Overcast and cool this morning at least it has stopped raining what we thought was going to be a quiet place to camp for the night turned out to be otherwise. Beadnell is a small village with a little harbour and beach. The beach is the main part where people come to walk or to kite surf, long board surfing or swimming plus I think there is a caravan park right next to where we are parked (loads of statics). Again we were woken at 3.30am by a car and people talking over the other side of the carpark. Today we need to leave early as there is a marathon race with 1,000 runners starting at the beach and ending 14 miles down the coast in the direction we will be driving so hopefully we don’t get caught up in the crowd and traffic like we did in Killarney Ireland at the Ring of Kerry.

As we leave the carpark is filling up with runners and coaches bring people in from other towns, driving out of Beadnell people are walking along the shoreline to the beach from another carpark at the entrance to Beadnell so we have timed it right to leave.

We are back on the Northumberland Coastal Route B1340 on a hedged winding road with coaches and traffic coming the other direction to Beadnell and it is raining making vision a little harder. The views haven’t changed, fields of grain, farmhouse with outer buildings, pines woodlands, the same when we turned onto B1339. Passed through the town of Embleton and the rows of modern little boxed houses looked so out of place when you see the main street of the old granite buildings like all the Scottish/English towns look like.

The scenery changes to beautiful woodlands with a canopy of trees encircling the road as we drive to Longhoughton the it is back to the views of before passing over streams and rivers, panoramic views of Lesbury in the distance as we wind down to hills to turn off at Lesbury to B1068 to Alnwick for a rest stop and explore the town if only the rain or drizzle would stop.

Alnwick is a Historic market town situated on the south bank of River Aln and for a Sunday it is quite busy, a quick stop to the Tourist Information Centre and we are off exploring the beautiful granite buildings of the main street and little town square where we parked the motorhome. Through the main arched entrance passed the Memorial Statue to the Barter Books a second-hand bookshop owned and run by Stuart and Mary Manley and is one of the largest second-hand bookstores in Europe. It is considered a local tourist attraction and has been described as "the British Library of second-hand bookshops." It has over 350,000 visitors a year, 40% of whom are from outside the area and the shop is notable for its use of a barter system, whereby customers can exchange their books for credit against future purchases. You could get lost there for years.

Back at the town square was a car display of beautifully restored Ford cars and their proud owners, a scene not to miss, as it was still raining we drove to the side entry of Alnwick Castle but as it was raining we parked by the bridge for a magnificent view of the castle from across the lake then round to the main entry but when they wanted £3.00 for parking then entry fee on top to view the beautiful different gardens and castle we gave it a miss plus it is not nice walking round in the rain.

Back tracked to near Lesbury where we continued on the Northumberland Coastal Route on A1068 we had a magnificent view of Alnmouth and harbour on the shores of Alnmouth Bay out to the North Sea pity it was a winding hedged road with not pull over to take a photo in the rain.

Stopped at Warkworth which looked very much like Alnwick to have a look at the ruined medieval Warkworth Castle and again they wanted a parking and entry fee to walk around the ruins in the rain. Sorry to say we are castled out and now only look from the outside after Dover, Stirling and some of the other beautiful castles we have seen they all start to look the same on the inside.

Nearing the seaport town of Amble I texted Edna and Arthur that we weren’t that far off from finally catching up with them once we had a rest stop and coffee. We were going to follow the coast all the way to Arthur and Edna’s but Edna texted the A189 was a better route and to ignore the satnav about the road closure and keep on driving. Once we turned on the A189 the scenery changed from countryside to industrial and business centres then residential. With mobile in hand Edna gave us directions till we saw Arthur standing on the footpath and we knew we had arrived safe and sound.

It is amazing how time flies when you are with good company having a gorgeous roast dinner and being spoilt. We nearly talked the night away but after a day of driving it was time for bed in a real bed not a motorhome.