Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)
  • A week in Northumberland in May ?
  • sofaking
    Free Member

    never been so decided to pay a visit.
    what should be on my to see and do list apart from taking the fatbike ?

    djflexure
    Full Member

    Quite a lot to do.
    Seahouses – boat to Farne islands – fish and chips when you get back.
    Bamburgh Castle – walk beach
    Alnmouth is nice.
    Embleton Bay
    Holy Island

    Alnwick – Gardens if you wish.

    Riding away from beach – Cheviots, Alwinton.
    Trip up to Glentress

    Drac
    Full Member

    Which area are you looking at fairly big county but easy enough to get around to each part. With the Fatbike comment I guess you want beaches, we can do them.

    Seahouses for the boat trips yes but get out of there after it’s an awful carbuncle on a beautiful area.

    Castles: Alnwick, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh and Warkworth are great. Alnwick is the best for looking around and activities going on you can buy a joint Garden and Castle ticket for there which is valid for a year too.

    Beaches: Abundance follow the coast road between Alnmouth and Seahouses there’s loads of tucked away ones the ‘crowds’ keep away form, we don’t get crowds as such though.

    Rothbury is a lovely village with the Cragside House nearby, Countryfile last week did a feature.

    Valley with river and hill walks. Alnwiton or Ingram are the easiest to find and lovely. Barrowburn tearooms up the Alwinton valley is the nest tearoom by far and cheap as chips.

    Riding: What do you want?

    martinhurton
    Free Member

    Keilder Forest, ideally on a hardtail but plenty of walks, sailing, birds of prey centre, etc there as well.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    +1 Barrowburn tea rooms, best ginger cake and scones I’ve ever had.
    The upper Coquetdale valley is stunning so well worth the drive/ride up there

    Alnmouth is a lovely little place and some nice cafes. Avoid Amble unless you like watching teenagers ragging stolen MX bikes around the streets

    Berwick is interesting as it’s got a very long and detailed military history. The old fortress walls are great but hold on to little ‘uns if you’ve got them.

    Holy Island is best visited mid-week cos it just gets so busy. Usual story though of 10 mins walk from the car parks and you’ve got peace and quiet

    Drac
    Full Member

    Berwick is interesting as it’s got a very long and detailed military history. The old fortress walls are great but hold on to little ‘uns if you’ve got them.

    Good call about the wall walks.

    Amble is scruffy but has a great Ice Cream parlour and the Harbour chip shop is still the best.

    Drac
    Full Member

    Oooh for posh teas and cakes you want Carboise in Warkworth can be done with a Fatbike ride.


    Cabosse for High Tea by Lee Collis, on Flickr


    A cake for tough mountain bikers by Lee Collis, on Flickr

    FOG
    Full Member

    Mrs FOG is a native so we visit often.
    Double + for the Barrowburn Tea rooms and some brilliant rides up from Upper Coquet dale. Make sure you have maps though, it is pretty remote up there and route finding can be tricky and there won’t be anybody to ask.
    Part of the coast path is bike legal including some very pretty parts which are part of the Sustrans Coast and Castles route.
    If your in Alnwick and don’t fancy gardens or castles the old station is now Barter Books a huge second hand book shop with a really varied stock and an excellent caff.
    Excellent rides from Rothbury both N onto the carriage drive and S up onto Simonside.
    Great place, my missus definitely hankers to move back but I am a Yorkie and will need to be dragged out kicking and screaming.[mind you, I am not as bad as my son who won’t even move out of Crookes let alone Sheffield let alone Yorkshire]

    Drac
    Full Member

    Barter Books has just had a brand new kitchen refitted too in their tearooms.

    Also due to open in a few weeks is this http://www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk if you like trains. Volunteers are rebuilding the line form Alnwick to Alnmouth, not been yet keep meaning to go along to one of the work days.

    carbon337
    Free Member

    Drac in new tourism role.

    I live in amble and don’t see any stolen mx bikes.

    You could find similar rough folk in Alnwick or Seahouses even. Amble has best fish and chips by a country mile. Forget the Seahouses chippies.

    Drac
    Full Member

    I’m a bit proud of my native county. 😀

    You could find similar rough folk in Alnwick or Seahouses even.

    Can is the word you’re looking for. Amble is on a good turn around now it’s newer shops, cafes and even pubs put Alnwick to shame in some ways.

    iainc
    Full Member

    great inhouse brewery at the Ship Inn, Low Newton by the Sea

    white101
    Full Member

    RE the Ship Inn, start your walk at Craster and walk all along the coast past Dunstanburgh Castle to the pub and back, take camera.
    And all of the above, week might not be long enough…or come back again for another week later in the year to finish off Drac’s extensive list.

    easygirl
    Full Member

    Stayed in rothbury last year, went round an old mansion just up the hill outside the village to visit
    Can’t remember the name but it was fantastic?
    The guy who used to own it I think owned vickers shipyard and was an inventor, the house I’d full of quirky inventions, he was very fond of electricity at the time, and the house was one of the first to have hydro electric lamps, well worth a visit
    Please tell me the name of it?

    easygirl
    Full Member

    Crag side is the name of the house, brilliant day out
    Lord Armstrong was the owner,

    TooTall
    Free Member

    Don’t forget the South of the county and into Tyneside. Tynemouth is well worth a visit – good food, castle, priory, Volunteer Life Brigade, Lord Collingwood, round to North Shields for the fish quay etc. Up into Newcastle which makes a great wet weather trip (great city to wander around anyway). Go to the ice cream shop in Seaton Deleval – the locals will know if you ask.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Craster kippers. Not to be missed.

    righog
    Free Member

    I am Biased of course

    The holiday house what I built !

    Fat Bike.. Cresswell along Druridge bay beach to Amble ( check the tide tables ) there is a decent track alongside as well if you run out of beach.

    The walk from Craster to Dunstanburgh is family favourite, you can walk further on to Embelton.

    and a shout out for a Day in Newcastle and Gateshead if you like Art gallries etc.

    slowoldgit
    Free Member

    There’s lovely coastal walking North of Berwick, and a handy bus service to get you back to your start.

    oliverd1981
    Free Member

    Blatant hijack – if I was doing a 1 day pootle up the northumberland coast with the missus what would be the best section to hit and what would be the easiest way to get back to the car?

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Lucky you! The Cheviots – it was quite an experience starting from Alwinton and riding some historical tracks namely Clennell Street and Salters Road. Real wilderness and think I saw about two people all day and I was out a bloomin’ long time. 🙂

    Rode SW of Wooler and again that was middle of nowhere stuff. Also Ingram is a good starting point.

    Can highly recommend Tim of http://www.northumberlandbikebreaks.com for guiding as well as accommodation. Think it was Drac that recommended him?

    Another vote for Barrowburn Tea Rooms. 8)

    GEDA
    Free Member

    I would stay in rothbury as it is central. You can walk from there into crag side, up to the moor to the north and bike up to simonside. The simonside hills are a big ridge with is great for walking. Uswayburn is my favorite track in Northumberland. Roman wall at housesteads and vindolanda. Belsay hall is meant to be good for a visit. Tree house restaurant is fun for evening meals at alnwick gardens. Go to the rose and crown at alwinton or the cross keys in thropton for a real Northumbrian night out.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Go to the rose and crown at alwinton or the cross keys in thropton for a real Northumbrian night out.

    Blimmey! Is the Rose & Crown still open? Remember having an ‘after trial’ pint in there when I rode trials in the late 70′ The Alwinton trial was a favourite of mine.

    See if you can have a natter with a long time local from up there, the Northumbrrrian dialect is wonderful!

    GEDA
    Free Member

    Multi lingual me. I can speak Northumbrian, English and Swedish. Does any one say muckle bari anymore? I can remember that from school and it was on the countryfile program. Surprised that none of the bairns had any trace of a Northumbrian accent, mine don’t though so maybe it will die out.

    Teetosugars
    Free Member

    Can highly recommend Tim of http://www.northumberlandbikebreaks.com for guiding as well as accommodation. Think it was Drac that recommended him?

    Sadly no longer doing accommodation. Tims’ parents are living in it..

    😥

    Drac
    Full Member

    Does any one say muckle bari anymore?

    Still used fairly often.

    if I was doing a 1 day pootle up the northumberland coast with the missus what would be the best section to hit and what would be the easiest way to get back to the car?

    Start at Alnmouth and ride up to Beadnel stopping at Low Newtown for a pint and lunch in The Ship. Getting back to the car by road won’t take long.

    carbon337
    Free Member

    I always find the ship too far up its own ar£e. Loads better pubs around.

    yeah location is good but the wifey who took it over is a proper muckle toff.

    Try the greys inn at Embleton – my mate runs it.

    Drac
    Full Member

    yeah location is good but the wifey who took it over is a proper muckle toff.

    Can’t argue with that but the food is good and the beer.

    coastkid
    Free Member

    Bamburgh to Dunstburgh (Castle to castle) on the coast is a fantastic all day fat bike ride, big open beaches, all easy relaxed firm sand, Beadnell harbour is lovely, some nice WW2 defences if you like that stuff, Seahouses chippy by the putting green is good, will do doing an overnighter bivi there again for sure with a few pints at Low Newton 😉 Bivi ride

    Only found out after the first fatbike gathering that the coast all round Lindesfarne is an SSSI and being in Englandshire is off limits, oops 😳
    No one around at sunrise on New Years Day though 😉
    http://coastkid.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/happy-new-year-2013.html

    Drac
    Full Member

    Try the chip shop in Beadnell this time Coastkid it’s much nicer.

    ir_bandito
    Free Member

    Hexham resident here.

    30 posts and no mention of Hadrian’s Wall?

    Housesteads fort is great with kids


    DSC_1682 by ir_bandito, on Flickr

    +1 for Embleton Bay. Climb Dunstanburgh Castle, head to The Ship at Newton by the Sea for fresh crab sandwiches.

    I’m planning to finally visit Alnick Gardens this weekend. Been meaning to for ages. Also hoping to get out to the Farne Islands later this year.

    neninja
    Free Member

    Lots of +1s

    Greys Inn at Embleton +1 (their lamb shank is awesome)
    Beadnell chippy better than Seahouses +1
    Barter Books +1

    Depending on where you are staying the Craster Arms in Beadnell does decent beer and decent pub food,

    Perfect fat biking country – some of the beaches are literally miles long. You could ride from Bamburgh to Alnmouth and hardly use roads – just a mix of beaches and cheeky coastal paths.

    You could ride to Holy Island on the fat bike over the old pilgrims causeway at low tide.

    Will you have kids with you? Our kids love Alnwick Castle and Gardens – expensive but a great day out. The Treehouse restaurant at Alnwick is also pretty memorable for an evening meal but pricey.

    Other places worth a look –
    Cragside
    Ford and Etal Estate

    carbon337
    Free Member

    Greys Inn at Embleton +1 (their lamb shank is awesome) = Our family Business supply them – Give them a try RC Roland & Son Butchers. Amble. Established 1907 (not many high street shops can say that)

    🙂

    Drac
    Full Member

    Oooh never tried that Butcher’s but heard good things about it, might have to pop in next time I’m down that way.

    jock-muttley
    Full Member

    BLOODY HELL… rattle the county and we all come falling out of it…

    I’d reccomend a pootle down the coast to Tynemouth from wherever you feel comfortable distance wise… it’s all spectacular coatline and industrial stuff too – which has a certain appeal too. Nowt challenging bar distance.

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