We arrived early, as usual, so we visited the shop in Belford for a takeaway cup of tea. Belford is only about 10 minutes away so we headed off to the St Cuthbert ‘s Cave car park, to enjoy our drinks.
When everyone arrived we did the customary warm up before setting off up the track towards the Cave. Very soon we were at the Cave. Everyone took a bit of time to investigate, taking plenty of photographs. Martin went to the rocks overlooking the cave entrance and spotted a large inscription on the large rock in front of the Cave. We’d never noticed this before.
From here we continued South. There are great views of the Cheviots from here, especially Cheviot itself. Continuing on, we came to more rocks. Anne decided to repeat her rock climbing feat from the last time we walked here.
The walk took us further South, through fields and along tracks towards a farm, before a sharp turn East. A little further and we were at our lunch stop, by a lake. This is a private lake but there is a lovely spot close by, where we could sit down for lunch. As it was Ruth’s birthday, she had made some of her famous lemon drizzle cake. We each had at least one piece. It was very tasty.
The lighting was lovely over the lake, so plenty of photos were taken, before we moved on.
Further up the track, we found a bull in the field. A Ruth Bull that is. Not nearly as dangerous as a real one and much nicer. There were some interested cows in this field though. We walked past them as they stood and watched us.
When we reached the junction of St Oswald’s Way and St Cuthbert’s Way, we were rewarded by a great view of the coast and Holy Island. This must be a very inspiring place for the walkers of both long distance routes.
The next leg of the walk was particularly interesting to Ruth. It was conifer woodland and there were pine cones everywhere. Apparently these were perfect for making pine cone elves.
The last part of the walk heads back towards St Cuthbert’s Cave, giving us more of the great views of the Cheviots. As we headed back we could hear some shooting. Close to the car park we could see a shooting party and could hear the beaters as they tried to get the pheasants into the air.
Back in the car park, we cooled down with a much appreciated stretch, before heading off to the Well House Coffee Shop in Belford.
Another lovely walk. See you on the next one.
Julie and Martin
The weather forecast for this walk looked good, as a small group met at the Warkworth Picnic Area car park. Following the clocks changing, we moved the start time to 10 am. Everyone arrived early.
Warm up completed, we started down to Warkworth beach and towards Alnmouth, which we could see in the distance.
Warkworth beach is around 3 miles long and really beautiful. Everyone headed off at their own pace, with Martin, Claire and Kirsty striding out in front. Chris and Anne lagged behind, as they were taking photographs along the way.
We came across some rocks which, because the tide was high, were negotiated by going up onto the cliff top. This path took us alongside an old WW2 pillbox hidden in the cliff side.
Dropping down onto the beach again, we reached the mouth of the river Aln, separating us from Alnmouth. From here, we walked up a small hill to reach St Cuthbert’s Cross. This location is allegedly where St Cuthbert agreed to become Bishop of Lindisfarne when petitioned by the King. The view from the top is spectacular, and Chris, who hadn’t seen it before, exclaimed “Wow”.
Group photograph taken we then dropped down to the Cycle Path which took us around to Alnmouth. Claire asked Martin if we were walking along Lovers Walk! Unfortunately work was being carried out and the route was closed.
Once we were in Alnmouth, we headed to The Village Tearooms. This is one of our regular stops. We were told there was no space for us. However, Julie stepped in and spoke to Denise, who found us space and we enjoyed crab sandwiches, hot beef and gravy stotties and cakes with lashings of tea.
We set off for High and Low Force for the second time this year. Again, some of the regular group hadn’t been able to make the original walk but really wanted to do this one as they had never been to the area. So, we put this on again in October.
