Castle ruins

 Such a lazy start, I lay in bed dozing until 7.30 am. Not the best night sleep to be had; Ian with his earplugs in to stop the noise from my snoring (I still dispute that statement) didn't hear the rattling of the houdini cover. It didn't 'arf blow last night, and the rain....torrential. My man that can slept right through it all, typical, maybe I should start wearing earplugs too.

Today I ate bread with my boiled egg. Living on soft food as I have for the last 4 days, it made a welcome change, but I was so very careful though, not to eat on my left side 'cos the last thing I wanted was to have any problems being this far from home. And today I will have a glass or two of wine, I'm allowed now, so I'm going to make up for lost time!

We left and drove down to the Derwent Waterside Café to pay for the night's stay before heading off toward Seahouses. On route, we happened to pass a Castle, looked quite magnificent driving down into Warkworth.

 

It also flew the English Heritage flag, so as members we decided to stop.

As ruined castles go this was up there with the best. This excerpt from History of Warkworth Castle

Warkworth Castle and Hermitage form one of the most unusual pairs of medieval monuments in Britain. The castle was probably laid out in its present form in about 1200 and was the favoured residence of the powerful Percy family from the 14th to the 17th centuries. As the Earls (and later Dukes) of Northumberland, they were among the greatest landowners in northern England. Nearby, on the banks of the river Coquet and accessible only by boat, are the remains of a chapel known as the hermitage, carved directly out of the cliff rock.

It was a shame that we couldn't visit the Hermitage, we were offered the opportunity to go and see it; to get to the Hermitage was not as straight forward as one might think. Half a mile walk before having to cross the River Coquet by rowing boat. Well that sounded great, no problem at all but it was the timings that were all wrong. A time slot of 3 pm was given, no room in the boat until then, well considering it was only midday, we did wonder what we would do for 3 hours! Anyway we did walk the 1/2 mile, realised the boat could only take 7 or 8 people at any one time and the oarsman was also the guide so stayed on the island with them. For history and images, click HERE

It's off to the Farne Island tomorrow. If anyone has been listening to the BBC news, the Avian Flu is running riot through the seabird colonies. An email from Serenity Tours informed us of the situation; the Puffin Tour is still going ahead, but without landing on the island. 

We found a proper site for tonight, it has a washing machine and both of us are also in need of showers! On a working farm, we have unfortunately been pitched right by a metal up and over door which is rattling continuously in the wind, as well as some sort of machinery working in the building. A kennelled spaniel has been barking for nearly an hour. I'm beginning to wonder if this was a good idea after all. No doubt my opening paragraph tomorrow will tell all!

And today's wildlife

Soldier Beetle

Speckled wood