the track, instructs us to cross as soon as we’ve replaced the receiver. Instructions are duly followed without incident, and the only other issue which arises before we reach the coast is whether to get to Warren House on the edge of Budle Bay via a couple of right angled roads, or along the hypotenuse of a field in which, according to a sign by the gate, there is a bull. It’s not a huge surprise when two of us opt for the road route and one chooses the hypotenuse. It’s even less of a surprise who arrives first outside Warren House – and announces that there was no evidence of a bull in the field. By now, about 90 minutes after leaving the Blue Bell, the snow has just about relented, but the wind is strong and in our faces as we turn north east and get down to the beach to walk to the headland at Budle Point. Thankfully, it isn’t too long before we’ve rounded the headland and are back in a more southerly facing direction towards Bamburgh. We need to go back to the cliff top at Bamburgh Castle Golf Course where the wind makes us realise that the beach was relatively sheltered and where, as a result, there are more people in and around the club house than on the course itself. But within 20 minutes we’re able to get back down to the beach and to the beautiful stretch of sand which takes us beneath Bamburgh Castle and alongside the dunes all the way to Seahouses. Wonderful. Gary’s suggestion of a coffee and post card stop is scuppered by our route taking us away from the centre of Seahouses and around the very quiet and rather bleak harbour (no boats going over to the Farne Islands today). The relatively easy underfoot conditions – and also the following wind – have meant that we’re going to reach Beadnell soon after 12:30 and, although this is an earlier finish than we would like, the next potential stop along the coast at Newton is likely to prove a step too far, even if we’re able to divert our booked Colin to a different pick up location. So after leaving the harbour, we’re able to take our time walking over Seahouses Golf Course and can pause to watch a threeball teeing off on a hole which crosses in front of us. The two who get their shots airborne allow for the cross wind by aiming at us, and manage to find the fairway. Alongside the next hole, a path leads down to the shore, so we get another 30 minutes of beach action before reaching Beadnell and going up to the coast road. Our “official” walk ends here outside a house (no. 20) because it transpires that we’ve slightly overshot the street leading to the Craster Arms and need to walk back along the coast road to reach it. As anticipated, we arrive at the pub around 12:30 and have no difficulty whiling away the next hour and a half with a couple of pints and a crab sandwich – the crustacean in question having apparently been caught earlier today by a man sitting at the bar. Colin (or Carol) arrives just after 2 o’clock so we arrive in very good time at Alnmouth station which, disappointingly, has no refreshment facilities – in fact no facilities at all apart from a ticket office. However, we’re all catching the same train as far as York and so, for the first time in quite a while, we’re able to share on board glasses of wine before John disembarks to connect with a train to Cheltenham.