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Thursday 3 March 2011

Craster & Local Area 26 Feb 2011

With nothing better to do on Saturday I got the bike out and headed up to Craster, with the intention of having the crab soup in the Jolly Fisherman in Craster.

The weather was lovely day, cloudy skies, but warm.  Hard to believe that it was only the end of February.

I set off North following the Coastal cycle route one, through Longhoughton, and up the main coast road, although I stayed on the B1339 as the cycle route headed off towards Howick.  This route follows a slow 150 foot climb before descending down to sea level quite rapidly into Craster.

Turning right on Windysidehill and climbing the last slope before the downhill run into Craster I passed through a narrow archway, where the road goes down to a single lane.



From there its downhill, getting up some speed, before the road junction at the bottom of the hill, turning right and straight into road works.

I arrived in Craster way too early for Lunch, but the search and rescue helicopter was practicing off the coast, so I watched them practicing and took some pics of the harbour, and then headed back out of Craster to the north to kill some time.

Craster Harbour wall with the SAR helicopter in the background. 

Craster Harbour

Heading back out of Craster I climbed the short, but steep hill up towards Embleton, turning right and heading down a gentle slope towards the villiage.  Just on the outskirts of the village I came across 'Eleanor's Byre' which announces on the wall that they do 'Coffee Cake and Gorgeous things'.  What better place to stop and kill some time?

Heading around the back to the more than ample car park I found the entrance, parked the bike and stopped for a coffee, and picked up some 'Ginger & Sticky fruits cake' to take home.  The cake was amongst some rather strange combinations of cake and it went quite nicely with a coffee on Sunday.


Eleanor's Byre 
It turns out that they opened the coffee shop late 2010, just before the really big snow falls in November.

After a nice cup of coffee I headed back to Craster returning on the same route ready for lunch.  After parking the bike up against a skip in the pub car park I heading inside.  Although I didn't have the crab soup, opting for the Smoked Salmon sandwich instead, along with some of the best chips that I have had in ages.  The Jolly fisherman is on the coast just opposite L Robson & Sons Ltd kipper smoking so the has a nice warming fragrance from the smokers.   There is a nice raised area which looks out over the coast, but I stayed in the main lounge near the roaring open fire.

After relaxing and finishing the meal I made my way back home following coastal route one completely back towards Longhoughton, through Howick, passing Howick Hall Gardens there was a sign advertising the snow drop walks this weekend.

If you visit the Craster area, just to the North of Craster is Dunstanburgh Castle, which is a castle ruin run by English Heritage, and is a short (just over 1 mile) north up the coast from Craster.


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