In 2016, various Applebys and Simmonses got together to walk St. Cuthbert’s Way, a 62-mile trail that starts in Scotland and meanders to the southeast, finally ending up at Holy Island. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to repeat the experience with the Northumberland Coast Path.
View photos from our 2016 hike of St. Cuthbert’s Way
Whereas for the St. Cuthbert’s Way hike, we had stayed in hotels at Jedburgh and Wooler between each leg of the journey, we had an advantage with the Northumberland Coast Path in that it passed through Embleton, where we have owned a small holiday cottage for many years. So we decided to make that our “base camp” for all sections of the journey – it would be a little tight with all five of us sleeping there, but would be manageable. As before we would do a “car shuffle” each day, with Allan and Gilli’s car and our little Renault Captur rental car. This involved all of us driving at the beginning of each day in both cars to the destination for the day’s walk, then leaving one car and piling into the other to drive to the starting point. At the end of each day we would all drive in the “destination car” back to the starting point to pick up the second car – then back to Embleton for dinner, most likely at the Grey’s Inn or the Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel.
