My Big Adventure 2024 - Northumberland Coast Path
Day 2 - Ellington to Cresswell to Amble to (eventually) Warkworth
Mileage: 14 thus far. I’ve still got the walk to the pub and back to add on.
Mood: Deliriously knackered.
Music: Ray LaMontagne. Who wouldn’t want a beardy troubadour to start their day?
Memories Made: My Vicar of Dibley moment and nature. Lots of nature.
I awoke to the gentle pitter patter of rain…so I rolled over and pondered one of life’s bigger questions: How wet does it need to be before I can don my fancy new waterproof over trousers?
By the time I’d arrived at a conclusion (Intermittent drizzle: no. Persistent drizzle or worse: yes), the rain had passed and I was set up for a truly gorgeous day.
Like the rest of the country, Northumberland has been drenched for the last few months, meaning everything is saturated.
Yes, that includes the beach.
More specifically, the streams that feed their way into the sea. They’ve gone from gentle ripples of water to raging torrents (OK – that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the gist). Ninety minutes into my trek, I had to traverse such an obstacle to keep on track. Perhaps it was the giddiness of my first day’s walking or the fact that I’ve watched way too many cartoons in my life, but I was pretty damned sure that if I could hop onto the pile of leaves and sticks in the middle of the river (nature’s stepping stones, right?), I’d be on the other side in no time and heading towards a well deserved mid morning cuppa.
Foolproof.
Wrong. My ‘stepping stone’ was nothing more than a pile of leaves floating in the middle of the raging torrent (I did mention that it was a torrent, didn’t I?) and it all got a bit Vicar of Dibley.
I swear I heard someone laugh at this (did I mention it was next to quite a busy car park?). In the end, I had to join them. I am, it would seem, a bit of a knob. Albeit a bit of a knob with very wet feet.
The rest of the walking day was taken up with the easy beauty of this place – the dunes are bloody gorgeous and the beaches are huge, clean and truly breathtaking.
It’s also a very carefully protected nature reserve (all the old coal pits have been flooded and handed over to nature). So for five minutes I had an owl circling close over head (if I’m honest, after the first minute, it got a bit worrying – what did he know that I didn’t?) and, the highlight of the morning, a beautiful flock of geese on manoeuvres.
So today was about ticking off the first few towns and villages on my slow way up to Berwick-upon-Tweed (Monday feels like a long way away).
Cresswell: Not much going on, but the beach is incredible.
Amble: Didn’t live up the hype in the book, but great to walk along the pier and grab a well deserved pint.
Warkworth: Incredible castle and a very sweet little town. Not sure if there’s much going on other than a castle, but I’m about to go out for dinner, so I’ll find out soon enough.
Tonight’s accommodation: Warkworth House Hotel – very nice, good rates, very comfy bed (which may have contributed to my late afternoon nap…or maybe that’s just my age).
All in all, a bloody wonderful day.
