A Day in Northumbria

The weekend before last, we were gifted with some beautiful and unnaturally hot weather (and to think, I once complained that it was unnaturally cold for a while).  While the sun prevailed, I decided to take a day off and take a ride to Northumbria.  There are many fantastic sights and castles to be seen in this English district; running along the coast north of Newcastle, we were able to visit Warkworth Castle and Dunstanburgh Castle.

Warkworth is a castle I remember well, for I had visited it several years earlier.  Despite the ruined state of the bailey, its walls are still tall and impressive.  Its gatehouse is especially noteworthy, for it has multiple gates that, in the medieval times, would have trapped unwanted guests; archers behind the walls would have turned the gatehouse into a merciless kill zone.  Beyond the gates, there are some ruined towers, and one impressively-intact keep.  From the keep, it is possible to see the nearby town of Amble, the ocean beyond, and a lighthouse in the distance.

Warkworth Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle required a substantial walk from the small coastal town of Craster; it took at least thirty minutes to cross the wide-open fields between the town and the castle.  Even from a distance, the castle is a unique sight, with its ruined round tower and its long wall stretching toward the sea.  A number of sheep and cows were grazing all around.  At the castle, I didn't have time to walk around its grounds (I needed another thirty minutes to walk back to town; if I lingered around the castle any longer, I feared the gates would have closed).  As it is, I saw a big tower on the other end of the castle grounds.

Dunstanburgh Castle

In between the two castles, we stumbled upon a beach near Warkworth that was hardly occupied.  On any other English day, it probably would have been cold and dreary; on this day, it was a magnificent pleasure to feel the hot sand and cool ocean water at our feet.  I realized that it had been years since I've visited a proper beach; even though I didn't come prepared for a swim, it was still refreshing and inspirational to walk along the shoreline.

Warkworth beach, with a heavy mist from the ocean spray.

In spite of all these activities, we never did find the time to explore Holy Island, Bamburgh, or Lindisfarne, which would have been our next destinations.  There just wasn't enough time in the day to visit them all; on the plus side, this leaves more for us to do on a future excursion.