Berwick upon Tweed – Coastal Road Trip

Day 30 – Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newcastle

We are starting today by heading a few miles north back in to Scotland (they can’t keep us away). We will then spend most of the day continuing our drive back in England, along the Northumberland coast before ending the day in Newcastle.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Leaders — The Tour of Britain Cycle Race arriving in Bamburgh.

St Abbs

Coastal Road Trip, St Abbs, Harbour, Blue Hut, Cliff House — Starting our day just north of the Scottish border at the quiet fishing village of St Abbs.

Coastal Road Trip, St Abbs, Harbour — Rocky views past St Abbs Harbour.

English & Scottish border

Coastal Road Trip, Coastal Road Trip, Scotland Border, England Border, Union Jack, Flags — Crossing the border back into England.

Berwick-upon-Tweed

Coastal Road Trip, Berwick upon Tweed, Bridge, Royal Border Bridge, Railway — The Royal Border Bridge spanning the River Tweed. The railway viaduct was opened by Queen Victoria in 1850.

Coastal Road Trip, Berwick upon Tweed, Parking Disc, Northumberland — I remember these parking discs as a kid, and didn’t realise they were still in use.

Coastal Road Trip, Berwick upon Tweed, Berwick Lighthouse — The simple but neat lighthouse at the end of the Berwick-upon-Tweed breakwater.

Lindisfarne

Coastal Road Trip, Lindisfarne, The Holy Island, Causeway, Danger Sign, Julian, Jarno — Crossing over the causeway to Lindisfarne (AKA The Holy Island).

Coastal Road Trip, Lindisfarne, The Holy Island, Causeway, Warning, Tide Tables — We better be quick, in fifteen minutes the tide is coming in, and we won’t be able to get back to the mainland until the evening.

Coastal Road Trip, Lindisfarne, The Holy Island, Causeway, Road, Hut, Sea — In case you get stranded as the tide returns, there’s a handy refuge hut to escape the rising tides. Your car might get a bit wet though.

Tour of Britain Cycle Race (coming into Bamburgh)

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Sign, Delays Expected — As we drove along the country lanes towards Bamburgh we suddenly found ourselves on the Tour of Britain Cyle Race route. A complete surprise. Perfect timing.

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Police, Race marshals — So we parked up on the verge, a few minutes later the police and race marshals arrived…

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Flying TV, Helicopter, Eye in the sky, Camera, TV Station — …quickly followed by the ‘Eye in the Sky”…

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Leaders — … then the race leaders came charging through….

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Main group — …followed by the main group. Ten minutes later we were back on the road again after this nice little interlude.

Bamburgh Castle

Coastal Road Trip, Bamburgh Castle — Stunning views over the freshly plowed fields to the huge Bamburgh Castle.

Coastal Road Trip, Bamburgh Castle — And even more impressive close up.

The Farne Islands

Coastal Road Trip, The Farne Islands, Inner Farne Lighthouse, National Trust — Just passed Bamburgh Castle, the view over to The Farne Islands and Inner Farne Lighthouse. The islands are famous for their seals and wide variety of seabirds.

Beadnell Beach

Coastal Road Trip, Beadnell Beach, Kite Surfing — Kite Surfing on Beadnell Beach.

Embleton & Newton Links

Coastal Road Trip, Embleton & Newton Links, National Trust, Beach, Sand Writing, Dunstanburgh Castle, Jarno — Jarno doing some more beach graffiti at the National Trust managed Embleton & Newton Links. In the distance you can also spot Dunstanburgh Castle.

Coastal Road Trip, Embleton & Newton Links, National Trust, Beach, Sand Writing — Washed away…

Craster

Coastal Road Trip, Craster Harbour, Flower, Purple — A little bit of colour as rain clouds rolled in over Craster Harbour.

Coastal Road Trip, Craster, Dunstanburgh Castle, Sheep, Field — Dunstanburgh Castle that we had seen earlier from Embleton & Newton Links. Now viewed from the south, walking across the fields from Craster. A bit hazy due to the rain…

Alnwick Castle

Coastal Road Trip, Alnwick Castle, English Heritage, Jarno — The seat of the Duke of Northumberland, at our final castle of the day, Alnwick Castle, just outside the picturesque market town of Alnwick.

Amble Beach

Coastal Road Trip, Amble Beach, Coquet Island Lighthouse — The tiny Coquet Island and its lighthouse viewed from Amble Beach.

Low Hauxley

Coastal Road Trip, Low Hauxley, Beach, Black Rocks — Low Hauxley Beach. Just a bit further along the beach a two-hundred meter long ancient forest has been uncovered by the sea cutting through the sand dunes.

Blyth

Coastal Road Trip, Blyth, Art, Wind Turbine, Industry — An interestingly arty and industrial coastline as the light faded passing through Blyth.

St Mary’s Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, St Mary's Lighthouse — St Mary’s Lighthouse across another causeway, at Whitley Bay.

Tynemouth

Coastal Road Trip, Tynemouth, Riley's Fish Shack, Night time — Ending the day with delicious fish tacos on the beach at Riley’s Fish Shack. We then headed inland to Newcastle for the night.

Daily video

Day 29 – Glenrothes to Berwick upon Tweed

We started today by heading back east to the coast at Crail, as we’d run out of sunlight yesterday evening after leaving St Andrews. From Crail we then looped back west along the coast, crossing the Firth of Forth before continuing along the coastline to Berwick upon Tweed.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, North Berwick, Telescope, Bass Rock — A telescope at North Berwick.

Crail

Coastal Road Trip, Crail, Harbour — A quiet Sunday morning on Crail seafront.

Pittenweem

Coastal Road Trip, Pittenweem, Harbour, Fishing Boats — Fishing boats gathered in Pittenweem Harbour.

Elie Ness

Coastal Road Trip, Elie Ness Lighthouse — A modern lighthouse on the headland at Elie Ness.

Lower Largo

Coastal Road Trip, Lower Largo, Alexander Selkirk Statue, Robinson Crusoe — A statue of Alexander Selkirk mounted on a house in Lower Largo, the inspiration behind Robinson Crusoe.

Coastal Road Trip, Lower Largo, Colourful Bollards — Colourful bollards on the Lower Largo seafront.

Dysart

Coastal Road Trip, Dysart Harbour, Kirkcaldy — Just outside Kirkcaldy, the quaint Dysart.

Coastal Road Trip, Dysart Harbour, Kirkcaldy, Sea Beams, Donald Urquhart, 9 vertical oak beams, blue, sea different light, — And an interesting coastal art installation by Donald Urquart just by the harbour. The 9 huge vertical beams painted to represent the colour of the sea under different light.

Aberdour Castle

Coastal Road Trip, Aberdour Castle, Julian, Jarno — Yep, no idea either, but we seemed to be enjoying ourselves at Historic Scotland’s Aberdour Castle.

Coastal Road Trip, Aberdove Castle, Beehive shaped Doocot, Dovecote, Pigeon, Dove, House — We weren’t sure what this building was on the terraced gardens that lead down to the castle orchard. Anyway, it turned out to be an unusual beehive shaped doocot.

Coastal Road Trip, Aberdove Castle, Beehive shaped Doocot, Dovecote, Pigeon, Dove, House, Inside — And inside the doocot, looking to the sky.

Firth of Forth Bridges

Coastal Road Trip, Firth of Forth, Crossing, Forth Road Bridge — Crossing over the Forth Road Bridge. It was really busy, with lots of police and tourists around, then we realised it was the opening week of the new Queensferry Crossing bridge.

Coastal Road Trip, Firth of Forth, Forth Road Bridge, Queensferry Crossing bridge — From South Queensferry, looking back to the Forth Road Bridge, and the new Queensferry Crossing behind.

Coastal Road Trip, Firth of Forth, Queensferry Crossing bridge, Pedestrians — The Queen would be visiting to officially open the new bridge tomorrow. In the meantime the bridge was open for pedestrians to cross.

Coastal Road Trip, Firth of Forth, Forth Rail Bridge — And the equally impressive Forth Rail Bridge sitting opposite the other two bridges. OK, enough bridges for the day…

Royal Yacht Britannia

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Yacht Britannia — As we skirted around the north of Edinburgh we decided to make a stop at the Royal Yacht Britannia, one of the highlights of our day.

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Yacht Britannia, Dining Room — In service from 1954 to 1997, and now kept as a museum piece. A fascinating insight into the royal life on the seas.

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Yacht Britannia, Rolls Royce — The Royal Roller kept on board for visits to local Kings and Queens.

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Yacht Britannia, Verge Inn, Royal pub, Corgi, Julian, Jarno, Beer — Having a royal beer in the royal pub with the royal corgi. Love the bar name 😉

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Yacht Britannia, Games, Operation, Monopoly, Cluedo, Scrabble, — So The Queen likes a game of Operation! Good for her.

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Yacht Britannia, Washing Machines, Corgi, Launderette — Royal washing machines in the royal launderette.

North Berwick

Coastal Road Trip, North Berwick, Law — North Berwick in the shadow of the Law hill. A lovely little town and harbour.

Coastal Road Trip, North Berwick, Coloured doors, Storage, Harbour — Colourful doors in the harbour boatyard.

Coastal Road Trip, North Berwick, Telescope, Bass Rock — A handy telescope to view Bass Rock, 3 miles out to sea in the outer part of the Firth of Forth.

Bass Rock

Coastal Road Trip, Bass Rock, Lighthouse — White from bird life. Thousands of gannets visit the island every year, and as many as 150,000 in high season! Poor lighthouse, bet that needs repainting quite a bit!

Coastal Road Trip, Bass Rock, Lighthouse — We tried to zoom in, this is about as close as we could get. You can just about make out the thousands of gannets hogging every bit of the island and circling in the sky.

Tantallon Castle

Coastal Road Trip, Tantallon Castle, Field — The red sandstone Tantallon Castle, as we drove east out of North Berwick.

Torness

Coastal Road Trip, Torness Nuclear Power Station — Another regular along our trip, every few days passing a coastal power station. This time Torness Nuclear Power Station, peeping over the blurred fields as we drove past along the A1 to the Scottish border and Berwick upon Tweed.

Daily video