Northumberland – colourful countryside and coast…

The weather isn’t particularly promising today but, undaunted, we decided to explore the coast, going south of the campsite, which is close to the pretty village of Embleton.  The Northumberland Coast Path runs for 64 miles from Berwick on Tweed to Cresswell with castles, sandy beaches and dramatic cliffs along the way.

We parked Bessie beside the path near the village of Howick and walked along it for half an hour or so, stopping to take lots of photographs as usual!  Here are some of the images:

A huddle of Kittiwakes – a first for us!

Wild Valerian

Cat’s-Ear

Red Clover

Pair of Fulmars

Fulmar in flight

Female Eider with young

Superior sort of beach hut

Inland, the scenery was equally attractive.

Stunning poppies

Further down the coast, the marina at Amble had an impressive number of smart boats, including some unusual ones with cutaway sterns and canvas covers.

Just down the coast opposite the RSPB reserve on Coquet Island, we found this lonely Eider on the beach.  Then she rode the waves like an expert surfer.

This great aerial shot of a Common Tern was taken by Peter:

Inland, Warkworth Castle looks interesting:

This is a good area for castles – Alnwick, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh to name a few.

By the late afternoon the weather had improved significantly and that wonderful light you sometimes get when the sun is low in the sky made the pretty coastal town of Alnmouth look stunning from the road (see also featured image at the top).

Reminds me of the coloured houses at Tobermory on Mull

The funny little boats were moored out at sea – probably used for fishing.

.Further up the coast again, Craster looks a nice little place

and back at the campsite the sky turned a glorious mixture of pink, orange and blue:

Hopefully, a good omen for tomorrow…