Alnmouth Trip November 2012

Rob, Brock and I had a night staying in Alnmouth on Tuesday 6 November. We stayed at The Saddle B&B, which was dog friendly and catered for vegetarians and gluten free diets, and also has a free wi-fi connection.

Brock had his first walk of the day at Birdoswald, taking in part of Hadrian's Wall. Then it was on to Heaton, Newcastle for lunch at the Sky Apple Cafe. Interior seen below.

 It was hard to choose from the many vegetarian and vegan choices on offer, but I went for halloumi and aubergine in gluten free batter served with chips and peas. I also had a cappuccino, which was excellent. The chips and tartare sauce were very good, but I was less keen on the batter. I would happily return and try out some of the mix and match starters, such as aubergine parmigiana, mezzes and koftas. Plus there are many sandwiches, wraps, burgers and other 'mains' to try. It had a nice atmosphere and the waitress was friendly.

 We drove on to Lindisfarne (Holy Isle) and crossed the causeway. The main car park is outside the main village on the island. From there, you can walk to the castle (below) and visit the various shops, restaurants etc. Many are shut at the end of October, though. We did enjoy a green tea and tasty cake in the Post Office, which had a couple of tables to sit at, and also sold maps and guides to the area.

Up-turned boats are used as sheds next to the castle and in the port area.

At Alnmouth, that evening, we enjoyed a walk on the beach, and a meal at the Hope & Anchor hotel/pub.
There are at least three pubs/hotels that welcome dogs in the village and there were five dogs in there the night we went. The menu includes three vegetarian choices:- mushroom and red onion stroganoff with rice (I had this and it was quite tasty); vegetable and coconut curry with rice and nan bread (Rob had the curry and enjoyed it - plenty of spice!); and Quorn and vegetable cottage pie with veg. We had puddings: apple tart tatin with custard for Rob and I had pear poached in red wine with cream - lovely.

The next morning we had our breakfast at the B&B (a good choice of fruit, yoghurts, cereals and fruit juice, followed by your choice of cooked breakfasts, including porridge).

Brock had two runs on the beach - first thing in the morning and again after breakfast.

We drove on to Berwick and walked round the city walls, before having coffee in a Cafe Nero.

The artist Lowry used to stay in Berwick for his holidays and painted lots of scenes from the area. This is the house he used to stay in, which has views out over the sea and it is next to the allotment patch.

Melrose in the Scottish Borders was our next stop, for lunch. It is a pretty town with lots of independently owned shops, and a ruined abbey and the Harmony Garden (closed end of October!).

Hawick was our last stop, for a final walk, around the park before heading for home.

Visit to Lindisfarne, The Holy Isle

When we go on a trip somewhere, we usually avoid the visitors’ centres and tend to wander around the towns, villages and countryside, enjoying the atmosphere, scenery, wildlife and buildings. Another highlight is, of course, the ‘eating out’.

Journey

Starting out from Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, we decided to take the shorter route across country, rather then heading for Newcastle and up the A1.


We stopped off in Hawick and enjoyed one of our favourite dog walks (with Henry) around the lovely park next to the river. The trees were beautiful at this time of year and the sun was shining.

Even Henry (normally a fractious and intolerant individual when it comes to other canines) managed to greet another dog without incident. Although the newcomer does look surprised by Henry’s rather inept social skills.

We arrived at the causeway to Lindisfarne and (having noted the tide times carefully) crossed by car.

Having reached Holy Isle, we couldn’t resist stopping almost immediately to walk along the margins of the fields and mud flats around the shore. There were some wading birds and gulls in evidence and I read that North Atlantic Grey Seals and Common Seals can sometimes be seen. A woman and two small boys were enjoying a picnic on the beach – hard to believe in November!

Henry got another walk during which we all managed at some point to fall down the deep and unexpected channels in the grassy margin.
We parked up in the visitors’ car park in Marygate (the village that you arrive in at the end of the causeway) and were gratified to be informed by another visitor that the ‘Pay and Display’ ticket machine was out of order: £2 saved!

Lunch

As Rob (my husband) and I are both vegetarians, this can often be a slightly depressing affair. Our lunch on Lindisfarne at The Ship Inn provided the not unusual choice of pasta, vegetable curry and mushroom stroganoff. A portion of the plate was taken up with ‘salad garnish’ of lettuce, tomato and cucumber. I had the mushroom stroganoff, which was quite tasty, consisting of button mushrooms in a creamy, well-flavoured sauce, served with pilau rice and dusted liberally with paprika. Rob had the Thai vegetable curry and rice, served with the extraneous salad garnish, but also a poppadom and small pots of mango chutney and raita. The extras were a nice touch, but let down by the insipid curry. Although the service was efficient, neither of us enjoyed the experience. Only the main bar area was open at this time of year; the proper dining area being curtained off. The small round tables provided, had stools rather than chairs, and, in the busy bar area, we felt uncomfortable and unable to relax. We didn’t stay for dessert. Our two main courses with one coke and half a pint of cider cost around £19.

Afternoon Tea

There are a number of shops including gift and craft shops, two pubs, several cafés, and plenty of self-catering and B&B accommodation on the Island. There was also a centre offering mead tastings and (no doubt) mead buyings, but we didn’t indulge. After just a few minutes wandering around the pretty village,

we spotted Café Bean Goose and it looked so nice that we couldn’t resist going in for a cake and hot chocolate. We sat at a lone table in the same room as the ‘cake table’.

I noticed that the proprietor had sensibly added a convex mirror at the entrance to the room so that no unauthorised cake gobbling could take place. The cakes were delicious and were surely home made. I had a beautifully light chocolate sponge cake with chocolate butter icing; Rob opted for the mincemeat tart decorated with splodges of thick, white icing. The two waitresses were friendly, and although obviously busy, spared the time to chat. We sorely wished that we had come across this place before jumping into the first pub that came in sight. The lunch menu included the intriguing ‘mock crab’, which, if memory serves, was a cheese and tomato tart made with a local cheese. We left feeling relaxed and contented.

Priory, Harbour and Castle

On the edge of Marygate is Lindisfarne Priory, the ruins of a Benedictine Priory built in the late 11th century.

We headed down to the harbour with its picturesque upturned boats, recycled into fishermen’s huts,

and distant views of the castle on its volcanic mound.

We had thought about stopping off at IKEA in Gateshead on the way home, but couldn’t face the thought of the traffic after visiting such a beautiful, quiet island, and instead headed back across country and arrived home just as the sun was setting.

If you want to find out more about Lindisfarne, the following link is recommended:- http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk