Weather: Fine, breezy.
Distance:
22 km (13.7 miles) Total Distance: 3153 miles
I had a couple of days holiday to use up by the end of the
week and fortunately they turned out to be fine walking weather days. I travelled up the evening before and stayed
in Wooler Youth Hostel which was an old barracks type building on the outskirts
of the town that had been used by the Women’s Land Army in the war. I travelled up straight from work in Derby
and called in for a McDonalds near Caterick and got to the youth hostel at about
9.30. It was relatively quiet and I got
talking to an elderly couple that appeared to be walkers and a younger mother
who was telling me about Ironbridge where we were going to visit as a family
over Easter.
I was up and out of the hostel by 7.30 and had parked the
car at the start of the causeway over to Lindisfarne by 8.00. It was quiet and very pleasant atmosphere. I savoured the peace! The first couple of
miles walking was along sea defences and then it was down onto the beach for the next
stint. The sand was firm and the walking
reasonable. It was sunny but the sun was
behind me. I thought that would change tomorrow when I started heading south
on the west coast!
At the end of the beach where the rocks began I rested on a
log and took in the view and the atmosphere. I feared that I was approaching
civilisation and that my peace would son be shattered. I walked along the road for a while but soon
headed off it again onto a path that was initially very poor in front of
Cagie’s Plantation but then improved as it followed the railway track into
Berwick.
The path gained height so that
when Berwick approached there was a good view of the bay. I descended down onto the promenade where
there was evidently civil engineering going on and asked a local lady if I
could continue along the beach. She gave
me detailed directions that basically entailed keeping to the beach, turning
left at the end and into Berwick.
I was just in the mood for some elevenses and what should I
pass but a café. A mug of coffee and
scone and jam came to £1.20 so you can see it wasn’t exactly on the tourist
trail. Over the historic bridge and
along the city walls of the Tweed made an interesting walk before turning north
again with the border well in mind.
All
of a sudden the scenery changed from the dunes of Northumberland to cliffs,
waves and sea birds. I strode past a couple of golf courses and a caravan park
very much enjoying the scenery and the wildlife. The outskirts of Berwick died away and I was
in the country again. It was like being
back in west Wales.
I approached another caravan park, this time a much more
down market one. I had to walk through
it and then into a field again to get to the border. I wondered if there would be any sort of sign
to say I had reached the border but I needn’t have worried because just inland
from where I presumed the border was the main east coast train line had a big
sign up saying England – Scotland.
I
took some photographs and made a phone call to my Dad. I think that probably
cheered him up as he had recently been diagnosed with anemia and was awaiting
some test results. Margaret was at work
so I couldn’t call her so I called a friend instead. I felt pretty chuffed to have made it this
far – a real milestone.
To get back to Berwick I walked back to the caravan site and
then onto the main road. I spotted a bus
stop and tried to use my mobile phone to call and see when the next bus was due
but nobody seemed to understand where I was so I ended up walking back into
Berwick.
I had a timetable for buses
from there back to Beal. I had time for
a celebratory ice cream before the bus arrived.
Although the bus said Beal it actually only went to the turn off for
Beal so I hitched my way back to the causeway.
I got a lift from a man from Northern Ireland who now lived in North
Wales.
I said goodbye to the east coast and drove down to Newcastle
and then over to Once Brewed Youth hostel on Hadrian’s Wall stopping to get
some food in Safeways on the way. The
hostel was fine but my meal was oily and I struck up conversation with nobody that night.
No comments:
Post a Comment