Today I didn't really have much time—what with family Christmas plans and all—so I just had a short but very welcome ride down to the fishing port of Amble; now home to a marina (mostly filled with pleasure boats rather than fishing boats nowadays) and home to the best chip-shop in the world (in my humble opinion), near the harbour itself. The route I followed took me through the old town of Warkworth and home to yet another castle, this one an exclusively Norman castle although there has been a church on this site for around 1200 years. The castle was also the site of a brutal massacre of some 300 local people by the Earl of Fife's men while seeking refuge there from Scottish raiders. Warkworth is a beautiful village with a stunning stone bridge and a very pretty main street with a pretty killer hill too!
Riding through Amble the town was pretty much deserted, although it was relatively early on Christmas morning and pouring with rain. The few cars that passed me gave me loads of space, I think mainly through fear as what kind of lunatic would be riding a bicycle around country roads on Christmas morning in the rain?!? But the space was welcome and it's pleasant coming back up north and remembering that the crazy people in cars don't all want to kill you.
Amble, the 'friendliest port' may have seen hard times with less trade in the port nowadays but it has a real charm to it. Maybe it's because I've spent so much time there as a child but I have a soft spot for the place. And the view of Coquet Island—one of the Farne Islands—from the pier is pretty special. It's said that Amble either got its name from the Gaelic 'am béal' meaning 'river mouth' or the Old English 'Amma's bile' meaning 'Amma's headland' although I suppose nobody really knows.
After a brief stop at the pier my ride took me past the huge holiday park on the outskirts of Amble and through the Hauxley nature reserve, again on empty (but wet) roads. Picking up the road back to Amble I made my way back to Warkworth and looped around for a short but very pleasant 30km ride.
Distance: 31.7km
Remaining: 392km
Strava Ride Data