TraceysTrek

Best bits: spending time with Jane and Jen

Worst bits: getting soaked in the heavy rain

Distance: 17.8 miles

I was a bit tired and slept in a little later than intended. It was a chilly morning, according to Janette when she went out for her morning walk. After breakfast, Heather and I said goodbye to Janette and jumped in the car to Alnmouth.

The coastal path went uphill initially onto the top of the sand dunes with a view of the beach. The tide was in and everything looked different from yesterday. The walking was relatively easy along the sandy paths beside the golf course.

I was glad that I had my long sleeve top on as Janette was correct. It was a little chilly. There were several people on the path today, mainly dog walkers. As the tide went out, it revealed craggy rocks.

Craggy rocks leaving large deep pools of water were just what these guys were looking for as they jumped in and out of the sea.

Tracey, Jane and Rosie were walking in the opposite direction to me. When we were chatting, they told me of their recent bereavement Jane’s husband and Rosie’s brother. Jane told me about a book that she had found useful it was called the language of love. I’ll have to look that up.

As I came round the corner onto a little headland Ross and Cherri and their two dogs were standing outside of their camper van. We had a chat about campervan conversions and by strange coincidence they had been talking last night about how long it might take to walk round the coast of Britain. Then today I turned up with the answer! They kindly offered me a bacon roll and a cuppa, but I was not far from my lunch break. This is the spot where Ross proposed to Cherri. So romantic.

Katy and Bella from Huddersfield accompanied me for the next mile or so. As I arrived into Craster the smoke from the smokery was billing out of the chimney. Craster kippers are famous.

I was hungry and a little tired by this stage and ready for a sit down with a cup of tea. Jane and Jen had hired a holiday cottage here and that’s where we were meeting this lunchtime. Jen was the perfect perfect hostess and made me plenty of tuna sandwiches.

I popped on another layer before I went out. Within only a few minutes, it started spitting with rain so I put on my waterproof jacket. The path went straight on across the cliffs to the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle. It was very impressive against the horizon. I skirted around the edge of the castle and down once more onto the sand dunes.

There were many golf courses along the route today and at one of them I helped some people find their golf ball in the rough near the path.

Samantha and Paul were coming in the opposite direction and we all stood to one side so we could let each other past. We had a nice chat and I heard about their friends who had lost a young child to cancer. That must be so hard to bear. We all got a little emotional and had a hug.

With about an hour to go to my next stop at Beadnell, it started to rain really heavily. I was absolutely soaked right through to my underwear. Also, I had failed to put on my waterproof socks today and so for the first time my feet were wet.

I arrived at the café where Heather and Jen were waiting outside in the car. As I stopped to talk to people in the café, I was leaving puddles of water. I went to the toilet mainly to use the hand dryer to try and dry some of my clothing.

Heather is on top form and spoke to people at every table about what I was doing. She generated quite a lot of interest. She’s getting very good at this now.

It was still raining, but not quite as heavily as I continued on to Seahouses. The path was covered in large puddles from the heavy rainfall and in some places was flooded entirely. Cars were coming past on the road driving fast through the puddles which then sprayed water high across the pavement.

I arrived in Seahouses to find Heather and Jen enjoying themselves playing in the arcade. as we got back to the car, I stripped off as much of my wet clothing as I could stop.

When we arrived at the cottage, I ran myself a lovely hot bath and had a long soak with a cup of tea. Meanwhile, downstairs the bar had opened. It wasn’t long before I joined them.