Coastwalk

Warkworth → Alnmouth

Distance: 6.06 miles
Ascent: 118 metres
Duration: 2 hours 18 minutes

Autumn, at last
« Newbiggin-by-the-Sea | Craster »

A little over six months ago we had a weekend in Edinburgh. A problem with the overhead lines meant that our train crawled through Northumberland before eventually coming to a standstill. Across the fields I could see a river running down to the sea and a small town where the flowing and tidal waters met. On returning home I worked out that this place was Alnmouth, and right then decided that it would be an ideal place to finish this year's coast walking.

I'm overjoyed that today we met that goal. I'm slightly less happy about the drizzly autumnal weather we endured to get there, a far cry from April's beautiful blue skies.

It's a short walk from Warkworth to Alnmouth so there was plenty of time to explore. Warkworth stands on a tight loop in the river Coquet, and at the end of the loop is a beautiful old fortified bridge across the river.

Once over the river we headed directly out to the coast. Here the glowing bracken cast an autumnal hue onto the dunes that lined the golf course. Out at sea a pod of dolphins occasionally popped up between the iron-grey waves.

On reaching the River Aln we headed inland once more to walk across on dry land, although reportedly it's possible to ford across here at low tide. In fact, Old Church Hill - now on the south bank of the river - was separated from the rest of the town when a particularly stormy night caused the river to change its course.

We paused at eleven o'clock and in the distance heard a single canon fire to mark the hour.

After crossing a stone bridge over the river we continued on Lover's Walk, a footpath skirting the edge of the town which gives good views onto the river. Alnmouth is a small, compact town squeezed into the higher land between the curve of the river and the coast, and its former affluence was evident in its fine stone buildings.

We'll be back early next year to continue on from Alnmouth. The border is tantalisingly close now; the second chapter of this three-country walk is nearly complete.

Coastwalk

Newbiggin-by-the-Sea → Warkworth

Distance: 16.89 miles
Ascent: 159 metres
Duration: 5 hours 33 minutes

In transition
« Blyth | Alnmouth »

Today we saw Northumberland in transition.

With The Couple still in our minds (not least because we passed a lovely maquette of the sculpture on the prom), we left Newbiggin and headed across the golf course towards heavy industry.

Lynemouth Power Station is still operating, but is surrounded by ghosts: the alum works to the west and a disused mine to the north. In the village an elderly man with a warm, crumpled face, gappy teeth and a poppy, leaned on his garden gate. I asked where the mine used to be, since we'd seen no sign of it. He gestured behind him to the land on which stands a lone wind turbine. "Lynemouth mine," he said. Then he pointed ahead to another symbol of the past. Twenty metres past his house stood the Miners' Welfare Institute; across the road the Resource Centre. I would like to know more about what gels this community now, thirty years after the pits closed, but didn't know how to start asking.

We followed the road as it snaked down to the dunes, then remained on it as it followed the coastline. (We'd liked to have walked on the wide beaches, but time is against long walks on winter days and we were worried we'd not make it to our destination before sunset.)

Beyond the end of the road, a track continued behind the dunes, through a succession of nature reserves, possibly foreshadowing the development of the industrial land around Lynemouth. Certainly the reserves are beautiful (they reminded me of the heathland of Suffolk) but it's hard to see how they can employ more than a handful of people. The Couple seem to have the right idea.

Offshore, Coquet Island interrupted the open horizon. This is the first island we've seen on the east coast, but will not be the last — we are fast approaching the Farnes.

We didn't see much of Amble as we passed through. We were still focused on the failing light.

Half a mile short of Warkworth the sun began to set, bathing the river and the village's castle in a beautiful light. This is the Northumberland that the tourist board wants you to see. It is stunning, and well worth the visit, but I'm glad we've seen the other side of the area too.

Coastwalk

Blyth → Newbiggin-by-the-Sea

Distance: 10.36 miles
Ascent: 130 metres
Duration: 3 hours 33 minutes

The Couple
« Whitley Bay | Warkworth »

Some walks have a very definite character or theme. Others are disjointed, a collection of segments held together by their geography but not by their feel. This walk was very much one from the latter category: a connecting walk with moments of interest, but not one to appear on a list of favourites.

Our opinion of Blyth dropped down a few notches this morning. Once beyond the harbour side and charming market square we walked the fringes of the town: dirty streets strewn with discarded fireworks and weeks' old fly-tipping, although even here a brand new primary school building testified to attempts at regeneration. A little further on, two stray dogs scampered past us on the frosty riverside path. This was not a place to linger.

We headed inland to cross the River Blyth, then again for the River Wansbeck. Between the two estuaries lies Cambois, a village clearly previously fed by industry, but whose industry is now all but gone. A group of horses were being groomed on the land behind the dunes, to the annoyance of the land owner who had served an "abandonment order" on them. As we left the village, a long coal train passed us, using the line that once served the village colliery but this time bringing in fuel that had been landed at the nearby port.

Newbiggin-by-the-Sea was our destination and the highlight of the walk. Out on a breakwater that protects the village's new beach from being washed away stands a sculpture called The Couple: two figures looking towards the horizon, their backs to the village but somehow still connected to it. It was moving and thought provoking.

After the walk we took a bus to the nearby mining museum at Woodhorn. Telling the story of the hundred-years that coal was mined in Northumberland, it set the scene wonderfully to help us interpret what we were seeing. (It was exactly the sort of museum we had hoped to find when we walked the Durham coast). As we returned to Newbiggin and caught sight of The Couple again, their countenance seemed to change: their backs may have been to the village, but their faces would be lit by the first light of the new day.

Coastwalk

Whitley Bay → Blyth

Distance: 8.01 miles
Ascent: 70 metres
Duration: 2 hours 34 minutes

Five Hundred
« South Shields | Newbiggin-by-the-Sea »

We couldn't resist returning for one more long weekend of coast walking this year. At the end of our previous walk we were just seven miles shy of a landmark: our first five hundred mile year. And so, in Ridley Park in Blyth, we crossed that threshold with delight.

Before Blyth was St Mary's lighthouse (we didn't cross the causeway to the island) and then Seaton Sluice.

Blyth turns out to be a charming town. This is a surprise given a complete lack of places to stay the night. Like many other towns on the north-east coast it has a functioning port, but clearly much diminished from its heyday. Part of the harbour has been revitalised with a new board walk, curious artwork and motion-activated posts that deliver a soundtrack of aural history in thick regional voices.

Here we heard of submarines and ships, and our minds turned to this week's news from BAE Systems concerning the future of military shipbuilding in the UK. Coupled with our recent discovery of The Unthanks' album Songs from the Shipyard it was a poignant end to the walk.