I doubt it, but we’ll have a good try! In fact our friends from Chieveley, Barry and Sybil, came for a full day’s guided tour. Last year on the Isle of Wight, Barry had proudly shown us all the houses in which he had lived, where he went to school, where he had his first cigarette … and his first kiss!
Now it’s Glenda’s opportunity to retaliate! First, the compulsory coffee at Rothbury Golf Club just down the road from where her parents had had a fixed caravan.
Passing three Running Foxes, we headed for a five minute shop-stop at Grays of Walkworth. Mind you, five minutes was all it took to dispose of a collective £100+. I hate to think what would have been the outcome of a more extended retail extravaganza!
Sybil bought the pair of earrings that I was supposed to have got as a surprise birthday present for Glenda on a previous visit – but didn’t! This brings me to the business of “suggestions” and hints. “That looked like an interesting shop” means “Jam the brakes on, do a U-turn and let me have half an hour!”. Similarly, “What do you think of these earrings, or these, or these?” means, “Although they are expensive, I would really like the pair I’m holding in my right hand as a surprise on my birthday!” Why not just say “Buy the perishing things!”
Anyway, we were heading for Longhoughton and the coastal walk towards Craster. However, it was cold and windy so we branched off to Foxton GC and had an abbreviated walk on the sands towards Boulmer (of FBI fame). We shared the mile long beach with an unaccompanied, demented dog which ran backwards and forwards chasing the waves for our entire walk! It must have covered 20 miles while we did our two!
Don’t you just hate these crowded beaches?! Maybe the jerseys, hats and long trousers offer a clue as to why we were virtually alone! The white line along the low tide mark is not breaking waves, it’s comprised of mini ice-floes! (And if I get that comment past the censor, it’ll be a miracle!) (I didn’t, but I’ve put it back in on the grounds that she won’t read it again until it’s too late!) Barry was fixated on getting kippers for tomorrow’s breakfast. So we had to stop in Craster (after a brief reconnaissance of the goodies in the Longhoughton Running Fox).
From the village it is but a short walk to Dunstanburgh Castle – well, a mile and a half actually. We passed cattle grazing on the rocky shore at low tide. I guess they know that seaweed is rich in iodine!
Although the gate towers are very crumbly,
English Heritage have restored the stairs in one to allow visitor access …
… and the view of the ruins from the top is pretty impressive in a disarmingly decrepit sort if way (the building not me!)
And how come we had to fit one metre high rails around our balcony which has at the most a four metre drop when these guys can get away with only 75 cms, 20 m up?
Anyway, the tour continued via Alnwick with a lightening inspection of the “Dirty Bottles”. Legend has it that, two centuries ago, the innkeeper dropped dead while interfering with the bottles in the window. His widow declared that anyone who did likewise would suffer the same fate. As a result, the “Dirty Bottles” were sealed between two windows and have lain untouched ever since.
After inspecting the tree damage at Thrunton Woods we wended our way across “hunting country” to the Dyke Neuk pub at Meldon – not sure that name would be politically or “wokily” correct nowadays! Anyway, we had an excellent, celebratory dinner to conclude the day. Barry then drove Sybil and his kippers home to their caravan in Bellingham!
I’m now so far behind – what with zero connectivity at our Penrith site and busy days out – I’m going to finish this episode now.
The kippers were excellent and no after effects.