Ron

Bamburgh (bus) - Belford – Belford Station – Outchester Ducket – settlement – Budle Bay (golf course) – Bamburgh.

Overcast, cold where exposed to the wind. However, it stayed dry and was better than expected.

Ron, Sandy, Ashley, Michelle, George.

Ken - on holiday.

Bernie - visiting her sister.

Michael - bad cold.

Carol - busy.

Evelyn - visiting her mother.

Comments

Everybody arrived at least 45 minutes early, so we had time for a quick coffee/tea in the Copper Kettle Café in Bamburgh before getting the X18 Arriva bus, driven by a lady, to Belford. Ron used his pass for the first time, while the under 60’s had to fork out £3.50 for the fare. We had a photo shoot by the market cross in Belford before heading eastwards across the fields. After crossing the A1 safely, we walked past a collection of large noisy grain silos before crossing the main east coast railway line with about two minutes to spare before a train went past.

We found a dead curlew in a field and crossed a field with heifers and bullocks but no bull – contrary to the sign. We passed Outchester Ducket, a 5-star self-catering home, which is not a windmill as marked on the map. Some difficulty was experienced in navigation due to there being no sign at a critical turning. After skirting round several well kept caravan sites, we stopped for lunch in a small sheltered wood beside some crags. We sat on rotting logs surrounded by interesting mushrooms. We spotted an unidentified creature with a long tail amongst a fallen tree and stone banking.

Our approach to Budle Bay was across Bamburgh Castle Golf Club. We followed the blue posts as instructed and were waved through by polite golfers. A group of kite surfers were enjoying themselves in Budle Bay despite the tide being out. There were good views of the Farne Islands from the headland. We found a painting of a white deer on the rocks.

The final part of the walk was across the cricket pitch where we saw two tiny black dogs. We returned to a somewhat busier Copper Kettle Café for afternoon tea and coffee. Michelle had an absolutely superb fruit scone with jam and whipped cream, while Ashley and George each had a huge slab of fruit cake and George had an extremely large cup of café latte. Ron and Sandy had teacakes.

Before the meal, we went to Seahouses where we saw a boat come in with several creels of crabs and lobsters. There were at least seven boats with the name Glad Tidings in the harbour. We went into the lifeboat station to see the lifeboat and Sandy bought a book by Mike Harding about the Dales for £2.

Wildlife/Flora/Animals:

Mammals: Horse and cattle.

Birds: Flock of eider (cuddy) ducks on the sea. Yellow hammer, kestrel, oyster catcher, pheasant, godwit, gulls including several juveniles.

Flora: Passed a tree with red berries which was obviously not a rowan. Later Michelle identified it as a whitebeam tree.

Joiner’s Arms, High Newton-by-the-Sea. Nice surroundings, otherwise tended towards the average.

October walkers

Grain Silos

Ducket

Waren Mill

Group en route

Mushroom

Lunch

Stairway to heaven

Budle

Kite surfers at Budle

Farnes

Bamburgh Castle

Impressive fortress

Walkers at Bamburgh

Indulgence

Harbour