Herrings and kippers

What a difference a day makes. This morning was bright and sunny, such a contrast to yesterday. We decided to do the Seahouses heritage walk we were not able to do because of the weather, part of it anyway.

The walk takes you down to the harbour, past the huge lime kilns and the boats taking people to the Farne Islands (no boats went out yesterday - what a surprise) and then up above the harbour and back through the old part of the town. The history of Seahouses can be seen in several phases - lime, herrings, railway and holiday resort. I described this when we were here in 2018 https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2432974804781893312 (and I thought it was just a few years ago!). In that photo are the lime kilns - and the hotel behind them was where we have been staying this year.

This photo was taken from above the outer harbour, which in the 19th century would have been teeming with herring boats, up to 300 at a time. In 1843/4, 6,000 barrels of herring were shipped from this harbour, mainly to Germany, where salted herring was much sought after.

We passed ‘SwallowFish’ smokery, where kippers were bought.

I was after smoked salmon so, on our way back south, we called in at Craster and bought smoked salmon, smoked haddock (which Gordon is just cooking) and Doddington cheese. Then we meandered our way home in the sunshine.