Onto day 4 then, and another good nights sleep at Alnmouth. Up early, and we walk the dogs around to the public toilet, and everyone has business :-)
The plan today, or the route, should be further down the coast via Warkworth and Amble, but we decide to miss that part of the route having only recently visited both on a weeks holiday. So we head in a more direct route towards Alnwick.
We grab a breakfast sandwich and a(nother) Costa coffee from Morrisons in Alnwick town centre. It was still early so decided to continue our journey rather than explore Alnwick. Sorry Alnwick, but for those interested there's the castle and Alnwick Gardens, although both have a cost.
We continued onto Edlingham Castle, to give the boys a walk (not a big walk as it turns out). Edlingham Castle is a ruin, but very interesting and good photo opportunity, and a lot quieter than more popular attractions.
A pleasant walk around the castle and we're on our way to Rothbury. Rothbury is a small town around 15 miles north of Morpeth, and consists mainly of a main street. We have a saunter up and down, stopping off at The Co-op for some provisions and an outdoor store where Mrs D purchases a new winter coat (in July)!
Next up we stop off at a tiny village (or hamlet?) called Elsdon, having seen a public toilet sign by the side of the road. It turns out to be a community run affair, and part of the village hall. We make a donation in the box to keep the facility running.
We head down towards Otterburn, then a decent stretch of the A68 down to Corbridge in time for lunch. We visit The Golden Lion for our lunch and a couple of drinks. The food was very nice. We have a wander round before returning to the car.
Its at this point we make the decision to ditch the most southerly part of the route, again as we've visited the area on multiple occasions in the last year, working just around the corner, and the fact we've completely overspent our budget... Too much helping out the local businesses and watering holes :-)
We get a lot of Hadrian Wall walkers visit our campsite, and many tell us that either they stayed at a site called Greencarts on the previous night, or are walking to Greencarts the next day. We make the decision to try it out, grab a shower, and have a relaxing and cheaper remainder of the day and night.
Greencarts cost us £10 per person, so £20 in total. It's extra for electric hookup which we don't need. A very basic site, on a farm, consisting mainly of two fields, not all flat either, and very basic facilities. The facility block was dated and not amazingly clean (nice hot showers though). It does have lovely views over the countryside and only about 20 minutes from Hadrian's Wall. It was very quiet during our stay with only one VW camper on our field, and one or two walkers pitched on the other field.
Overall, not great value for money if you're a couple and wanting electric hookup, it'd cost you around the £25 mark. I'd say a site like Hadrian's Wall Campsite offers much better value for a couple or family stay with a unit. Slight more between £27 and £31 depending on pitch type, but much more picturesque and the facilities are chalk and cheese. Having said that, for solo walkers £10 per night is decent value, while walking the wall. Although, again still only £2 less than Hadrian's Wall Campsite.
We have a pleasant evening sat at a picnic bench that we pitched (our car) next to. We didn't have a tent or awning with us. It did get cold rather early, so we climb in the car, and I watched the 8 pm Euro game - and a few drinks.
