From Seahouses to Craster, and yes to Dunstanburgh Castle

Yesterday morning I rose to an overcast, rainy day but a good conversation over breakfast with four elderly guests at my B&B, and one young man who had been diving with seals at the Farne Islands the day before.

After breakfast, I headed out for my 12 km walk south and took this picture of these empty benches overlooking the harbour.  Yesterday, in the late afternoon sunshine, every bench had been full with “grey heads”, including mine as this is where I had enjoyed my little gin and tonic and conversation with the retired nurse.  There are so many seniors, and older couples with either no children or grown children, who are on holiday here now that the kids have gone back to school.

The Coastal Path circled the edge of town close to the sea and then was set to follow beside the fairly busy coastal road, but there was the option of walking along the beach to Beadnell which I did.

Half-way along the beach, I took a photo back towards Seahouses.  These golden Northumberland beaches are so wide and long!

I rejoined the Coastal Path as it made its way through the seaside village of Beadnell, and then followed a paved road through several caravan parks, filled with mobile homes that are used as holiday homes.  Finally, the pavement ended and the path began to traverse a long section of protected meadow lands, tucked in behind the dunes.

There were some of my favourite flowers along the path, bluebells, thistle, fireweed, and a small vividly coloured geranium that I hadn’t seen before.

 

I arrived at this bridge over a small river and took a photo from the center of it looking out towards Beadnell Bay and the sea.  I could have chosen to walk on the beach either north or south of here, instead of the path, but I was enjoying the quiet and solitude of the meadows.

I walked along until the path went up over the dunes to the coast and the approach to the tiny village of of Low Newton by the Sea where I got my first distant views of Dunstanburgh Castle.

I stopped for only a few moments to take a photo of the whitewashed 18th century fishermen’s cottages and the somewhat famous Ship Inn.

 

The path continued around behind Low Newton and through more meadows and dunes until it reached a view point over the long curving sands of Embelton Bay with the castle still far in the distance.

A ways to go yet! Back on the path, and I was starting to feel tired.  I stopped to speak to some walkers and then, not paying sufficient attention, I neglected to take a turn to head inland about a mile towards the village of Embelton and my accommodation for the night.  My original plan was to leave my big bag there and carry on the additional distance to Dunstanburgh Castle and then back again.  My knees were feeling sore from all of the beach walking I had done in Bamburgh, and my pack was feeling heavy as I’ve accumulated a few little odds and ends along the way (all light, but it adds up). When I finally realized my error, I was halfway between my accommodation and the castle.  Go there with my bag, or backtrack? I decided to backtrack, and I hate backtracking! I dropped off my bag and had time for only a short rest at my B&B, as I did not have much time before the last entry time to the castle.  I very nearly decided not to go.  “It’s mostly just ruins,” I thought, “I can skip it.”  Thankfully, I did decide to go. Here are a few views of the approach towards the back of the castle.

 

A trail angled up and across the hill around to the entrance at the massive gatehouse on the south side.

A spiral staircase led three floors up into the tower on the right side of the gatehouse where there were views up the coast to the north and down the coast towards Craster a mile and a half away.

Here are some other photos of the scenic ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle. I was so glad I went!

 

After viewing Dunstanburgh castle and learning about its history, I decided to continue south down the coast to Craster and take a bus from there back to Embelton.  I was so glad that I made that choice as I had these wonderful views each time I turned to look back at Dunstanburgh Castle.

Finally I had my fill of looking back at Dunstanburgh Castle (I have about 20 more photos!), and I looked forward, in both senses of the word, to my visit to Craster.  Craster is a small village that is famous for its smoked kippers, made by the Robson family since 1865. The smokehouse was working as I walked into town and smelled wonderful.

 

In its heyday in the early 1900s, the now quiet harbour was busy with fishing boats, and smokehouses in Craster and Seahouses were smoking over 25,000 fish a day, as well as processing great barrels of salted herring for export to Europe and sending fresh herring to London and other domestic markets. This evening though, as I walked through town, it was a very quiet village with the holiday makers all returned to their cottages or in the various pubs and restaurants for dinner.

 

I waited for the bus happily, and was very glad to get a ride back to my bed and breakfast.   My knees were so sore, but I was grateful for my day and for my walk south along the beautiful Northumberland Coast.