Northumberland Coast Path - Berwick-Upon-Tweed to Bamburgh (★★★★☆)

Great Britain has a long coastline to walk and explore, and those coastlines offer up a wide variety of different scenery - from marshlands to dramatic cliffs to golden sands. Up in Northumberland what you find is predominantly softer coastline, focused on those golden sands - rather than dramatic cliffs, with steep drops.

Today I am walking from Berwick-upon-Tweed, down along the Northumberland Coast Path to Bamburgh - and there I plan to stay over before heading out on the following day, to finish up in Alnmouth. This will complete most, but not all of the Nothumberland Coast Path (and I plan to return to complete this path at a later date).

This section of coastline is lightly populated, and so offers up a bit of a retreat from the wider world - and I am in particular looking forward to some of the history on show in places like Lindisfarne and Bamburgh.

But before I get going on this walk, I must first get to Berwick-upon-Tweed - and so I start the morning with a train journey that drops me off at the station, in a town which is just about still in England.

The River Tweed, which passes through Berwick-upon-Tweed, generally marks the border between England and Scotland for most of the distance between Carham (to the west) and the coast - but just as the border comes up to Berwick-upon-Tweed, the border turns north to capture Berwick within English lands.

Westwards from Carham, the border cuts south along the extremity of the Northumberland National Park, before cutting down to Gretna on the western coast.

What results are two coastal towns in the form of Berwick and Gretna, which just about sit on eitehr side of the England-Scotland border - with Berwick belonging to the English, and Gretna to the Scottish.

Without wanting to cause offense to the proud people of Gretna - the English got the pick of the two, with Berwick being a pretty little town that has changed hands between the English and Scots a million times since the first concepts of England and Scotland were thought up (to save you looking it up, it has actually changed hands 13 times).

The Royal Border Bridge

But as you walk through town, Berwick doesn't feel particularly English. The town is firmly on English soil, but as far as I can tell believes itself to be Scottish - and I'm not entirely sure what happens here when England play Scotland in the football. Indeed the football and rugby teams of Berwick play in the Scottish league - saving them from the hassle of an away day down to Plymouth.

The towns itself carries a lot of history - and this makes it pleasant to walk along the edge of the Tweed and look about the town. 

And, as we stand to take a look about town, we should bear in mind that we are stood at a point further north than most countries in Europe - with only Estonia, Finland and Norway having the entirety of their country further north of this spot.

View crossing over the Tweed

A painting of Berwick-Upon-Tweed in the mid 1700s (looking back towards the top photo)

From the middle of Berwick, we head over the older of the two available bridges (the one also found in that painting, and not the more modern monstrosity) - and there are a few people out and about for their mornings walks, including two ladies discussing dolphin sightings along this coastline.

After a wander around the houses we eventually come out at Spittal Promenade - with Spittal being it's own village, and having our first beach of the day (although a slightly underwhelming one in all honesty - even if it has apparently won a few awards).

This village ('Spittal') was named after a hospital (obviously by someone who either couldn't speak or spell properly) - with a leper hospital having sat on this site in the early 1200s.

Really though, the history of this area is fishing - with the town of Berwick then growing as a fortress town due to it's strategic location (whether for the Scots or the English).

From the end of the promenade our path cuts up onto the cliffs beyond, from which we start to walk in a fairly straight-line along the coast - heading southwards.

But before you start thinking about dramatic cliffs along the lines of the White Cliffs of Dover - stop, because these are far softer rolling cliffs, which just about peak out above the sea below.

View from the cliffs just past Berwick-Upon-Tweed

The path is very good for walking, and more of a track than a footpath. And as we reach the house in the above photo, the path merges into a road that has joined from the right hand side. This is a very quiet road, however, and the only real people using it are those driving down to go for a walk on the beach ahead.

We follow this road round until it essentially becomes a car park for the beach below, and here we leave the road behind and return to following the coast, along a shared cycle / walking route.

Back onto a track

Before long, this shared cycle / walking route splits - with the cyclists heading right, and with us walkers continuing on across sand dunes - and getting the odd glimpse of a golfer on our right, as we pass Cheswick Sands on the left.

There is a very large beach to the left hand side, and I popped up to the top of the dunes to take a look out in a few places - and there are some odd huts and viewing stations to find along this stretch. 

The beach itself - however - is a nature reserve and so along this stretch off coastline it is important to check where you are walking, as some areas are off limits to provide a safe and undisturbed habitat for the birds.

And whilst it can be a shame to stay inland around what are expansive sandy beaches, there will be plenty more beaches along this trail - and bird breeding numbers are in decline due to increased disturbance from human activity. 

Many of these bird species have been in decline for some time - although many are seeing improvements in breeding numbers - and disturbance of nests is one of the key factors determining the success of these species. And so we follow the polite request to stay on the path, and keep off the beach along this section.

Further along the dunes we start to come across a few lonely houses, which sit isolated in this fairly empty countryside - and eventually we cut up to meet up with one of these small clusters of houses.

Having passed these houses we head straight back out across the dunes - after which we start to notice a lot more standing water, as we come up to the edge of Holy Island Sands.

Fortunately the path we are following is a good one - with a nice dry route through the wetlands - but with very marshy ground on both sides of the path (and indeed this section reminds me a lot of the countryside around Gretna on the English side of the border, heading towards Carlisle).

The marshes - the monks really didn't want it to be too easy for people to just pop by

As we start to cut more directly south, we cross over one of the bigger flows of water - where the South Low heads past on it's way out to sea - and from here we cut west to Beal Point.

This takes us as close as we are going to get to Lindisfarne, with the buildings on the island just about visible from here.

On this occasion I have no plans to cross over to Lindisfarne - as it is we are walking far enough for today, and there are logistics to consider before taking on the crossing.

I do plan to return one day via this route, and then stay over in Lindisfarne - before heading back the following day - but it is a reasonable distance out to the island, and very important as a walker to be aware of the tide times. 

For tips on crossing to Lindisfarne see here : Safe walking to Holy Island

Although I am not going to be heading across, there are many cars lined up on the road ahead ready to make this crossing.

Unfortunately though, these cars are far too early, and there is still a good depth of water covering the road between here and the island - one of those stuck in the queue is an Ocado van that will seemingly be running behind on their deliveries for the rest of the day.

But just as I come up to the line of waiting cars, it turns out that one of the cars is feeling brave - and heads out from their spot in the queue, to weigh up the risks of a drive across to the island.

As they head out we are all watching - and silence falls upon the queue of cars, as we as one both hope that they don't come into any harm, and secretly hope for some minor mischief to punish their impatience. 

We ooh when it gets deeper, we aah when the bow wave gets up to lick to the top of the car, and - if we are honest - we sigh with a bit of disappointment when the car makes it across okay. Obviously we don't want them to drown (at least not fatally), but some minor engine trouble would seem like a reasonable lesson in patience.

This early success encourages a few followers, and whilst most of the queue remains static as they wait for the tide to head further out, a few more disappear off to the island. And all of a sudden I find stories of trapped visitors slightly easier to believe.

By now we have crossed over the road out to the island, and are continuing to follow the edge of Holy Island Sands - where the tide remains pretty firmly in. 

With Lindisfarne being quite far out from this drier land pictures are hard to come by, but I do eventually get something passable for your enjoyment:

The island is quite far away, but I did my best to get you all the best possible photo

Further round the edge of the wetlands - and as Holy Island Sands blends into Fenham Flats - we not only find ourselves very much in the middle of nowhere, but also at a split in the path.

From here there is a route that you are allowed to walk in summer that continues on around the edge of the coast, and a second route that cuts inland - which is accessible all year round.

I am just about in time to walk the coastal route, and this is the route I opt for, but before long we find ourselves deep into vegetation, with no clear idea where the path is even supposed to be - and fearing a long slog through the undergrowth, head back to walk the inland route.

This means that a certain amount of road walking lies ahead, but before this begins we must start to trek inland - heading through a field of rather nervous cows along the way. After the herd does a few dramatic loops around me, they head off to the far end of the field, presumably expecting me to follow with some food?

But undeterred by this encounter, we continue on and meet up with a road - which we must now follow.

The road section here is reasonably long, and further round as we finally get released onto footpaths, we find that these are heavily overgrown and pretty much impassable.

As a result, we extend our section of road walking - and this seems to be the right call, as we pass hikers doing the same trail in the opposite direction on an unofficial extended section of road walking. Note that this unofficial extension includes some roads that are fairly fast, so it is best to stay alert through this section (I took the route that did the shortest amount of road walking).

Eventually we rejoin a proper footpath and head on towards Warren Mill. 

From here we have to endure one more short section of road walking (on a pavement this time), but then get released back into footpaths as we start to close in on Bamburgh. And here the views are very good, and the walk suddenly seems worthwhile once again.

Rounding Budle Point

As we round Budle Point, we head on past the winner of Ugliest Lighthouse Spotted by Your Writer in 2024 - Bamburgh Lighthouse (there is no photo because it didn't deserve one) - and then on and into Bamburgh.

Here you have the choice of walking on along the dunes - or to dropping down on the beach, and finishing up with a sandy walk by the sea.

Before long both routes converge on Bamburgh itself, looking up at the castle, which is barely visible behind the hulking ramparts that surround it.

Bamburgh Castle - pretty impressive for such a small village

Bamburgh has a few different options for places to stay, and I chose the Victoria Inn - which was a very welcoming, and relaxed place to be staying over. Food, drinks and a relaxed atmosphere are all I ever need really.

You can instead extend on round to Seahouses, where there is more plentiful - and slightly cheaper - accommodation, but there is a wonderful feel to Bamburgh - and it is a lovely place to stay.

Total Distance: 22.7 miles (ignoring backtracked section)

Total Ascent: 1,004 feet (ignoring backtracked section)

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★ / 5

Click for the following days walk from Bamburgh to Alnmouth

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 75 OS Landranger map - while there is also a Northumberland Coast Path guidebook (covers Newcastle to Berwick-Upon-Tweed) which includes OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.