Day 29 - English East Coast - Northumberland & Yorkshire - The unexpected coast...

This part of the British coast is not well-known. While the Scottish west coast, Cornwall and the South Coast are more popular, the Northumberland and North Yorkshire Coast is strangely not. That's because it has a reputation for being wild, windy, and bleak. But there are some gems along the way...

There are three castles that should be visited, if you're a castle fan: Bamburgh Castle on the Northumbrian Coast, the dramatic Dunstanburgh surrounded by cliffs, and the polyagonal Warkworth Castle further south.

For pretty towns, it's hard to beat Whitby (lorded over by the imposing ruins of Whitby Abbey), the tiny fishing village of Staithes (situated along a narrow inlet) and finally Scarborough (the original and most famous Georgian sea-side resort).

Whatever you do, please check out Holy Island (also called Lindisfarne). It's just south of the Scottish border near Berwick-upon-Tweed, and is home to a Tudor fortress which once housed the Lindisfarne Gospels, considered at the time to be the most beautiful book in the world (!). (The original book is now in the British Library).