Castles by the sea

Distance: 79km

We were woken by the sound of voices, getting louder and closer. We saw flashlights... and hoped they wouldn't see us.


The group arrived on the grass clearing near our campsite and the men started running at each other while the women laughed. I heard a female voice, "They're camping down here..."


The tent was shaken and the drunk/stoned group exchanged some heated words with Sam, until one of the guys apologised and they moved on... but it was hard to fall back asleep... would they return??


After another couple of hours the first of the dog walkers arrived with the light of dawn. Two dogs were sniffing our tent curiously and an owner looking on even more curiously. It was time to move on.


We packed up as fast as we could, but it had rained on-and-off all night so things were a bit wet... Once the sun came out though it shone, cold and bright.

As we sat on a bench in the next town drinking some juice a rider came up to us. He'd been on the same ferry as us, and chatted to us in a supermarket in the evening before, and now we ran into him again. What a small world! 


In the town of Morpeth we were not so surprised to see him again. He introduced us to a friend of his, Raymond, who was 78 (almost) and still riding hard. What a character he was! He told us about his bicycle travels around the world more than 50 years ago, and stories from his life. We spent a good hour chatting to them in the warm sun before following their advice and heading back to the coast for our journey north.

We rode past castles and beautiful small coastal towns. At one point we stopped to take some photos of Alnmouth and a lady who was out running offered to take a photo of both of us. At the same time our phone rang and it was our friend Steve - our first phone call for months! We spent an hour and a half alternatively talking to Steve and this friendly couple from Newcastle.


We realised it was going to be hard to get anywhere in England, because all the people are so friendly and want to have a chat.

We had a late picnic lunch on a hill in Alnwick... next to a large column given to a duke by his tenants... and were surprised to find ourselves working on our tans for the first time in over a month - in England! And close to Scotland at that... 

It was an idyllic day of sunshine and friends... and even ended with a hot shower in a campsite!