16th - 20th August Coast and Castles- Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to Edinburgh

16th Set off around 9.30am as the Fort did not open until 10am. When we arrived we found that there was a special event on. They had people dressed up in Roman garb, some as centurions and others as general soldiers and women. There were 3 men on horses practicing for their cavalry exhibition that afternoon.We wandered around the site for about ½ an hour then set off back over the Tyne to North Shields on the ferry. We headed to the alternate end to the Hadrian’s wall cycle route at Tynemouth, it is also the beginning of the Coast and Castles route. We rode around the coast past Tynemouth castle where they also had a special event going on with people dressed as minstrels and knights etc,then on through Whitley Bay and stopped at a pub in Hartley for lunch. We set off again past a cute little harbour at Seaton Sluiceand on through Blyth where we stopped at a large supermarket to buy our dinner supplies. We passed a la couple of large power plants along the way up the coast. One of them had a few windmills. We Rode through Warkworth and it’s large castleand on to our overnight camping spot at Birling,but not before we rode about ½ mile up the road and realised we had passed it. The extra mile brought our total for the day to 47miles. Another sunny day but the wind was very cold and strong

17th It started raining around 4.30am and rained on and off all morning. We packed up between showers and set off toward Alnmouth,a pretty little town at the mouth of the Aln river right on the coast.We cycled along quiet country roads to Boulmer and on to Craster. Our first stop was Dunstanburgh Castle where we had to walk our bikes about a km as we were not allowed to ride them. Dunstanburgh Castle was built in the 12th Century as a power symbol and is now in ruins as the owner was put to death for treason. We wandered around for a while then headed off to Embelton for our Sunday roaast. There were two other cyclists at the pub where we stopped who had based themselves at a local caravan park and were doing day trips in the area. After lunch we visited Low Newton-by-the-sea a cute little village like a pirates cove. We then set off for Seahouses to buy supplies for dinner before heading to the caravan park at Waren. On the way we passed this sign and for anyone who listened to popular music in the 80's you will know how funny it is.We arrived early at 5pm and were able to dry the tent out before setting it up. We then went out to pick some blackberries we had passed on the side of the road on our way in. We ended up having ridden 34 miles. We had beautiful hot showers which we always enjoy at the end of a long days riding.

18th We woke to what we thought would be a beautiful sunny day as the sun was shining on our tent. By the time we had breakfast and packed up the sun had dissapeared. We headed off to visit Lindisfarne Island (Holy Island), it was a long ride into the wind and rain over a causeway that was only open today between 8am and 2.30am as it is underwater until 8.30pm this day.We stopped off to have a hot chocolate and a slice as it was bucketing down with rain and we were drenched. We locked our bikes up there and walked out to the castle. The castle was closed sso we just walked around and took some photos,We chatted to a couple and thier children who had cycled out there. The husband had 2 kids one about 3 the other around 6 in a trailer and a dog on a lead, there was also a son who was around 13 and the wife on her own bike. They were from the midlands and told us that summer was not usually like this and wished us luck with the weather. We stopped in at the cafe again for lunch and the couple we met at the pub yesterday came in to say hello as they had seen our bikes outside. We headed back off the island, this time with the wind behind us but still raining. It was a tough ride in the rain, in parts the route was over farm land that was boggy,having to open and close the gatesand the bikes got covered in mud. We finally made it into Berwick-on-Tweed with it's impressive bidges and found a J D Wetherspoons that actually had internet access. So Catriona based herself there updating the blog and checking emails while David went out to information and found us Accommodation at the Berwick Backpackers Hostel. We ended up having dinner at the pub before heading back to the hostel for a dry nights sleep. After leaving the pub we rode down to the hostel, stopping to take a few misty shots of the bridges. At the hostel we dropped our bags off in our room and were able to hang our tent up to dry. We then went into the lounge/kitchen where we both had a cup of tea and chatted to Kate who we were sharing the dorm with.

19th We didn’t wake up until 8am this morning as we were in a dark room and were having such a good sleep. We quickly packed up our bags and had the breakfast that was included with our accommodation in the lounge/kitchen. We hosed down our bikes before setting off for a quick look around Berwick-on-Tweed and then heading off up the coast. It was a hilly start to the day into Scotland and I (Catriona) started to dislike all the little contour lines on the map. The cycle computer decided it did not want to work anymore, most likely due to all the rain, so we had no idea of how fast we were travelling. We passed the gate house to Ayton Castle which looked quite spectacular but we couldn’t see the actual castle. We stopped for morning tea at Ayton and David noticed this strange dark patch on the ground that followed him wherever he went, I think from memory it might be called a shadow. We then road on to the little sea side town of Eyemouth for lunch but the sun disappeared while we were inside. We had a long uphill ride after lunch but luckily it was all on road or path and not through muddy paddocks like yesterday. We had some lovely views of the coastline until the fog started to roll in. We passed many ffarms and a few power stations. We made it to Dunbar just before 5pm and the fog was rolling in and out so we were able to take some nice pictures on the coast with both the mist and without it.

Now you see it

Now you don't

We set up our tent at the Dunbar, Belhaven Bay caravan and camping park and had most of our dinner at the picnic table before the clouds started to roll in, and much the same as South Shields we got into our tent to finish off dinner and it started to rain although not very heavily and it didn’t last long. We worked out from the map that we cycled 36 miles and because of the hills it seemed much longer.

20th Well the weather has finally got the better of us. We woke this morning to steady rain and thought “we have had enough” so we rode back into Dunbar to check out the train times.We took a photo of the local scout hall just because it was 1st Dunbar.
We just missed a train and had a 2 hour wait for the next one, so we went to a coffee shop with wifi and booked out bus ticket and accommodation for after our Haggis tour. We tried to book accommodation for tonight but had no luck. We caught a cross country train to Edinburgh for only £5 each and watched all the scenery out the train window pass us by, staying nice and dry. When we arrived in Edinburgh it was pouring rain. We went to the closest hostel but it only had beds for one night, not two. We then headed off to the information centre, there were people everywhere as the ½ price ticket booth for the festival was just outside. We tried phoning a few more hostels which were also booked out and decided to let the information people do the work for us. After numerous phone calls the guy managed to get us a double bed in the Castle Rock Hostel for £50 per night for 2 nights.

We rode straight there, unpacked our gear to dry it off and even managed to hang up our tent and fly to dry. We then headed out to have a look around and find a kilt maker. There were people handing out leaflets for shows about every 2 mitres and also many street performers. We managed to find a kilt maker and find out the hefty price to have a kilt made. We then set off to have a bit more of a look around as the rain had cleared. We managed to get a few good shots of the castle and the old buildings in town.
We then headed off to buy some food and then headed back to the hostel for the evening. On the way we stopped to watch an acrobat from Melbourne, Australia performing in the street.
We also passed the huge queue waiting to get into the castle for the Tattoo. We went to bed listening to the sounds of bagpipes and fireworks from the Tattoo.