Post It from Berwick Seaview CC site, Spittal, Northumberland, England. Saturday 19th October, 2013.

We took a steady drive down from Edinburgh to cover the 40 or so miles to Berwick upon Tweed as there was nothing to visit on the way and we did not want to arrive too early. We stopped at Dunbar to have lunch and shop at the ASDA supermarket right on the A1 to kill some time arriving at the site mid-afternoon just in time to get set up before the rain started for the remainder of the day and throughout that night.

The site is actually in in Spittal on the south side of the River Tweed and as you cross the main ‘New’ road bridge through Berwick you are between the old bridge towards the east and the main East Coast rail line bridge to the west. There is quite a view from the footpaths of the camp site to capture the three bridges at the same time.

The site is not what I would call pretty; it is quite long and narrow and is built on two terraces with cul-de-sac areas at each end and a very narrow one way road. This means there are quite a few tightly spaced pitches opposite each other, many of the vacant ones were too short for us to fit on, and levelling blocks were needed. If you are lucky enough to get one fronting Berwick you will have beautiful views over the river Tweed and can see the town and the fortified garrison walls. Its location is perfect though, especially for those without a car.

There is one central toilet block, with quite a steep path from the top terrace leading to it which is in need of repair and I guess the site dates back quite some years before it was bought by the Caravan Club. The facilities look as though they have been revamped in recent years and were very clean and tidy, it was a pity the Club did not install lighting around the waste point at the toilet block in the renovations as I ended up with drenched feet from lifting the dustbin lids that first night because I could not see they had standing water on them. The other points all seemed to have lighting as one would expect on Club sites and there is internet access but it is a little slow and we could not Skype as a result. The wardens were friendly and helpful and clearly worked hard to keep the site tidy and clean.

The East Coast Main Line runs immediately alongside the back of the site, although it is raised above the level of the pitches and behind a wall, there is obviously some noise from the trains which run all day and less frequently during the night. However despite my sensitivity to noise I managed to sleep quite well with the silicone earplugs, better than the planes at Edinburgh! I was actually quite surprised how quiet these electric trains were when passing so close by.

We could have caught a local bus from right outside the camp site but we took a pleasant stroll into the town over the Old Bridge and then walked completely around the fortified town of Berwick and thankfully our luck was still with us as the rain had stopped for the day only before starting again with strong winds and heavy downpours later that night. There has been a walled fortification here since around 1300 but the current ones I think date from around 1540 and were built to keep the Catholic Scott’s and French supporters from the Protestant English. There were some very impressive ramparts and a large garrison and information plaques were appropriately placed. Had it been better weather then it would have been a lovely walk to spend more time with perhaps a picnic, there were lots of seats and the tarmac paths were well maintained and wheelchair friendly.

What I also learned on our walkabout was that the famous painter, L S Lowry, loved Berwick upon Tweed and visited here often. The council has put markers in place all around the town indicating connections with the artist and places where he painted some of his scenes from. These also extended to Spittal and one was his scene across the Tweed to the town with the town hall spire in the centre. We saw the house he almost bought with the two lions on the gateposts and I believe has featured in many of his paintings.

Having an affinity with all things nautical I stopped by the RNLI station based at Spittal to take my first photos of the Tweed and saw what I thought at first was two black marker buoys where the slipway was, they turned out to be seals and we watched them pop up around the river for ages. We saw one more closely on the north side of the river, near to the bridge, and it was enormous. Sharon later saw another near the lifeboat station and saw it surface with a fish in its mouth and she watched as it slid the fish down its throat. I missed that for some reason, taking photos of the boats whilst trying to capture their motion with the rising tide I think. We also saw Swans and Grey Herons on the Tweed and even managed to capture one taking off without it being too blurred.

There were quite a number of shops in Berwick but it gave the appearance of having seen better days commercially. There were a lot of places to eat and drink and we enjoyed a nice lunch at one opting for a treat of Haddock, mushy peas and chips. This will probably be the last time we have this treat this year but may indulge again if we go up the east coast of Yorkshire early in the New Year. How can you go to the seaside and not have fish and chips we keep telling ourselves!

On our second full day here we opted to remain at the site until the overnight and morning rains had passed and we set off to walk along the north bank of the River Tweed and under the three bridges. I discovered that the single lane Old Bridge carried all the A1’s traffic up to 1928 when the New Bridge was built. The Northern Border Bridge, as it is called, was built by Robert Stephenson in 1847 to carry the trains and has only needed minor strengthening over the years to cope with today’s rail traffic.

The river is famous for its Swans and also the North Atlantic Salmon coming here to spawn each year. Just upstream of the rail bridge are the remnants of the original castle and a wall with gun turret that was built around 1300 by the English to repel the Scott’s. The original castle was built by King David of Scotland in 1100 but it was demolished to make way for the train station and only the bit by the river walk remains. The ownership of the town had changed many times over the years until the English finally won and retained possession in the mid 1500’s if my memory is correct from reading the many information plaques around the town.

We ended the day with some more seal watching by the lifeboat station and a walk along Spittal promenade before returning to Bessie before the forecasted rains returned. Spittal itself has a sandy beach with paved promenade, a play park, seafront amusements and three pubs that we saw. As we arrived at the camp site the sun broke through the dense clouds and gave a whole different perspective of the views across the river to the town highlighting the white crests on the braking waves at the mouth of the river.

Then came the shock and mishap with the key. As we walked onto the camp site we saw our neighbours just pulling up the entrance road in their car. I knew they had an Alsatian type dog as I had seen it barking from their awning at passing dogs with their owners. I carry a key on a lanyard around my neck for all the habitation locks and because we had been out in our walking boots I first went to the vehicles garage at the rear to unlock the door to take our boots off. As I bent down and placed the key in the bottom lock the dog from next door came quickly along the rear of our van, teeth bared and barking at me as it got to within 2 feet of my face as I was bent down. I was startled to say the least, and frightened at the thought it was going to bite me. I stood up instinctively to get my face well away from its potential bite and as I did so I pulled the lanyard fixing cord right through the plastic section of the key which was pulled out of the lock and fell to the ground. The dog backed off and then drew closer again still snarling and displaying its teeth and one of the owners shouted it back, although I did not see either of them. When I picked up the key it was bent considerably from the force of my standing up with it in the lock and it would not enter the lock as it was. I could not get into the van with it and went to tell the dog’s owner what had happened as well as highlighting I was not happy and the predicament with the key. Luckily he had some mole grips in his car and straightened the key so we could use it and he did immediately apologise saying the dog was excited at having been out and would not have attacked me, but I only have his assurance for that. First time a dog has frightened me for many years and I was once bitten by a similar dog we carried on a ship to Jamaica so I have first-hand experience of what I thought was going to happen again. I still have the scar on my leg after 34 years so I know those big teeth are sharp!

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Berwick upon Tweed and Sharon became an ardent seal watcher so we hope Old Hartley, our next stop is equally as good for us.

Regards, Roy