Day 18: Ashington, Craster and Dunstanburgh

Day eighteen and so far only one day wet. 

Today I went to the Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archive. The wooded area around it still has regular sightings of red squirrels - they're rare down south. 

"So where's the red squirrel?" an American in front of me asked the car park attendant, as if there was only one and it was tethered here somehow. One might laugh, but there is a board at the barrier where staff write up sightings, "Red Squirrel last spotted today at 9.14am". There's a Monty Python or Peter Cook and Dudley Moore skit in there somewhere- something to do with MI5?

Car parking for £3.50 is all you have to pay to visit this wonderful tribute to Northumbrian mining. It is built on the site of the Ashington pit, and the buildings and machinery are still in place. 

 

I particularly wanted to see a gallery of work from the Pitman Painters. 

 

and the Miners Banners...

As well as other art exhibitions and interactive displays...

It is a really good experience, and whoever funded it got terrific value for money. 

Back onto the busy Northumbrian roads...

Craster and Dunstanburgh castle next and you could smell the smokers as soon as you arrived.  

Still famous for smoked herring (kippers to the Brits) there are several places in this small village where you can try crab and smoked fish. I had Cullen Skink a smoked fish soup made of kipper, leek and potato. Delish!

I also succumbed to a pot of Kipper pate - no bones canny lass. 

A quick mince round the art gallery to look at atmospheric seascapes by Mick Oxley.

Then off to Dunstanburgh Castle.

The walk from the car park at Craster is about a mile and a half and is literally along the edge of the coastline with the sea to the right and the hills with sheep and gorse bushes to the left. 

The castle is on rock known as Whin Sill, and this rock crops up all over here unlike the previous sand dunes. Much more rugged. 

Dunstanburgh was already a ruin by 1313, and after being fought over during The War of the Roses, has never been restored.

Just off the coast here are the Farne Islands. They are full of puffins at this time of year. I toyed with the idea of getting a boat to see them

but being a very seasick person changed my mind. 

Here is a postcard of a puffin instead! 

And Scotland must be near, because I got this in my change.

I stopped briefly at Bamburgh Castle as it was closing to get a couple of pictures for Morgan. Bamburgh was once the capital of Northumberland.

Then put tonight's Airbnb address  into my Sat. Nav: Flodden Battlefield. But as I headed towards it, it became clear that it was nowhere near the coast and possibly very near Scotland.

Yep, I was right- just four minutes from Coldstream which is a village in Scotland. Oh well, makes a change and doubtless there will be a reason why. I intend to do  Lindisfarne tomorrow, which is most definitely on the coast, but some distance from here, and the causeway is only clear from 5am to 12am. 

So it's goodnight from me