Berwick upon Tweed 4-6 May 2013

Saturday

We set off from Bradford on Saturday morning in the sunshine and had a good journey up to Northumberland arriving about 1.00 pm. Three walks were on offer, two along the river and one along the coast. The Northumberland coast is renowned for its beautiful beaches so this was my choice of walk for the day led by Ray, 8 miles into Berwick. It was an excellent walk on sand dunes, the beach and the promenade at Spittal before crossing the The Old Bridge into Berwick.

Brian's photo of the group

Maureen's photo

Maureen's photo

Maureen's photo

Maureen's photo

On the beach

Paddling time

Brian's Photos

Rocky in places

Three bridges across the Tweed

Brian's photo

We reached Berwick about 5.00 pm and collected our luggage from the coach before making our way to the youth hostel and various B&Bs around the town. I stayed in the YHA as usual and it was very comfortable and had a well equipped kitchen for the self caterers. A lovely fish supper with a few friends finished the evening off well.

The Walls

Now some of you may not have had time to walk the walls but because I am an early riser and I make my own breakfast I have some spare time in the morning before we depart for our walk and this holiday I managed to walk the complete circuit of the walls and also the pier to the lighthouse and the river walk as far as the railway bridge. Here's a few photos of what I saw.

The main Guard

A seat with a view over the walls.
The seats along the walls are supported on cast iron snakes.

View of the pier and lighthouse

Along the pier

View of Berwick from the lighthouse

Path marked with solar lights

Lions House

Very tidy allotments

The Barracks

The moat

A well hidden car boot sale

They were good at hiding guns too!

Oh look, there's our coach arriving.

Mute swans on the River Tweed

The Royal Border Railway Bridge with 28 arches

Plenty of trains stop here

Lady Jerningham statue.

Castle Gate

The Town Hall

Room for three in the stocks!

Sunday

We awoke to a lovely sunny morning and after my morning stroll along the walls I boarded the coach at 9.30 am to travel into Scotland for today's choice of walks, all of them coastal. After some deliberation I chose the 'A' walk led by Ian, from Cockburnspath to Coldingham mostly on the Berwickshire Coastal Path. This was an interesting walk and we learned about James Hutton, the founder of modern geology and had time to look at Coldingham Priory.

Torness nuclear power station

The Cove

Pease Bay

Coldingham Priory

Ray's group also walked along the coast in the opposite direction taking in Fast Castle en route.These are Maureen's photos from that walk.

And these are Brian's photos from the same walk.

 The 'B' party started at Cockburnspath and walked to Dunbar and the 'C' party walked from St Abbs to Eyemouth. Everyone had a great day in the sunshine.

Monday

Our last day so bags had to be packed and on the coach by 9.30 am before setting off to do inland walks today in Northumberland. I chose the 'B' walk along part of St Cuthbert's Way finishing in Wooler. Some parts of the walk were very good with a visit to St Cuthbert's Cave and then the Cheviot hills rising up in front of us but there was rather too much road walking so Stuart added his own variation towards the end and impressed everyone with his map reading by finding hidden tracks taking us through fields, a caravan site and woods instead of walking down the road into Wooler.

St Cuthbert's Cave

A well-earned rest

Cheers!

We had plenty of time in Wooler for refreshments before setting off for home and arriving in Bradford in good time for buses home. 

Thanks again for all the people involved in organising the weekend and the walks leaders who all did a splendid job. This extra weekend has become a firm fixture in our walking calendar and Berwick-upon-Tweed was a great place to visit especially in the sunshine!