I woke on the beach to the reassuring sound of rain pattering down on my tent. The good news was it was keeping the rain out in a very competent manner. I had planned to have breakfast in Almouth but had discovered that the earliest anyone opened was 10am. The rain stopped at 8am so I took advantage of the dry interval and packed my tent up and planned to cook up some porridge and coffee. As soon as my tent was packed the rain descended again. Cooking in the rain and now wind is no fun.
I wolfed down some biscuits and set off into the now increasing rain.
The England Coastal path led me through waist high grass and reeds so I was definitely on the damp side.
The weather cleared by the time I reached Warkworth and it’s splendid castle. Northumberland has a definite love affair with its red and yellow flag. They are fluttering all over the county in private houses as well as the usual civic buildings. It also appears on road signs, bus stops and litter bins.
If they could get away with red and yellow zebra crossings they would be trying it.
Almouth when I reached it for my lunch was a rare animal an expensive Northumberland town. However I tracked down some good value fish and chips so that was lunch/breakfast.
Then it was a six mile wander behind the dunes to get to Cresswell Bay.
When I got there my hoped for tea break was kicked into touch when I found as I arrived at 5:30 the cafe has shut at five.
Just as I was planning to set up my cooker on the verge I came upon an ice cream shop which closed at 6pm. It was 5:55pm . A large ice cream, piece of cake and can of irn bru later I was a bit more up for walking towards Whitley Bay.
After a mile or so I found a nice spot on a beach. A long slightly hungry day but a flat spot to camp and the restful sound of the sea to help me sleep.