That phrase, the weather is unsettled. Funny, I don't think the weather worries so much about that. It does what it wants and then does something else. Maybe it isn't for us to understand but it seems settled on what it is doing. But we are left with a decision, it isn't all that far to Alnwick tonight, so what shall we do on the way there, castles, bird watching, off road, on road, just so many choices. Bambaugh Castle describes itself as "the finest castle in England". There are cruises to the Farne Islands to see puffins and loads of other birds. There are supposed to be fantastic kippers in Craster. Dunstanburgh Castle is supposed to be the most dramatic castle in England.
I guess for me, weighing the options, I've seen lots of castles. I don't particularly need to go into them. Blah blah, more Chippendale. We will go past Bambaugh, so I can see a bit of that and I would really like to go see the islands and cruise around on the ocean. If we get to Seahouses early enough, we can check and see if the boats are running today, if not, there are other things to do. But in the rush to get out on time, Dave and Caroline and myself end up leaving first, and I have a bit of a feeling that things are not quite right as I'm leaving.
Ok, I won't keep you in suspense, I left my sandals at the place and when I emptied my bag out that evening in Alnwick, I realized that I had rushed off and left them. Oh, it ends happily, Matt saw them on the way out and he brought them with him. So, I was reunited with the prodigal sandals and we were a happy family again.
The weather wasn't so awful this morning, it was still rather windy but the rain wasn't so bad. It is a quick few miles to Bamburgh. We go past Bundle Bay and it is rather attractive. Hmm, swimming, but still too windy and cold. Lindisfarne looms off in the distance too as we ride away from it. We are quickly in Bamburgh and the castle dominates the skyline. It is an impressive looking place. We stop for a minute to look and then head off to Seahouses. The ocean looks rough on the way and we can see the Farne Islands off in the distance.
When we get there, our fears are confirmed and none of the cruises are running due to the sea conditions. It is rather disappointing but there isn't really anything to be done about it. So now we have a few extra hours. Caroline says that Low Newton by the Sea has a really nice pub in it and I'm pretty keen to go see Dunstanburgh Castle, which will probably require a bit of off road and pushing to get there.
Low Newton is a little bit out of the way for us, but it was a nice stop. Dave and Caroline discuss where the National Trust cottage is, whether it is the thing up on the high hill with the radio mast. If it is, it looks like a pretty cool place to spend some time, up high right on the edge of the ocean. Down the hill then into Low Newton. I believe most of the village is owned by the National Trust, however that works. The pub there is pretty interesting, very rustic feeling. It is hard to imagine how they could have made it even a tiny bit more woody inside. But it looks like it would be a nice cozy place to spend a blustery rainy day. Hmm, kind of like today.
We go outside and witness the most epic sparrow fight. At first I wonder, is that a bit of hanky panky, shouldn't they get a room somewhere? But it seems much meaner than that. It goes on for a few minutes, rolling around, pecking at each other with a third bird standing by watching. After a while, it does appear that one is getting the advantage and the other one is on the bottom a lot more. Can they really do serious injury to each other like that? But we are not so sure we want to see if that is the case so Dave walks over by them to try and break it up. The weaker one darts off followed quickly by the other one right on its heels. Wonder what caused this blood feud? It probably continued on somewhere else right after this. They seemed really pissed at each other.
We watch somebody get out a kite and skate around on the beach pulled by the wind. Yeah, it is windy today, did I mention that anywhere yet? But then back to the main road and to find our path to the castle. Actually, the path there isn't so bad. We had heard that we might have to push as far as a few miles. But it is relatively smooth and easy to ride on. It is only when we get within sight of the castle and go through a gate, one of the worst smallest gates to try and squeeze through, we have to walk around the hill the castle stands on.
But they aren't kidding, the thing is rather dramatic. It is so cool how the walls had fallen apart, just narrow wobby columns of stone. The silhouette against the skyline is rather dramatic. I suppose the gloomy weather and the increasing rain helps with that too. There is also a sheer cliff wall there and lots of birds are swooping around, landing on the cliffs and then jumping back into the air. Guillemots and kittiwakes I believe. Into the castle, there isn't much of it left anymore but it is pretty cool and the views from up top are really good.
My favorite part of the day was the slope right past the castle. It was smooth and grassy and had fun rollercoast like bumps to bounce up and down on. It was good fun riding down that part. The rest of it was fairly ridable too, pasture mostly. It isn't far to Craster, which is good because I'm hungry and ready to be out of the rain. We look for somewhere to eat. The restaurant which is connected to the seafood shop seems to be closed, so nothing doing there. I guess the only other option is the pub across the street. That turns out to be a good choice though.
The seating area is in back with large windows looking over the sea. It was pretty fogged up but you could still see some nice big waves coming in. Crab soup and kipper pate for lunch. A seafood taste sensation. Very nice stuff.
But as we sit there, I'm just totally falling asleep. Maybe it was the food, something in it acted as a drug, or something but I can just barely stay awake. Not that I'm too keen about going out into the pouring rain either. I suppose there isn't all that much further to go but I'm feeling pretty unambitious at this point. My legs can get over whatever but I'm not sure I can be bothered to push them to do it. But this time, it is the whole deal, full waterproof stuff, overshoes included, and we head off to Alnmouth. The plan being we will see about train schedules in case anybody wants to just take the train to Newcastle tomorrow.
Part of that route will be fairly industrial and not the most attractive ride. But credit to everybody, in the end, everybody rides the whole thing and except for a few days where some take slightly different and shorter routes, everybody finishes everything.
Lots of this whole last bit are a bit blurry. I remember coming into Alnmouth and it seemed fine. You know, ocean there, town over there, yeah yeah, what next. We look up train times and then head off to Alnwick. Dave says later that about then it is fairly obvious that I've about had it, the fun and joy has left me. I'm tired of the rain. I just want to be somewhere dry where I don't have to ride around anymore. A lot of the last bit, I just try to go fast and get it all done.
I think there were hills, I think there was rain, whatever, eventually I'm there and the B&B is in front of us. Hurray. In spite of my crabbiness, I try to be a good person and take the triple room instead of the oh so tempting single one. I guess it doesn't matter, I'm somewhat oblivious to a lot of things now. 39.17 miles in a lot of rain today.
Dinner in town, there are a choice of Italian places, sounds fine to me. Chicken with rosemary on it, or something like that. I order salad and a bread (must have green things). A few go out to pick up wine and beer to have with it. So red wine to go with it. My bread seems to have ended up at the other end of the table. When I finally realize where my bread ended up and get it in front of me, it is good. Butter it and stuff it down. Gursh's arm darts into the bowl and grabs one. Aack. Will be nice, it is just bread and there is more of it. Then another one disappears, getting a bit distressed now. I make sure I at least get the last piece in the bowl.
Yeah, I know it isn't really even expensive and they have plenty more bread, but I can't snap just because somebody took a few pieces of bread. It was that kind of day, the rain, the endless rain. Gursh realizes then and somebody orders another order of bread to replace it, which is fine. It wasn't even the bread, I'm not even sure if I was super hungry, it was just the day, you know.
Walk back to the B&B and bedtime.
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