Nothumberland Coast Path - Ashington to Alnmouth (★★★★☆)

The Northumberland Coast Path is one of the most underrated trails that can be walked in England - with some major historical sights, near perfect beaches and relaxed cliff top walking.

Last year I had spent two days walking along this path, walking initially from Berwick-Upon-Tweed to Bamburgh, and then from Bamburgh down to Alnmouth on the following day.

The Northumberland Coast Path runs for 62 miles between Berwick Upon-Tweed and Cresswell (a mid point of our walk today), but can also be considered to be part of a longer section of coast path that spans from Edinburgh down to the Tees at Hartlepool (the ancient extremities of Northumbria).

On this website I have decided to group together all the walks from Berwick-Upon-Tweed to Hartlepool as one collection of walks - with this being a very similar stretch of coast line, featuring low lying cliffs and sand dunes.

Today I will both complete the official part of the Northumberland Coast Path and a longer stretch of this coast down to Newbeggin-by-the-Sea - and my broader goal is to complete section from Berwick down to Hartlepool by the end of this year.

Public transport does provide reasonably good access to the Northumberland coast - and access has improved since December with the addition of the Northumberland Line, which runs trains up from Newcastle to Ashington.

I have been waiting for this line to open, and now that it has I intend to use it for today's walk - heading to Ashington by train, and then using a direct cycle / walking route to meet up with the coast at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

And so, I'm heading out on the very first train of the day, and soon arrive at Ashington.

Ashington is in general very nicely finished, and in other places slightly run down - and it is a town that I suspect will do very well out of the arrival of the new train line. 

This town was developed out in the 1840s with the aim of encouraging Irish workers (suffering from the Great Famine at the time) to settle and work in the local collieries.

And Ashington was - like many of the towns in this area - a coal mining town, with Ellington Colliery (slightly to the north of Ashington) accounting for 69% of the deep-mined coal in Northumberland, and being the world's largest undersea project at the time.

The mine itself features in Billy Elliot - as it was one of the last remaining operational mines at the time - and continued to operate all the way up until 2007, although with significant reductions in activity from it's peak in the 1980s. 

The most recent opencast mine actually opened as recently as 2010, but all coal mining has now ceased - and the opencast mines have been, or are being, given back to nature.

Upon leaving Ashington train station, we initially pass very close to Ashington Community Woodland - and these large woods to the north of the town sit on the former site of Ashington Colliery - covering 135 hectares of formerly industrial land.

But, we only pass by the very edge of these woods as we connect up with a cycle route that will run parallel to the A197, and then cut across in a straight line to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

And after about an hours walk along this mostly off-road cycle route, we do indeed arrive by the seaside - and find ourselves in the charming seaside town of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea - that has hints of being run down, but without feeling particularly unloved.

The average cost of a home here is £135k for a terrace and £153k for a semi-detached home - which contrasts with £356k and £361k for the equivalent homes 15 miles down the coast at the far more developed, and far more prestigious, Whitley Bay.

If they do indeed extend the Northumberland line round to here, I imagine that those numbers will go up somewhat - as this really doesn't seem a bad place to live both by the sea, and within easy commute of a city like Newcastle.

Low sun on the beach at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea

But we are here to walk, not to buy a home - and so we head out to Newbiggin Point - and then up past the golf course to Beacon Point, and on to Lyne Sands - where we find Lynemouth biomass power station (another filming location for Billy Elliot).

This power station is a negative point for this walk - and whilst the plant ceased operations as a coal plant in 2015, it seems to have a knack for sticking around, and was converted into a biomass power station - and continues to operate today.

The plant's future is uncertain from 2027 onward, and so it may well be that in future years you might be able to walk here without having to walk past a power station - but as it is, the site around the power station is fairly small, and there are no major diversions as we head past it (just a very tiny kink in the path).

With the power station now behind us, we reach Lyne Hill, where the path should head out across the dunes, but where we today must stick to the road. This is because they are doing work to both clean up and reinforce the beach, which is slowly being eroded by the sea.

At it's peak, 1.5 million tonnes of waste material was dumped each year along this stretch of coast - with a best estimate of 30 million tonnes of total waste dumped over the life of the collieries. Much of this was waste material from mining, but a lot of plastic and more hazardous waste was dumped as well at this location.

The dumping of waste organic material was less problematic and helped offset natural erosion of these cliffs, but now that has stopped natural erosion has resumed and some of the less environmentally friendly waste is at risk of being washed out to sea.

So far a lot of waste has already been removed - and a further 190,000 tonnes is being targeted in this latest phase of the clean up operation.

But whilst it is nice to see the beach being cleaned up, the walk along the road does not have the same views that the diggers have up on the dunes - although by the time you walk this route, it hopefully will not only be reopened, but also in a far better environmental state.

As it is, there is not too much to report back on until we arrive into the pretty village of Cresswell - which also marks the official start of the Northumberland Coast Path.

I get why the path officially starts here - whilst the coast itself is no less pretty from here heading south, the level of human activity is far more elevated, and that has some negative consequences (as we have already seen today).

But having made it past Cresswell, we can drop down onto the beach and from here we have about two hours of beach walking ahead, as we head towards Amble to the north.

Druridge Bay

Not too many other footsteps

It's a clear sunny day, but it is still winter - so not particularly warm - and this means that there are people out and about along the beach (mostly dog walkers), but also not too many people.

This results in a very pleasant walk along the beach - and further along the beach a pair of horses come out to join us, as we all enjoy our walks along the beach (no one except the dogs are actually going into the sea, because that would be daft at this time of year).

This is a long stretch of walking as we head up Druridge Bay, but there is not very much to report back on, as there isn't a whole lot of change to remark upon (I'm definitely not complaining about this though).

But, we do eventually have to come up off the beach, as we start to approach High Hauxley - and as we pass round the headland, ahead of the coast cutting in towards Amble.

Once past the headland we are able to get straight back onto the beach - and here we pass by Coquet Island in the distance.

It is not the prettiest island to look at - and it sits quite far out from the coast, limiting any photo opportunities - but it is now managed as a bird reserve, with a large puffin colony (along with numerous other bird species) using the island as a breeding site. 

In winter the island is entirely uninhabited - but whilst the general public aren't allowed to visit, wardens are present during the summer months to support the nesting birds.

But here on the mainline we don't have far to walk until we find ourselves arriving into Amble - which is a busy - and pretty - town, with plenty going on. 

From here we cut up past Warkworth Harbor, and along the River Coquet until we reach the medieval-looking town of Warkworth.

Warkworth Castle

Warkworth Castle is still in good shape - though it is partially ruined - and the town itself wouldn't be a bad place to stay over - with plenty of historical buildings as we walk through town, and over the River Coquet.

From here, we head up a steep hill - heading back towards the sea, where we pass toilet facilities as we turn left, and start heading north across a golf course.

Here I pick up the pace a bit, because I'm slightly tight on time to the train in Alnmouth - and if I miss it the next one arrives about two hours later.

In summer I'd just relax, take my time and find two hours to kill by the seaside, but as it is winter it will get dark fairly early, and I'd rather be on my way home than stumbling round in the dark trying to find something to do.

And so it is that this final section to Alnmouth is a little rushed, but whilst still trying to find some sort of balance between journey time, and making the most of the pretty beaches.

I soon cut off the official route to do a final section of beach walking - and then cut back up to the official path, ahead of it starting to cut further inland (along this stretch of coast it is always nicest to use the beach when possible and the official path when the tide is in).

Leaving behind the beach

As we start to cut further inland, the path head across fields - and then twice turns to the left, in order to cut towards the A1068 - and away from the coast. 

For those going into Alnmouth - rather than to the train station - you can cut the corner by following a footpath across the estuary, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone walking the trail as it does go through the middle of the estuary, which seems a little foolhardy to me.

When we meet up with the A1068, the route is nicely segregated - and we are back on one of the very excellent off-road cycle routes which head up (or down) this coast. And indeed if you are looking for somewhere to go on a cycling holiday this coast may well be the place to go as it is very flat, and extremely well set up for cycling.

Eventually this cycle route comes to an end at a road - turning right here would take us into town (and on along the Northumberland Coast Path), but we turn left and head towards the station - where I do indeed arrive in time for my train home.

Total Distance: 22.5 miles (19.3 miles on the coast path)

Total Ascent: 1,014 feet (899 feet on the coast path)

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★ / 5

Click to see the next coastal section heading south, with a walk from Ashington to Whitley Bay.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 81 OS Landranger map - while there is also a Northumberland Coast Path guidebook (covers from Newcastle up to Berwick-Upon-Tweed - not just from Cresswell) which includes OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.