We woke up to a fine day and had a nice breakfast before starting out to walk from Ellington to Cresswell (1.8 km) where the days walk proper starts. It was a cool grey day but no rain and only a light, but cool, northerly breeze.
The first part of the walk was along the road before we cut through the sand dunes and then onto the beach which was much easier walking than the dunes. Met the odd dog walker along the way and they all seemed pretty friendly. The country side is pretty flat for this first part and not a lot to see apart from odd pairs, and larger groups, of geese doing whatever geese do in springtime. Walking alongside farmland there was often the exuberant song of a skylark to please the ear. Blackbirds and crows are also pretty busy.
After we got back onto the road we were passed by a cyclist. A little while later we encountered him with his bike upside down trying to fix a puncture. After a chat we went on our way and then he caught up to us again and asked us to hold his bike while he tried to get more air into his tyre. We did see him once more ahead of us and he was trying a motorist's pump but obviously to no avail as he was last seen pushing his bike in the direction of Amble.
We passed the Drurige Bay Country Park along the way. This is a large wetlands nature reserve and, judging from the facilities, quite popular in the summertime but not so at the moment.
After passing the small fishing village of Low Haughton, we did not have much further to go before we reached Amble which is quite a thriving holiday destination and has port and boating facilities too. I have a memory of holidaying at Amble with my parents when I was a lad. We stayed in a converted bus which was parked among caravans in the sand dunes. I don't really remember much more about it.
On reaching Amble we had lunch and then a nice coffee at a different place before continuing to our first destination - Warkworth. On the approach along the road towards Warkworth, alongside the estuary of the Coquet River, there was a fine view of Warkworth Castle which was the ancestral home of the Percy family. I took a pic but it will have to wait until I can update the blog with it. Another walk up hill brought us to our overnight stop which is a nice B & B. Later on we will have to descend the hill again to the town to get some dinner, and then back up for a good night's sleep.
