Newcastle to Edinburgh

A quick 3 day ride took me the 300km around the North Sea coast from Newcastle to Edinburgh. It was quite a nice ride, and I saw lots of castles!
There was a little bit of riding on busy roads out of Newcastle as I cut across to the coast and picked up the Sustrans Coast and Castles cycle route.
It was nice riding along the coast, and I saw some coloured changing sheds:

Further along I came across the town of Warkworth. In New Zealand our Warkworth has some big antennae for radio astronomy and communications, but the Warkworth over here has a castle!

Riding on I came to a bunkhouse-campground combination near Seahouses. The Bunkhouse was just £14 for a room to myself, with an ensuite, free wifi and a TV to watch the Olympics on! It got even better when a nice Scottish couple who had a friend from China travelling with them offered to share their dinner with me! It was very nice, and saved me having to cook which was great.
And there was a even great sunset for me to capture from the deck..

The next morning I was riding past Bamburgh Castle on the way to Lindisfarne.

From here it was on to Lindisfarne (or Holy Island). This is accessed by a causeway at low tide. I managed to time it that I was able to go across, simply by chance. There was still a bit of water around, so Indie had a bit of a swim I guess.

There were a heap of tourists on the island visiting a castle, to the extent that they’ve got a big carpark at one end and everyone has to walk to the castle (or take a shuttle). There’s a little town on the island, that is pretty much cafes for tourists (and I did stop for a coffee), but with so many visitors they don’t want them all driving through their town. But you head to the other end of town and you see this castle!

It was a big day for NZ sport at the Olympics- we were up for two medals in the rowing, so I wanted to get to a pub to watch it. Little did I know that between me and the town of Berwick-Upon-Tweed the Sustrans route deteriorated into stock tracks across paddocks and through lots of gates. That said it was still a nice ride along the coast.


Unfortunately, I made it to town in time (the first race was at 11.50), but none of the pubs in town opened till noon, so I missed the first race! Anyway, we won, and whilst I was having a cider and chips for lunch we won the second as well- two golds in less than an hour! So proud to be a Kiwi!

Not far on from Berwick I crossed into Scotland which was cool.

There was a bit of a climb from there, along a ridge a bit inland from the coast. Descending back down towards the sea I saw some cyclists coming up towards me. They were a Dutch couple riding from Edinburgh to London.

The next morning dawned really foggy, and it didn’t clear quickly.

I found another castle to check out.

It only just cleared as I was getting into Edinburgh.

I’ve had a day off in Edinburgh, staying with some Warmshowers hosts in an amazing house close to the centre of town. Edinburgh is bloody crazy at the moment with the Military Tattoo and the Fringe Festival underway, there are so many people around! I spent a fair bit of today looking at my possible route through China, as I’ve only got a month left in the UK so I need to start thinking about Japan and China which I’ll find myself in in no time!

Here are some photos from the Edinburgh Castle

From here I’m heading into the Scottish Highlands, to Inverness and then down to Fort William to get the train back to London on the 16th.