18.5 miles was the posted figure, but you see, that is from Fenwick to Seahouses. I started at Fenham Farm which is way short of Fenwick and another half mile off the trail, so the walk was 20.5 miles, easy walking, granted, but that is too much, AND even though there were lots of difficult-to-spot turns and big fields with vague direction, I went wrong only once—my devices are so GOOD (when 4G works) and that one error hardly counted for anything. Why the itinerary was set up this way, I don't know because tomorrow's walk is only ten miles and this walk could have ended four miles ago, so today could have been 16.5 miles and tomorrow 14 and that would make a lot more sense. Need I say that my feet hurt?
Knowing the walk would be long made me anxious about the weather:
but it did not rain.
"You will pass by some large silos." And so I did:
The Outchester Ducket
What is it? What I find so interesting is that people are willing to admit that they do not know! But you can vacation in the ducket if you so desire. You can see that it is well protected by a fence.
Here is the speil:
Known locally as "The Ducket," this tapering tower, standing four storeys high, became a Grade 2 listed building in 1969. It is shown on some maps as a windmill, but there is no evidence of that in its construction. And on some as a seamark for navigation although it is situated some distance from the sea. Some sources consider that it was most likely built in the 18th century as a pigeon dovecote, providing a source of meat, eggs, and manure. "Ducket" is clearly a corruption of dovecote. It may have been built for visual impact as it is too tall and narrow for an ideal dovecote.
["What are you doing today?" "Nothing." "Want to build something?" "Sure." "How 'bout a tall, skinny structure that maybe could function as a dovecote but maybe not?" "Great idea! Maybe in the future some people will think it was supposed to have been a windmill or a fake lighthouse!"]
The site could have had its origins as a Roman Camp which might explain the name Outchester. An old map shows a farm house and buildings on the site while an 1824 map shows only this tower—Outchester having been rebuilt 600 meters to the west.
[Why would the name Outchester explain its origins as a Roman Camp? And how do you, and why would you move a place 1/3 mile?]
With the approval of English Heritage, planning permission was obtained in 2007 to convert the tower into a self-catering holiday accommodation with bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and upper viewing gallery.
[ So.....if you want to stay in the middle of nowhere in a unique who-knows-what-it-is tower, why this would be just the place!]
Bulls who ran away from me!! (I was pretty scared, though.)
No coastal walking on the Northumberland Coast Path for six hours today. Finally, beaches and the sea:
the sight of which was soon obscured by dunes:
Blurry photo of Bamburgh Castle, whose setting is spectacular:
To see it properly go here:
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Big kid version of those bouncy things for babies:
No trouble with direction through this kind of field:
Same with the next field, only the growing things were scratchy:
So happy to arrive at Bakehouse (cute name) where I had a spacious room equipped with frig. Groceries will be hard to come by the next few days, so careful planning is vital. The best thing I brought with me is peanut butter. But it turns out that at last one can buy a decent, very decent, brand of peanut butter here. However, even for peanut butter you need a store!
Love the Ducket . Worth consideration.
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