Sarah’s parents were visiting us this weekend, and on Saturday we decided to head up the coast. An excellent lunch at The Ship Inn, Low Newton-by-the-sea, was followed by a walk along the beach – which was still encrusted with frost at 2.30 in the afternoon. Harkess Rocks at Bamburgh was our next destination, with spectacular pink clouds massing above the horizon over the Farne Islands, looking like swathes of candy floss. As daylight departed we drove to Berwick to see the penultimate night of the Northumberland Lights “State of Berwick” display. Although we’d enjoyed beautiful clear weather all the way up the coast, when we reached Berwick it was shrouded in freezing fog. Everything (including ourselves once we’d been out of the car for a few minutes) was frozen. It was a surreal winter wonderland, but bitterly, bitterly cold.
Yesterday, I took the in-laws to the Harthope Valley, to do a walk that I’m writing for the Northumberland National Park 2009 Visitor Guide. The ground was frozen solid and, as we made our way around the route, Pheasants, Red Grouse, Goldcrests, Buzzards, Mistle Thrushes. Long-tailed Tits and Green Woodpeckers were all busy either feeding, or looking for food, or squawking in alarm as we passed through their icy domain. Having walked up an appetite it was time to head home and enjoy Sunday lunch before filling our bird feeders (currently a daily event…).