- Despite the torrential rain as we had bedded down last night, a good night’s sleep was enjoyed and this morning the sky was blue with bright sunshine. Although there was a residual dampness on the ground, the green swathe of lawn made a fine table for a hearty breakfast of porridge, beans and sausage with nice, fresh wholemeal bread. As it was to be a fairly short day’s walking of about ten miles, we were able to take our time breakfasting, packing up the gear and ensuring we appreciated the bright blue sky and fresh air. There is just something about fresh tea made and drunk in the open that makes it taste like nectar.
us that they had actually met John in North West Scotland in 1978 when he was on his coastal walk. It was obvious from their anecdote that he had made a considerable impression on them, such that they could remember it in detail all these years later. It was almost as good as meeting the great man himself!
We hugged the coastline along Boulmer Haven and over the rock formations of Marmouth Scars and Seaton Point, before dropping back on to the sands of Alnmouth Bay for the long beach walk to Alnmouth itself. We passed the time of day here with a school teacher who was on her first day back at work after maternity leave and was having a fairly torturous reintroduction to the profession with a day out at the beach. One of the pupils had fainted and while she was being seen to by staff members, the others had just blithely wandered on. The class had become separated and was strung the length of the sands from about Fluke’s Hole half way to the village of Alnmouth. Despite the slightly stressful situation, we were impressed by the women’s commitment to her work and it was nice to speak to a young teacher who actually seemed to like teaching.