{"id":5490,"date":"2024-09-24T21:13:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T21:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5490"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:26:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:26:46","slug":"3-mists-frets-and-sunshine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5490","title":{"rendered":"3. MISTS, FRETS AND SUNSHINE!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As usual, this is running late!\u00a0 Very late!<\/p>\n

After a busy time visiting (and revisiting) old haunts in the Lake District, like the Inn on the Lake in Glenridding …<\/p>\n

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… and having viewed Blencathra from all sides,<\/p>\n

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… we left Askew Rigg CL, sadly without a supply of mega-eggs!\u00a0 But we did call into the local Inn at Threlkeld for a full Cumbrian breakfast before we departed.<\/p>\n

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You may have read Bill Bryson’s description of UK grey weather as living inside Tupperware.\u00a0 Well, our trip across the country to Northumberland was like driving inside a Tupperware filled with water vapour.\u00a0 Low clouds, poor visibility, slow speeds and a very mucky caravan after negotiating the narrow, muddy lanes through Guyzance.\u00a0 But the next morning dawned clear and sunny.<\/p>\n

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After breakfast…<\/p>\n

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… we went to the coast at Boulmer, where we were engulfed in coastal mist – or “The Fret” as they call it here.<\/p>\n

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I’m not sure if that photo is the right way up, but the sea is out there somewhere.\u00a0 We can hear it!\u00a0 The plan is to walk south.\u00a0 So the sea will be on the left.\u00a0 We just keep walking.\u00a0 When our shoes get wet we veer slightly right.\u00a0 When we hit sand dunes we go left a bit…<\/p>\n

After best part of an hour we find the Foxton Golf Club emerging from the gloom.\u00a0 This is another golf club of which we are life-time non-members! And after a coffee and bacon roll, the sun came out…<\/p>\n

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… and we walked back north in full sunshine!<\/p>\n

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Weird!\u00a0 Very weird!\u00a0 And very wonderful!<\/p>\n

The Walkmill campsite arrival instructions are pretty clear about one thing.\u00a0 “Don’t follow your sat nav.”\u00a0 They take you, from more or less any starting point, down narrow lanes and over a ford.\u00a0 A ford which, after heavy rain, can wash small vehicles off towards The Netherlands at the drop of a hat.<\/p>\n

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And talking of the ford and Dutch-land, there is indeed a Dutch campervan on site.\u00a0 The Dutchman is sporting a few plasters and numerous bandages.\u00a0 He managed to fall off his bike in the middle of the ford and hurt his elbow!\u00a0 He then proceeded to slip over again on the algae-covered, submerged roadway and bashed his head and other arm for good measure.\u00a0 His wife cycled through the ford unscathed!\u00a0 I too was shaping up to cross the water, but got a very stern warning from the navigating officer.\u00a0 “We are NOT risking that, Barry!”\u00a0 So I took the photo and went the long way round!<\/p>\n

Time for a walk.<\/p>\n

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The beach near Longhoughton is as fabulous as ever.\u00a0 But the parking fee has been hiked from \u00a31 in an honesty box to \u00a33.50 paid by electronic ticket machine under the watchful eye of an ANPR camera.\u00a0 So, instead of maybe 60 cars at one pound each (\u00a360 IF everyone is honest!), the car park now sported six cars for a total of \u00a321.\u00a0 Well, they have to try and recoup the costs of all the signage, ticket machine and camera.\u00a0 Obviously, one of the local councillors had been on holiday in South Devon and thought he’d spotted a business opportunity!\u00a0 But my sums suggest they are substantially out of pocket.\u00a0 A quick photo, with the car out of ANPR camera range, and we are off to the free parking nearer Craster – with everybody else!\u00a0 Cheapskates!<\/p>\n

The coastal path passes beach after beautiful beach.\u00a0 Mainly empty of people!<\/p>\n

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All along the path, we found red arrows (not THE Red Arrows, obviously).\u00a0 We were clearly on the route of some event past, present or near-future.\u00a0 When we got to Craster we discovered that the Northumberland Coast Mighty Hike was to take place the following day.\u00a0 More than 2800 hikers will trudge a full marathon distance (or half- marathon).\u00a0 (PS, The event raised over \u00a31.2 million for Macmillan Cancer Support, which helps people living with cancer.)<\/p>\n

And now, the sad story of the Nunnykirk camp site…\u00a0 We moved there after three days at Walkmill.\u00a0 And managed to get a pitch in our “normal” zone.\u00a0 In four visits, we haven’t strayed more than three pitches from ground zero.\u00a0 Sadly, when we leave the site after a three week stay, the site is to be closed – closed permanently.\u00a0 Where will we go next time???<\/p>\n

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The weather is super-dry.\u00a0 Really beautiful – much drier here than the South of England.\u00a0 The Isle of Wight was notably wet!\u00a0 So we were able to take a number of walks.\u00a0 \u00a0From Rothbury, we hiked up the Coquet River.<\/p>\n

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On another occasion, we managed a fairly strenuous walk up to the fells overlooking Rothbury and the valley.<\/p>\n

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We had some spectacularly coloured skies, but more sunset than Aurora Borealis.<\/p>\n

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Just north of the Bridge of Aln, near Thrunton Wood, is the small caravan park where Glenda’s parents used to have a static van.\u00a0 This has a tiny caf\u00e9 attached.\u00a0 Just right for morning coffee on the way to Ingram to meet John and Maralyn (first met near Cheddar while following Eloise and her sailing.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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In addition to caravans, the site hosts a couple of horse statues.\u00a0 A reminder that Glenda and her father used to keep their horses in a nearby field each summer.<\/p>\n

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We found J and M on a lovely little site at the entrance to Ingram Valley on the banks of the River Breamish.<\/p>\n

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Breamish Valley is, allegedly, one of the most important archaeological landscapes in the country, with Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements that are believed to be over 2500 years old.\u00a0 Ancient history enthusiasts can hike to the hill forts and burial mounds that attract archaeologists from across the globe.\u00a0 We drove to Ingram caf\u00e9.\u00a0 Hiking in the hills will be left for a later date – or, possibly for ever!\u00a0 Nowadays we find hills, generally, are a bit too slopey for an enjoyable walk!<\/p>\n

A new Running Fox has opened at Kirkharle.\u00a0 There are now five of these places.\u00a0 All serving excellent coffees and cakes.\u00a0 We had to visit.\u00a0 And afterwards we took a stroll round the gardens which were, allegedly, designed by Capability Brown.\u00a0 Again, allegedly, he had drawn up the plans including one of his trademark serpentine lakes, as a thankyou for the owners of Kirkharle.\u00a0 He had lodged with them while he was working on a much grander garden at a country pile up the road.<\/p>\n

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We are rapidly approaching our wedding anniversary and a celebratory lunch in Hexham.\u00a0 The story of why the lunch, indeed the whole trip to Hexham, got cancelled will follow… some time fairly soon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As usual, this is running late!\u00a0 Very late! After a busy time visiting (and revisiting) old haunts in the Lake District, like the Inn on the Lake in Glenridding … … and having viewed Blencathra from all sides, … we… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-north-country-tour-2024"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5490"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5532,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5490\/revisions\/5532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}