Lindisfarne to Berwick-upon-Tweed

We slept well at The Manor House Hotel and didn't wake until about 7.15 am (late for us) so we only just had time to get ready for breakfast at 8 am. We had Seahouses kippers - lovely. It was another sunny morning and it was just about low tide, so we decided to take the Pilgrim's Route across the sands to the mainland rather than retracing yesterday's route across the causeway.

We had followed the Pilgrim's Route to Lindisfarne at the end of St Cuthbert's Way five years' ago, and there was a fair amount of wading and some slippery sections. However, most of this morning's walk was little more than a - very pleasant - stroll across the sands with occasional paddling through streams. As we left Lindisfarne, a man was just completing his walk in with opposite direction and he alerted us to a muddy section in the middle, but even that wasn't a problem. We started off in our walking boots, but took them off after just five minutes or so.

We became aware of a noise that we couldn't identify; was it birds or was it the wind? No, it was a colony of seals. So this is what they mean by seals 'singing'; it was magical, especially since we had the place completely to ourselves. As we got closer to the mainland we passed a number of walkers, including a family with a dog, an organised group of some sort, and a photographer.

After passing the second refuge (at which point the poles run out and we knew that the deeper channel of South Low was ahead) we cut across to the causeway. As we were attempting to clean the sand from our feet we advised a couple of Australian(?) walkers of the benefits of following the Pilgrim's Route rather than the causeway. However, I should reiterate the importance of checking tide times carefully before setting out on the Pilgrim's Route - and although it is considerably easier at extreme low tide, you do have to be willing to get your feet wet and squelch through a muddy bit.

We followed the causeway for the remaining half mile back to the mainland, and this time we turned right, back on the route of the Northumberland Coastal Path. We followed a narrow path at the back of the marshes to Beal Point, then headed inland just slightly to cross a bridge by a sluice, back on the route of Cycle route 1 (with occasional cyclists passing us). There were good views back to Lindisfarne and the causeway.

We continued along the cycle route for a short distance, now running parallel with the coast, then we headed down onto Goswick Sands (following advice in the information leaflet at The Old Vicarage, Belford, which had described this as one of their favourite spots). It must now have been some time after low tide, but yet there was a vast expanse of sand, and we had it almost entirely to ourselves, with just occasional dog walkers and a group of horses being ridden in the distance.

We walked along the beach for about a kilometre, staying relatively close to the dunes. We weren't sure about exit points back across the dunes to the official route, so we were extremely cautious and when we saw a dog walker approaching from a track, we headed for the point at which she had emerged. This brought us out near Beachcomber House. There are a few parking places here, at a point that you'd reach in a car by driving past Goswick Golf Club and keeping going to the end of the road. It's a lovely spot.

Back on the (extremely minor) road, we walked through Goswick and then between the greens of the Golf Club. We don't particularly enjoy walking across golf courses, but Club Houses, especially in remote locations like this one, can welcome walkers, and that was the case here. Sitting outside were the walkers who we at met at The Old Vicarage, Belford. They were drinking tea, but when we went inside the bar there was a long queue for food (apparently there was a championship taking place) so we settled for J20s. We found another bench, around the corner in the shade, where we drank our J2Os and ate a couple of the cereal bars that we had with us. We also watched the activity at the golf club, with groups of four golfers 'teeing off'.

Refreshed, we continued along the road to the level crossing, but instead of crossing it, we climbed a stile and walked alongside the Golf Club's practice range, right by the railway. The signposting in this section was not good; after walking around the practice range we took an overgrown path slightly closer to the coast above the golf course. We were absolutely sure that we were on the right path, and indeed a signpost at the opposite end confirmed this, but I don't think many people come this way. I'm not sure what path they do take!

We emerged through a field of cows onto a road (east of Cheswick) which is clearly a popular place to park when visiting the beach. Cycle route 1, which had headed inland after the Club House, rejoined us, so the route was clear again. We passed a fishing lake, with some cars parked, then a little car park for the Cocklawburn Dunes Nature Reserve, and photographed a stonechat nearby. Now on a road, we approached the car park shown on the map at Cocklawburn Beach. We'd been able to see the parked cars, which spilt over onto the road up the hill on the far side of the little bay, for some distance, and the bay was very busy. The advantage was an ice cream van! We shared a £1 orange lolly.

The road climbed away from the beach and eventually turned inland. We continued straight ahead on a 'byway open to all traffic' just to the coastward side of the railway line. The track was more pleasant than 'byway open to all traffic' implies and we enjoyed this section of the walk, on an undulating track (not tarmacked) with red sandstone cliffs and wildflowers between us and the coast. Berwick-upon-Tweed's harbour entrance, with a long breakwater and a red and white lighthouse on the end, was clearly visible in front of us, and another beach (Spittal Beach) came into view.

According to the OS map, the route follows the main road through Spittal, so we were somewhat surprised to discover a signpost clearly pointing the Coast Path down to the promenade. This looked like a more interesting route, so we followed it. We found ourselves at one extremity of the Lowry Trail; it appears that the artist loved Berwick and visited regularly, and many of his pictures show scenes from the area. We walked along the busy promenade, past a beach on which children were playing, and then around Spittal Point, formerly an industrial area; just one chimney remains here now, but there used to be several.

We rejoined the main road (with signs for Cycle Route 1 but nothing obvious for the coastal path) and walked down through Tweedmouth, past the Lifeboat Station and the modern dock. We could see our B&B on the opposite side of the river, and we crossed the River Tweed by way of the old Berwick Bridge. There were clear views to the more modern road bridge and the famous arches of the railway viaduct. Further inland, the Scottish/English border follows the river, but around Berwick the border has been diverted north so the whole of the town is in England. However, it hasn't always been like this, Berwick has moved between Scotland and England many times in its history, and it still feels as if you are crossing the border as you cross the river.

After crossing the river we were very close to our B&B, but we decided to continue up to the station where the Northumberland Coast Path ends. The route appeared to be signposted away from the river so we climbed up along the road until we could see the railway station. We then took steep steps back down to the river and followed the riverside walk back past the bridges to The Walls B&B, a Georgian town house built just behind the town walls, with fantastic views of the River. We arrived just after another couple, and Louise Scott welcomed us, made us a cup of tea, and showed us to our beautiful room, 'Tweed' on the first floor. Louise and her husband Stephen have only been here for a couple of years, in a deliberate lifestyle change from previous careers in pharmacy and IT.

In the evening we ate at The Royal Garden, a Chinese restaurant a couple of streets above the B&B, close to the Town Hall. Our meal came complete with banana fritters, which reminded us of Chinese meals of old. After dinner we returned to The Walls and watched fishermen and seals competing for salmon in the river. A perfect end to our holiday.

I didn't sleep particularly well; this was not anyone's fault but my own, though when lying awake I was aware how noisy the seagulls were! We had a lovely breakfast (fish cakes) at The Walls (a superb B&B) and met two American visitors, who had been visiting their daughter who is a PhD student at Heriot Watt University. They were heading on to Scarborough today to visit friends, and indeed we were on the same train as them as far as York.