What a lovely sunset last night, the first for quite a while. Good omen for the 'morn.
This morning we got our timings wrong on leaving this site. Didn't rush at all because where we had planned to visit was Dunstanburgh Castle near Embleton, literally only a few miles away. Ian had booked this English Heritage site for 11 am. So we pulled away from our pitch just after 10.30 and made our way to the motorhome service point. Nearly there when out popped this chap from his pitch trying to pull his caravan to his car. 20 minutes later, after massive fifing and faffing and nearly crashing the van into the fence because he tried with his wife to pull the van into position on a down hill bit, he finally took from his pocket a remote control caravan motor mover. Within a few minutes the van was in position and hitched to the car. Now why couldn't he have done that in the first place!
Navigate off road came the annoying voice of our sat nav. What what what...crikey she wasnt wrong. A small dirt track greeted us leading to a gate at the bottom. Ian managed to reverse MB into a spot and we set off to the castle. What we hadn't realised was a 1 1/2 mile walk was in front of us, through a golf course with the risk of a golf ball whizzing past your head or worse still, making contact, along a rugged track and a climb up over boulders on very uneven ground to reach the entrance!
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| The very narrow gravel lane |
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| Interesting shape on the shore line. |
We signed in with our membership cards and told to wander wherever we wanted including up a tower with very steep steps. Wow the views were great but boy was it windy. Ian nearly lost his hat and trying to talk to each other was impossible.
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| A council car park is in the village of Craster, That's the village in the distance of this photo, Wish we had known as the walk seems to be much easier and a shorter distance. |
A notice on the gate as we started the walk mentioned the lack of toilets but it appears English Heritage has installed eco-friendly loos. In New Zealand we would have called them the long drop, no water is involved as there is no sink or cistern.
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| The new modern waterless toilet but bottom right- the 14th century equivalent! |
Having seen nearly all the grounds of the castle, one more area to explore. A tower toward the upper part of the grounds overlooking the shore. Well we never got there because one of the wardens came over and said we must vacate the castle. Incredulously we enquired as to why. "The wind speeds are too great and we are worried about falling masonry" he replied. Good grief, this ruin has been standing ever since the 17th century and I'm sure it has withstood higher winds than those of today. But at 35mph or higher no one was allowed to stay and they had recorded a gust of 39mph. This had appeared on English Heritage website almost immediately.
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| The tower |
We had been lucky to have gained entry, but there were no end of folk who had walked all that way only to be turned back. Some people had prepaid but the assurance from the warden that all money would be refunded into their accounts, was reassuring.
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| The locked gate |
No other plan was in place for today. I mentioned to Ian about trying to see the Red Squirrels again. Kielder Forest was one place where they could be found but what Ian found on the web was a 3 mike waterfall walk at Hareshaw Linn that takes about 2 hours and squirrels have been seen along the walk. So that will be tomorrow. For our stop tonight we found another Northumberland waterboard site at Fontburn Reservoir. Another £10 paid, and a lovely spot found overlooking the water. There are also loos in the carpark nearby...bonus.
And wildlife,
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Cormorant |
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| Gannet |
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