7.12 miles 3h 41m ascent 115m.
2.4 miles of which were on the England Coast Path.
Berwick was our “rest day”. I didn’t really expect much and was pleasantly surprised. We had come across three Lowry Trail boards the previous day and decided to we could use the rest day to complete the trail.
I had no idea that Lowry had painted Berwick, nor for that matter that he had ever been there.
We took the Lowry Trail as our main route, which meant we strolled along the city walls, explored some nooks and crannies we might otherwise have missed and, for once, we had a sit-down lunch, bought rather than brought.
Most of the Lowry boards were easy to find, some a little more difficult, and number 18 a bit of a challenge. When we couldn’t located a board despite looking around the area marked on the map, we fired up t’internet to have a look what Lowry’s painting of the area showed. That got us most of them.
As I said, No.18 (Back Streets) was a problem. Once in the general area, we asked several locals but they all told us about those we had already found. All said there were none to be found in the general vicinity shown on the map. I wondered if it might have been removed. We decided to give up our search but have another look on the way back. And we did find it.
Spittal, Tweedmouth, Berwick Bridge, Working Spaniel, finding the eighteenth,
Old Property, number 12 on the trail, was unusual. Each board had a map of the trail, showing 18 sites. Except the board at No. 12 which showed nineteen. So presumably one has been removed.
Crossing Berwick Bridge I saw a spaniel coming towards me. Her owner, in black, a few steps behind. Being dog friendly, I squatted to say hello but the dog ignored me. The owner said, “She’s working, she won’t pay you any attention.” I thought he meant she was a working cocker but when I stood up I saw the ‘owner’ was a policeman. The dog was actually working — a drug sniffer dog. I can only think it was in training.
