Final bits

Stats

6 days

97.5kms (because I took the bus on day 5)

159,697 steps

894 heart points (whatever they are)


Injuries 

Basically none. Sore feet, some insect bites, a couple of minor blisters, a stiff back muscle


Birds 

It's been a great hike for bird life. As well as all the usual suspects (your sparrows, your magpies, your pigeons, your crows and pigeons and gulls and kestrels and blackbirds and so on and so forth) we've walked along grassland and seen meadow pipits, skylarks, reed buntings, sedge warblers, blackcaps, wrens,  stonechats and a cettis warbler (a bird which I'd never even heard of before); the shoreline and seen plovers, curlews, oystercatchers, bank swallows, avocets, cormorants, kittiwakes, and terns (and others I've forgotten). The only slight disappointment is that we didn't see a puffin, despite their high representation in gift shops, twee cottage names, and the names of playgroups.

I don't have a proper camera but a few imperfect pictures to follow 

Heron 

Curlew

Oystercatchers

Stonechat 

Future 

About 10kms into yesterday's hike, our last, I was forced into promising that next year's holiday would not be a walking based one. I don't know what it will be, but it won't be this.

Overall 

I would definitely recommend it to anyone. It's a spectacular bit of coastline. We were obviously lucky with the weather - while most of the country sweltered in a heatwave, the sea breezes and the haar one day ensured it was totally bearable. We only had a couple of light rain showers (and a week of rain would have been miserable). If 6 days seems a bit long then the three day (ish) section between Amble and Bamburgh would be a good alternative

Thanks for reading. 

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