Walking together again (with observations on the mindlessness of the Arriva bus company) ***with track***

Ken and Janet

All good things come to an end! The home comforts had to be left behind. It was Saturday – time to move on. Thank you, Janet and Ken, for your great hospitality.

Ken dropped me off at Cresswell and from there I followed the coast path northwards around Druridge Bay. I wasn’t overly impressed. Flat, with low dunes hiding the sea. I wondered if this was all the much-vaunted Northumbrian coast path would turn out to offer. Fortunately it wasn’t.

I had arranged to meet up with Martin (ex-Edinburgh Martin, not Matlock Martin) on the coast path east of Red Row. It was great to see him again. The last time we walked together was on the LEJOG, including a memorable day skirting Ben More. This time the plan is to walk together right through to the finish, at the border north of Berwick.

The day had started out grey, with a chill onshore wind. It got steadily better, however, and by the time we reached Amble we were walking in shirtsleeves. My impression of the coast path also improved markedly, for it took us past some great coastal scenery. There was even time for a bit of sightseeing.

Warksworth Castle

River Coquet at Warksworth, with a bit of outcrop for those who might be interested

Trackside flowers at Warksworth

Our target for the day was Alnmouth, which we reached comfortably by mid afternoon. The plan was then to get the bus to Alnwick, the main town just a few kilometres inland, where I’d booked us a B&B. We looked at the bus timetable at the bus stop in the centre of Alnmouth village and found we had well over an hour to wait. OK, sit down in the sun and relax.

But hold on! I’d been sure that the buses to Alnwick ran hourly. I’d also been sure they ran seven days a week, whereas the timetable at the bus stop showed only a six day service. Something funny was going on. I checked the Traveline website and found that there were indeed frequent buses from Alnmouth to Alnwick – but not from the village itself. They left instead from a stop on the outskirts. We dashed there and caught one with only a minute to spare.

It turned out that what was going on was that Arriva, the company operating the Alnmouth-Alnwick service, had recently changed its route plan. Some buses still go into Alnmouth village (but only on Mondays to Saturdays). Most, however, now loop around a small roundabout at the village edge. This change, according to Arriva, was made ‘to increase punctuality’, a pathetically weak excuse if I ever heard one. We were told that the locals hate this change, as do the drivers. Clearly visitors like us won’t be too happy either. Well done, Arriva, you’ve managed to maximise the inconvenience for the maximum number of people!

Cresswell to Alnmouth

Comments are closed.