Somewhere between the Brexit Referendum and the election of
Donald Trump, I took the boys to jump off a cliff. In the spirit of collective
populism, we got 4 of our friends to plunge down into the sea below with us. What
a great summer!
Like many British National Parks, the scenery of
Northumberland is spectacularly beautiful. The slopes of the mountains, at
times rolling, at other times harsh; the attractive stone-built towns, the wide
sandy beaches, and of course the jagged cliffs plunging dramatically from the
mountains to the sea. But unlike many British National Parks, hardly
anyone goes there. We enjoyed vast swathes of mountains and beaches to
ourselves. And even more handily, there is a direct train to Alnmouth from
London, by far the easiest way to travel with 4 boys and 3 drinking
adults.
As with Boys Adventure Trip II,
we had booked activities with professional guides for most of the weekend. That
left a reasonably amount of time amusing ourselves in the mountains and on the
beach. Whilst Northumberland has nothing like the number of mountains that the
Lake District has, there are a couple of chunky ones in the Cheviots, including
the Cheviot itself. Due to time constraints, we climbed its neighbour, the
prettily named Hedgehope Hill, close to the Scottish Border. This made it sound
like a molehill, but in fact soars to 714 metres - just into mountain
territory. The climb is a variety of grass paths, trudging though streams, and
the obligatory battling through heather and scrambling over rocks to the top.
It was a stunningly bright clear day, as it often is on the East Coast. We were
rewarded with spectacular views to the Scottish Highlands one way, and over the
rolling hills of Northumberland to the sea in the other direction. After
that, we spent the rest of the day having simple fun on the beach. We
improvised a version of rounders, there being enough space to really hit and
run quite a distance. As the adults became exhausted, the boys buried one
another up to the neck in sand. Frankly, there is nothing like a sandy beach in
sunshine to amuse children of any age.
We stayed in the Sun Inn in
Alnmouth, taking over 3 of their 4 bedrooms. This was a marvellous choice. The
en-suite rooms were large and clean, the service was friendly, and the food was
fantastic. Every morning several pigs were sacrificed for a wholesome breakfast
to start the day. Our evening meals varied between the Sun Inn and an Italian
across the road within the Hope & Anchor, both of which were excellent. One
evening we ventured into Alnwick, shimmying up another hill first for some more
incredible views up and down the coast, before descending back down into the
town for a look at the castle and welcome selection of Indian food.
The next morning was a wet one,
but it didn't matter too much as we were canoeing along the River Coquet. We
had arranged a trip with Adventure Northumberland, who provided us (and another
family) with 2 instructors, canoes and wetsuits. We met in the attractive town
of Warkworth, close to its castle made famous by being used as the Quiddich
pitch in Harry Potter films. After a brief introduction, we were tasked with
paddling up over the weir (very hard) and sliding down it again (much easier)
before paddling along the scenic river towards the sea. The reaction of our
cityish boys was a real surprise. As with our previous canoeing trips, it’s a
sport that we can all be equally good or bad at. The changing scenery around
each corner and the wild birds flying past and wading in the shallows were all
quite fascinating to them. However, just before boredom replaced curiosity, the
waterfight began. This is where the instructors really helped, demonstrating a
remarkable launch and bat technique with the paddles that thoroughly soaks your
opponent!
However the next day we found
that there is soaking, and absolute drenching. We met our Adventure
Northumberland friends again for a session of “coasteering”, which simply
involves making your way along the coast. However the coastal cliffs on this
part are rather more dramatic than the beach. The waves really do smash over
the rocks, repeatedly washing us into the sea where it's force was concentrated
between the rocks. We’d scramble along cliff ledges, before leaping into the water
where the ledge expired. Numerous times we paused to sit on what appeared to be
a safe rock in the sea, only to get shoved back into the water by another
enormous wave! Then bizarrely, we'd crawl through a tunnel in the cliff and
find ourselves in a completed secluded lagoon in utter peace.
Whilst each battle against the
waves was adrenalin-lifting in itself, it was the cliff-jumping that was truly
terrifying. We began slowly – initially just off a small rock, and gradually
jumped off higher ledges as our confidence grew. By the end of the day, the
more foolish amongst us were jumping off cliffs taller than a townhouse into
jellyfish infested waves below. This took a certain amount of bravado, and I am
proud to say that this was the one event where adults did better than the boys.
Although as they pointed out – we have less to live for. A welcoming
optimistic view of life from the youth of today!
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