Coastwalk

Alnmouth → Craster

Distance: 7.85 miles
Ascent: 172 metres
Duration: 2 hours 47 minutes

Northumberland in miniature
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The final push begins here. We're back on the coast, with a short week of walking ahead, hopefully culminating with the completion of England's coastline next Saturday. With only fifty miles or so to go, can anything go wrong now?

The weather looks set to do its best to trip us up. A series of heavy storms have battered the country since late December, and they've not let up yet. That being said, we've had a remarkably dry day today, enabling us to complete this short warm-up walk as a prelude to the rest of the week.

It's been a bit of a "nothing" walk really. As ever it's good to be back on the trail, but nothing really stands out as a feature.

On the other hand, one might consider this walk to be very representative of Northumberland's coastline: the odd golf course and caravan site interspersed with sandy beaches and secluded coves (Iron Scars near Howick was particularly beautiful).

At Craster our nostrils were filled with a sweet scent reminiscent of pancakes and maple syrup. In fact it was Robson & Sons' Smokehouse, where kippers are a speciality. Clouds of smoke billowed out of the shutters at the top of the building, meaning a purchase was inevitable, even though we plumped for salmon rather than the classic kippers.