Day 99 – Alnmouth to Druridge Bay

A good sleep and a full breakfast mean that we’re feeling a lot more positive about the next few hours, although when we emerge from the Sun the expected rain is falling – albeit not as heavily as predicted. Indeed, by the time we’ve crossed the bridge over the Aln and are walking back towards the sea, it’s no more than a light drizzle, and even that has disappeared as we get to the coast and turn south along a path through the dunes. We keep scanning the sky expecting to see dark clouds rolling towards us but, if anything, it’s getting brighter which means a very pleasant walk along the beach towards Warkworth Golf Course where we have to divert inland to walk by a couple of fairways before reaching a path which takes us under a bridge used by the golfers and back to the shoreline. Soon we need to come inland again to go through Warkworth itself, where a couple of short diversions are required when it becomes apparent that a riverside path which is shown on John’s map as running through the town alongside the Coquet doesn’t exist, and we need to go along some side streets before getting back to the river on a road which leads to the marina on the northern outskirts of Amble. We’ve been walking for about a couple of hours, and we’re only 3 miles away from the Old Storehouse, a pub/restaurant to the south of Amble which was one of our potential finishing points discussed yesterday evening. We really should be aiming for somewhere further on – possibly a country park at Druridge Bay. For the moment, however, a far more serious issue has arisen regarding the black book in which Ben has been noting all the hourly time, mileage and height data recorded on John’s logger since we set off on the South West Coast Path in 2011 – as well as from our Thames Path walk in 2010. Throughout this time, Ben has carried the book in one of the outside pockets of his rucksack, and it was duly available to perform its function at the end of our first hour today. However, when we stop by the Coquet to record the second hour…..there’s no sign of the book. It must have been dropped when we set off from our first hour stop, or fallen out at some point after that. In any event, we no longer have it. We consider ways in which we might try and retrieve it (e.g. retracing our steps or even offering a reward for finding it) but they are all extremely speculative and the prospects of success are assessed as low to non-existent. The second hour time, mileage and height are accordingly recorded on the inside of a box which had contained some nuts and raisins bars, and we continue on towards the marina in a slightly more subdued atmosphere than usual. We were saying last night that the book was looking so battered and tattered that it was unlikely to survive what are currently estimated to be the remaining 6 years of the walk. It now seems that it won’t even be with us to celebrate day 100 on the next trip. We walk through the marina and along a few lanes in Amble and, having got through the town, emerge in some parkland stretching down from the coastline. And it then isn’t too long before we see the Old Storehouse on the other side of the coast road. We reckon that we’re no more than an hour away from the country park, so there’s time to stop for a reflective cider. According to its website, the country park’s cafe is closed today, but at the very least it’s an easily identifiable place for Colin to get to, and John manages to make the necessary changes to the previous Cresswell pick up arrangements by phone. Ben’s suggestion that we stay at the Old Storehouse for a second cider is rejected, and we cross back over the road and into Amble dunes. After passing Hauxley, we reach a wide tarmac path which, from our maps, would appear to lead to/past several nature parks/reserves. The first of these is Hauxley Nature Reserve and a mile or so later, shortly after 1:30, we reach the Druridge Bay Country Park. Despite the rain having amazingly held off since mid-morning, we take the opportunity to effect a swift change of footwear/clothes and also to grab a cup of tea at the cafe which, it transpires, is open. From what we’re told by some other people sitting outside the cafe, the dry weather seems to have been restricted to a narrow stretch of land along the coast and there’s been very heavy rain in, for example, Morpeth a mere 10 miles away. We see this for ourselves after we’re collected by Colin. Almost as soon as we’ve left the park and started to travel inland, the rain is falling and is continuing to fall when we arrive at a very wet Morpeth. It’s about 45 minutes before our train is due to leave, so Colin drops us at the Sun Inn – just up the hill from the station – where we have the second drink which was forsaken at the Old Storehouse. We still get to the station in good time and catch the same East Coast service as far as York where John changes onto a Cross Country train to Cheltenham. But there’s one more development as Ben and Gary continue on towards London. We get a message from Ben’s wife, Cath, that she’s received an email from someone who has found a black notebook by a beach north of Amble, and wonders if this is the right contact address (contained in a hard copy email which was apparently tucked inside the book) to find a home for it! Quite extraordinary, and incredibly kind of the person concerned. It sounds as though we’ll be reunited with the book in time for day 100!

Day 98 – Beadnell to Alnmouth

Trains arrive at Berwick on schedule, and Colin is waiting at 12:20 to drive us to the coast road at Beadnell. According to the Met Office, we should expect rain of varying intensity this afternoon and heavy rain throughout tomorrow. The drive to Beadnell does nothing to change the immediate expectation. The rain is steady at best outside, and is continuing to fall, with the wind in our faces, when we arrive at the sea front and set off from outside number 20 shortly after 1 o’clock. It’s not exactly monsoon conditions, and we get an early bit of beach action around part of Beadnell Bay. However, the prospect of a wet and cold 15 miles ahead of us does make the first hour just a tad miserable. But remarkably, around High and Low Newton, the wind drops slightly, the rain disappears, and a little while later something appears in the sky which could be mistaken for the sun. And so, as we approach Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Course, we’re beginning to dry out and feel a lot more cheerful. Despite the earlier conditions, we’ve already seen quite a few people out and about, and the numbers increase markedly as we walk below the walls of the castle and descend the hill into Craster. We reckon that we’ll have seen more people walking today than on any stage since the day we arrived in Blackpool. Indeed, it might even be more than the number we’ve seen on all the stages after Blackpool put together! Anyway, for the moment, the weather apps on John’s and Gary’s phones indicate that more rain is on the way so we need to maximise our time in the favourable conditions which means, among other things, resisting the temptations of the Jolly Fisherman’s Inn at Craster. It also results in us maintaining a pretty good pace along the cliffs around Cullernose Point, past Howick and on towards Boulmer. In fact, we eventually get a total of about 3 hours in the dry before the rain returns when we’re just over 3 miles short of our destination. So our final hour of the day is pretty similar to our first, to include more beach action practically the whole way from Boulmer to Alnmouth. We check in back at the Sun feeling a bit cold, more than a little damp, and more than a little tired having covered just over 15 miles in 5 hours. The customary refresher in the bar has a marginally reviving effect but, with the weather forecast unchanged for tomorrow, we’re already questioning the wisdom and practicality of our plan to get as far as Cresswell. This would involve setting off soon after 7 o’clock and missing a full breakfast (which isn’t served at the Sun until 8:30), paddling over the Aln at low tide to avoid the two miles to, over and back from the bridge crossing the river, stopping off somewhere in Amble for a mid-morning breakfast, and reaching Cresswell in time to be picked up at 2:15 for the drive to Morpeth station. A hungry early morning start followed by a presumably cold paddle and walk of nearly 7 hours in what could be continuous rain is not an enticing prospect and, when we reconvene for supper, the decision is quickly reached to have breakfast at the Sun, set off some time after 9, and see where we’re likely to get to by 2 o’clock, so long as it can be accessed by the Colin currently booked to meet us at Cresswell. The decision makes for a far more relaxed supper – with further “relaxation” being afforded by post-meal stickies.