At Cocklawburn I inspected the large World War II gun emplacement. It had a huge opening that faced southwards towards Cheswick and Goswick Sands. Presumably both were within the gun's range, which seems quite astounding looking at the huge distance involved. The insides of the bunker had been painted in graffiti and the remnants of an improvised firework display were scattered around the site. Why don't people clear up after themselves? The gun emplacement had been built on the top of three lime kilns, but there's no evidence of these now. Making my way down to the cliffs at Far Skerr, I found some more limekilns built into the cliffs themselves. I dropped down to the beach to get a better look at them and then headed to the rocks at Far Skerr. The tide was in and the rocks were slippery and after a tame effort, I admitted defeat and made a respectful retreat, retracing my steps to the top of the cliffs. A few hundred metres further on, I'd bypassed the rocky beach and was able to descend back down on to Cheswick Sands. 

Cheswick Beach

No sooner had I got on to the beach, I spotted a jogger coming towards me, having crossed the rocks at Far Skerr. As he ran past, I noticed that he looked about 70 years old. He was obviously a better man than me. I followed in his wake, southwards down the beach. Oyster Catchers and Sanderlings were busy searching for food. Out at sea, I could see a light from a ship on the horizon and further southwards, there were two more bright lights, that I presumed to be from lighthouses. The lighthouse on the Farne Isles might have been one of them, but I wasn't sure about the other. Plenty of seaweed had been washed up on to the sand. Some of this was actually quite close to the high, unstable and unclimbable dunes that ran along the beach. I wasn't sure whether I'd like to walk along here when there's a really high tide. The official England Coast Path takes a route on the top of the dunes. It is wonderful walking along the beach though, with just the sea and birds for company. 

Goswick Sands

Gradually the beach widened and the sea retreated to the horizon. I kept to near to the dunes though since it is necessary to cross a deep beck using a footbridge (actually a sluice gate) near Goswick. A sign indicated that this had been a military area in the past and that one should keep a canny eye out for any ordnance that might still be lurking in the marram grass. Beck traversed, I headed back to the beach again and to the massive expanse of Goswick Sands. Holy Island was clearly visible now and it looked so close, you feel that it would be easy to walk across to it. In fact, there are a line of wooden posts that head off in the island's direction. The last time I was here, I almost convinced myself to make the crossing. Distances are so deceiving here though, and I'd already seen a sign warning of areas of quicksand.  I wouldn't be making a crossing today.

I stuck to the side of the dunes, since I knew I had to make a brief journey inland to cross the beck at Beal Sluice. A light rain swept in and I put my anorak on. There is a bird hide on the south side of the beck. It was locked the last time I was here and it was locked again today too. I could see the causeway to Holy Island now and was surprised to see three cars speeding across with huge amounts of water being sprayed out on either side of them. I was here yesterday (see Lindisfarne Yarn) and the earliest safe crossing time was 10:45. That would be another hour from now, but it looked like these three had decided to try it 90 minutes early. They all made it safely across to Holy Island. Another car had parked up at the turning area on the landward side, obviously preferring to wait, rather than risk it. 

Holy Island Causeway

'Wow, that's really impressive!' I'd walked up to the turning point on the Causeway and was chatting to a woman who had got out of her car in order to make a closer inspection of the conditions. We'd started chatting and the conversation had somehow ended up at Bempton Cliffs on the Yorkshire Coast. She had a stunning photograph of the Albatross that occasionally turns up there and was showing it to me on her phone. I tried to impress her by telling her about Snook House, on the other side of the causeway, that is used as the fictional home location for the detective in ITV's Vera series. She looked puzzled. 'I don't watch much TV' she confessed. She was from Nottingham but had a cockney accent and I wondered if I'd misheard and that she'd really said Notting Hill. She was currently on a road trip along the eastern coast and was bagging Holy Island this morning and Bamburgh Castle this afternoon. She wanted to know the location of the seals on Holy Island and I showed her the location on the map. I told her that they were a no-show when I was there yesterday. A couple of cars had come across from Holy Island during our conversation and she said that she was going to give it a try. I told her that I'd get it all on film if she got stuck. I made my way back along the road to the start of the causeway. A few cars were queuing now, waiting to see who would be the first one to brave it. 'Do you want a lift across?' a fellow called to me. I was almost tempted. I had enough time and I was going to have to walk across at some stage to complete my England North East Coast Path Venture. I just didn't fancy having to walk back across though and get splashed by the vehicles traversing the causeway. When I do make the crossing to Holy Island, I want to do it via the route of the wooden posts. 'No thanks' I replied 'I'm making way up along the coast. 

Return

I came across a few dead birds today. The dreaded bird flu had obviously hit the area. Returning to the bird hide, I noticed some signs, almost directly in front of it, saying 'No shooting beyond this point.' No wonder the bird hide didn't see much use. The inland area near Goswick Sands is quite marshy and hundreds of geese had settled there. Occasionally something would disturb them and they'd set off in flight, drifting in a swirl almost like a murmuration. 

The sun finally made a welcome appearance when I reached Cheswick Sands. I remember how on my previous walk I was shocked at how fast the sea had seemed to come in. One moment it was on the horizon, and the next it was within a hundred metres. No such problems today though, the tide was still going out. I followed a couple and their dog along the beach. They'd throw a tennis ball up the beach and the dog would set off energetically to retrieve it. Once in its mouth, it would seem to lose interest in the game, drop the ball and go off sniffing the seaweed. It was then left to the owners to retrieve the ball and start the process again. 

Two old ladies approached me from the rocks at Far Skerr. Maybe it had dried out from this morning and the going was easier. I didn't fancy attempting them though and I headed off up into the dunes to the clifftop path. 

The walk from Scremerston to Holy Island was classic Northumberland fayre with huge, empty beaches and expansive views. I kicked myself again today for not bringing my long lens since there was birdlife aplenty. I'd even seen an Albatross...although, admittedly on an Iphone.