Friday July 7, 2017, 33 miles (53 km) – Total so far: 81 miles (130 km)
We awoke into a gilded wonderland as Lucia called us on the computer. Afterwards we broke our fast, packed our bags and set forth towards Bamburgh, home of the castle. We encountered an ENORMOUS hill almost immediately but conquered it with only one ruptured aorta and one burst lung – not too bad for so early in the day. Our first destination was Craster, half way and home to a, supposedly, excellent fish resturant. We made steady progress although we discovered some things about my cycling jacket
- It is very bright
- It is waterproof
- . It attracts insects so well, that if I was a fly I would be the number one target for all the girly flies in a 30mile radius.
Literally within a second of wearing it I was surrounded by a swarm of small, annoying insects all of whom wanted to either eat me or mate with me. We never did find out which, but I REALLY wish I had brought my black jacket!
We walked out of Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle, a ruin of a Castle built by the Duke of Lancaster in 1313 to show off his power and wealth. It would have been rather speccy in its day, but since English Heritage wanted £5 per person to look at it, we declined and walked back to Craster. As we approached the town Belinda noticed smoke pouring out of the roof of a building. We expected to have to join in a water bucket chain and save the town from a fiery end and be hailed as heroes and have a statue built. I was already writing my speech when Belinda pointed out that it was coming from the kipper smoke house and was almost certainly normal .. Oh well, plenty of time to get a statue later.
The food in Craster was excellent, and it seems that the town is the home of the Kipper (who’d have thought it heh!) – see how educational this is ? We left after exchanging pleasantries with a couple also riding to Bamburgh, we didn’t see them again though as we pedalled. After lunch we meandered through the countryside, waving at cows, avoiding trains and cursing the HUGE hills. The last two days of the trip are significantly more hilly than we have encountered so far, so MIND-BOGGLING will put in an appearance then we imagine.
We stopped for cake in Seahouses, a rather quaint seaside town, that had the misfortune to be under a rain cloud as we arrived. We hold it no ill-will however since they make lovely scones. We then travelled a few miles further north and arrived at the Victoria Hotel.
Total climbing : 1350ft
The hotel was good, the room small but clean and comfortable. It wasn’t a “Castle view” as the photo shows, but the beer was cold and the food generous. We turned in after 10:00 and dreamed of hills and flies .
