Norham Castle

This is night No 29/2020 living in the caravan. This is the second night at Berwick Seaview C&MC Site in Spittal, by Berwick.

It was a cold night last night, but the benefit was that we woke to a fine clear sky, and we were down on the beach just before sunrise.

Returned to the van after about 40mins, got a shower, had breakfast and then headed out towards Foulden, just over the Border. I wanted to repeat a walk I'd done when I stayed at a farm there a year ago. A great walk along a right of way between the fields.

From here, drove 20mins to revisit Norham Castle. This castle is in a pretty good shape considering it was badly damaged by the Scots in 1497, then destroyed in 1513 when James IV was on his march to the Battle of Flodden. It has a pivotal history in both the independence of Scotland, and the hierarchy of crowns on both sides of the Border. It was here where Edward I was consulted on early Scottish succession. It is a huge place.

Theres still a considerable amount of the interior to see.

From the castle, we headed back towards Berwick, stopping at the Chain Bridge for the excellent riverside walk.

As the 'Friends of the Union Chain Bridge' is my chosen charity (!), I was keen to see the progress on the major work being undertaken to replace the entire decking and chains. A huge construction site has been set up behind the Honey Farm, and on a hill overlooking the bridge.

Continued the walk along the Tweed, stopping at a very apt plaque.

The dogs loved it. Continued along through fields, then up an old track, finally passing Horncliffe House as we got back to the car.

Returned to the site for lunch, the weather remained nice but quite chilly.

For our last big walk, headed the short drive to Whiteadder Bridge, which I think crosses the river of the same name which joins the Tweed just downstream. A great, long walk round some big fields.

Didn't actually really plan it, but it was a day of a lot of quality walking. Just as well I got some done, tomorrow looks like a total washout!