Souter Lighthouse and coast of Northumberland

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Today we had planned to go down to Cragside at Rothbury, described in the NT Handbook as an extraordinary Victorian house, gardens and estate - the wonder of its age! Well, that was the plan until Albert announced that what he really wanted to do while they were up in this area was visit Hadrian’s Wall and that it would work out best if they were to do that today and then drive home to Stalybridge so that Kath could get a good night’s sleep as the rather hard beds here have been troubling her back.

Bernie and I said that would be fine as we have visited Hadrian’s Wall and Housesteads Fort before. So, half an hour later, Kath and Albert were packed up and gone! We decided to revise our plans too and head down to Souter Lighthouse today because it is closed on Fridays and we can’t stop to visit it on our way home. Then on Friday we thought that we could go to see the herd of rare, white cattle at Chillingham before timing our arrival at Cragside with its 1.00pm opening time.

It was rather glum as we drove down towards Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the A697 and A1. At Cramlington we turned onto the A19 that would take us to the tunnel under the Tyne and on to Whitburn on the coast. It cost £1.20 to use the tunnel, but it made our journey much quicker than going around or through Newcastle to the coast. Edna was brilliant again guiding us there without any problems. When we arrived at the lighthouse we pretty much walked in on a lecture that was being delivered on the history of the lighthouse. We listened to that for a few minutes as it was pretty interesting, but after a while, when it seemed like it was never going to end, we decided to continue looking around on our own.

Or so we thought! When we stepped through the door of the engine room, Murray snagged us and ended up giving us a personal tour of the keeper’s living quarters before taking us up to the light tower. Up in the light tower we had a really good look at the prismatic light that is designed to catch all of the escaping light and re-direct it into the beam that is being transmitted for navigational purposes. I had never realized how technical it all is!! With the weather still rather overcast our views from the lighthouse were not great, but Murray was still able to point out quite a few points of interest.

When we finally managed to escape from Murray, who was very passionate about the lighthouse, we wandered along the cliff for a bit taking photos of the coast and the nesting Terns on the rock pillars just off shore.

From Souter Lighthouse we headed up to Arbeia, the Roman Fort and Museum at South Shields. Built around AD160, Arbeia Fort once played an essential role in the frontier system of Hadrian’s Wall. It is based four miles to the east of the Wall’s end and guarded the entrance to the River Tyne ensuring that military supplies could reach the 17 forts along the Wall. The site is extensive and includes reconstructions of the West Gate and Barrack Block to give visitors an idea of just how a Roman Fort may have looked back in the days of the Roman Empire.

After Arbeia we programmed Edna to take us over to Tynemouth on the other side of the river so that we could drive up the coast. Once again this was achieved without any stress. Satellite navigation has to be one of the human race’s best ever inventions!! Over in Tynemouth we stopped for a late lunch. At 3.00pm the bakery was a bit limited on what was on offer, but we settled on some corned beef pastry things. We knew that corned beef here is not like in Australia, but really had no idea what to expect. Hmmn, sort of like Pal in pastry really!! But sometimes, when you are hungry enough …

So, we meandered our way up the coast passing St Mary’s Lighthouse on the way to Blyth. From Blyth we took the A193, the A189 and the A1068 to Amble. We stopped for yet another castle photograph of Warkworth Castle at Warkworth before continuing on to Alnmouth. Alnmouth was a very pretty looking village situated at the mouth of the River Aln!!

As we drove along the coast the weather broke and the sun appeared. After than it just kept on getting better and better. Since the weather was so glorious in the late afternoon we decided to drive out to Craster and see what Dunstanburgh looked like from the Southern aspect. The ruins were spectacular from this angle too so we took a few more photos of the castle from cliff top near Craster!!

We drove back to Wooler via Denwick, Eglingham and New Berwick. I offered to cook, but we ended up having Chinese take-away for dinner. It’s a wonder the blood can still flow through my veins!!!

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