Northumberland Part 1 - April 2005

We took a family holiday to Alnwick on the Northumberland coast. It's a really nice town and is one of the few places in this part of the world to have a station. Arthur and I hired cycles for the week allowing us to explore the varied terrain and views of the coastal cycle path. Alnwick Cycles is highly recommended - very friendly, helpful and genuinely caring for it's customers.

Alnmouth was our base for the week. It's a very attractive little town, situated (unsurprisingly) on the mouth of the River Aln. There is a wide sweep of beaches and dunes.

A panoramic view of Alnmouth. I've stitched this together from eight photos (not an excellent job!) The view sweeps round approximately 270º. The river sweeping past the harbour, the town, the sands of the mini-estuary, the hill with the cross - facing the town across the river and the river snaking back inland.
This relatively modern wooden cross on the opposite (south) bank of the river, dominates the view from the town ...	The cross is situated on the site of church. There's a great view of Alnmouth and the surrounding area from here. It's a long dry walk or a very short wet walk from here to the town. The wet approach is possible when the tide is out, but it is not recommended.
The remains of a old building (connected to the church?) at the foot of the hill.	Modern war-time ruins.
One of the tributaries of the Aln snaking through the very low-lying land around the river	The view of Alnmouth from the ridge overlooking the town from the north. This is the sight of the modern beacon.

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick is famous for it's castle and gardens. The building is certainly very impressive and the daffodils looked spectacular, but even at this time of year the castle was very busy and the entrance charges are high.

The castle is most impressive from the gardens - you need to stand back to appreciate the scale of it. Apparently they been filming here for something or other :)
The walk from the castle to the gardens.	It was impossible to capture the full beauty of the daffodils - it was all on such a large scale.
The beach hedges around parts of the formal water gardens.
This exciting tree house property offers 'extensive' accommodation. It's certainly the biggest tree house I've ever seen (and it is really attached to the trees.) The rope bridges between the sections were great, although I cannot imagine how busy the tree house is in summer.

Warkworth

Warkworth is the next significant settlement south of Alnmouth and is situated on the River Coquet, a few miles upstream of Amble. Warkworth is a very pretty town with a hermitage, a superb 12th century castle and an impressive 14th century bridge.

Warkworth castle is well worth a visit. It has an excellent audio tour. More information.

The view over the town from the top of the keep.
	Part of the extensive cellars of the keep - I think this is the wine cellar
The impressive 14th century bridge across the river has an impressive tower that initially secured the entrance to the town and was later used as a gaol. The traffic is now using a more modern bridge, but you can still walk over the well-preserved original.	More information about the bridge.

Amble

You probably don't need to explore Amble, unless you're in Warkworth and therefore nearby. We were and therefore we did. The town is in no way spectacular, but the curving piers (or were they breakwaters?) are great.