Wednesday 16th March - two beaches in one day

The weather that greeted us first thing this morning was pretty much more of the same as yesterday. This was a little disappointing, as the weather forecast had been better for today. A bit of a lie in was deemed to be in order, and sure enough, by the time we were ready to go out, the weather had started to improve. It had dried up nicely, and the sun was even threatening to poke though the clouds.   We elected to go to Beadnell, which was the very first place we stayed at when we visit Northumberland a few years ago. We had walked on the beach there a couple of times in the past, but had only ever done one small part of it. This time it was our aim to do the much longer stretch to the South of the harbour.  

  Just a little bit of a factoid about the harbour at Beadnell - it is the only harbour on the East coast of the UK that you enter from the West. This is due to the way the bay is shaped, and the entrance to the harbour means that you do enter it from the West. A bit odd, but I didn't design it, so please don't go blaming me!

The car park by the beach was a little interesting to get to as they are building a new estate of holiday homes opposite it, but we managed to find our way in and park up. I drove the car today, and am glad to report that I am getting a bit more used to it, and think that I will grow to actually like driving it. It's not the Mini, but what on earth could compete with that for a driving experience?  

The beach was pretty empty, with just a few dog walkers braving the wind and overcast skies. We walked for a mile or so, and eventually came to an estuary type thing which meant that we couldn't easily go any further in that direction, so turned around and walked back, continued on past our starting point and took in some of the coast road into the village too. It was nice to see some of the houses we were familiar with from our previous visits, and we both agreed that Beadnell is one of our favourite villages. It is quirky in some ways, but not just plain weird like some of the other places we have been to. (Like Aldeburgh in Suffolk for instance......shivers at the memory of it!)  

Our walking boots off and back to normal footwear, I drove us to High Newton to a pub called the Joiners Arms. We had been there twice on our last visit to the area, and had enjoyed two lovely meals. A look at their website had shown that it had gone a bit more "gastro pub" since we were last here, but inside it hadn't changed at all really. Yes, the menu was a bit more expensive, but it wasn't too silly. I went for the fish & chips which they still describe as being the biggest fish that the boat had been able to safely land, and this description is still fairly accurate. Sally went for the home made chickpea, feta cheese and coriander burger. This was also on the large side, but was very nice. I tried some and would actually choose it myself if we went again.  

  Foolishly, we also went for desserts, with Sally going with the chocolate brownie, and me opting for the ice cream sundae. Afterwards we both felt totally stuffed, and in need of another walk to try to get rid of some of the excess calories!!  

Back at the cottage, we donned our walking boots again, and walked to the golf club and onto the beach as we had done on our first evening here. Hence the title for today's blog post. Two beaches in one day. They may only have been a few miles apart, but you couldn't have walked them all together thanks to the coastline. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.  

We didn't have any dinner in the evening, both still feeling adequately full. Sally started crocheting a scarf, and I read for a bit and we also tried looking for places to stay for our Summer holiday, though without the success we had hoped for so far.  

Another day draws to a close. We are both feeling relaxed but a bit tired with all the walking. We should sleep well again tonight I think.