Delightful Druridge

Tuesday has to be the most boring day of the week, it’s definitely my least favourite. Since lockdown kicked in I’ve began to hate Tuesdays even more than ever. But, there is one way to fix this, with an adventure.

There are many beautiful places in the UK, so far I’ve visited three. I considered this to be a lot but my photographer disagrees. I was recently given a coffee table book containing Lonely Planet’s 500 places to visit, which surprisingly contained numerous places within a two hour drive from me. I’ve finally accepted travel abroad isn’t happening for the foreseeable future, so I can now be found riding shotgun around the UK (laughing at the places with funny names).

For my first adventure I was up bright and early to head north, to a small part of the Northumberland coast. Any humans who know Northumberland at all will agree with me when I say, it is the best place to have an adventure at a safe social distance. I arrived at Druridge bay super early because I thought the crowds would be as big as the ones I had seen on the news. I’m so thankful that was not the case. Leaving the coastal route, my photographer and I followed some windy country lanes until we found a sign for the national trust site and Druridge pools.

Neither of us were familiar with the area, and spent a while trying to work out where abouts the beach was hiding. There are no signs in the area and hardly any phone signal for a map app. However, there are lots of trails to follow, so I picked one leading to the top of the hill to see if I could see the sea.

The trails to the right turned out to be sand dunes which are a lot harder to climb the I ever imagined. It took me a while but I made it to the top and I even found the sea! The best part is the beach was practically empty.

Seven miles of beach to myself, with just a couple of humans dotted around, in the early morning sunshine. I contemplated dipping my toes in the North Sea but it looked a bit cold. Also choosing against hiking along the beach to Amble, 5 miles to the north. I made lots of footprints and rolled around I the sand, even writing my name on the beach. Instead I chose to take things easy and have a picnic on the beach.

We sat near an old concrete square which we have since learned was an anti-tank block, which is one of many that stand alongside pill boxes. Once they were defending the shore during world war 2; nowadays they are losing a war against nature.

After a morning of searching for beach treasure (translation from human: shells) and building sandcastles, I decided to explore the same dunes. I was surprised to find a number of different animals call this place home. I liked watching the swifts best, mainly because they kept five bombing my photographers head. My photographer was slightly disappointed the seals, dolphins and puffins were hiding. We have since decided to return in future to see if we can spot any of these animals in their natural habitat. I’ve even noticed rumours of others online, though I’m dubious of seeing them in person after learning about them in Shetland.

Sadly no animals but I was able to lose myself amongst the wildflowers (don’t worry I didn’t eat any). It was a perfect morning at the seaside and the perfect first stop on my coastal roadtrip.

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