snowstorms and scenic seas

It's been a while since wonder | wander | women took a long train ride, and we didn't expect that Storm Eowyn would sweep in that weekend and strand us for a day. The next day we were worried, but the ominous weather seemed to have cleared and we finally got on the train. The rolling English countryside made the perfect backdrop for our quiet thoughts. 

We took a different line than usual to go up to Edinburgh. The London North Eastern Railway hugs the North Sea coast for a large part of its four-hour journey, whereas Avanti West Coast, despite its name, travels more inland during its six-hour trip.

Canal and lock just outside Birmingham

For most of its trip the Avanti Edinburgh line runs alongside several rivers and canals, including the Birmingham Old Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the River Lune. This meant that we were forever dropping our book or journal to grab our phone and try to catch a picture of the majestic waterways of the British countryside.

Recently stirred up by Storm Eowyn, the landscape and the streams winding through it looked drenched, battered and grey, yet there was a gloomy dignity about it that we tried to capture as we sped past. This was the land of Wuthering Heights and The Hound of the Baskervilles, of grim wet nights and howling windy days.

As we left the gentle English counties in the south and began to head north to Cumbria and Scotland, the countryside began to get craggier and rougher, with steeper hills and rougher terrain. The endless green unravelled into shadowy winter forests. 

When we were passing by the North Pennines National Landscape, we ran into a blizzard! It was far from the first snowstorm we ever experienced, but it was the first we ever saw from the windows of a train.

The blizzard, like the storm that probably spawned it, didn't stick to the wild areas and also covered the nearby towns and farms with blowing snow. We even saw sheep huddled against the wall and each other covered in snow! Luckily the weather cleared as we left the mountain ranges and approached Edinburgh, so we didn't have to suffer the same fate.

On the way down the weather was so different it might as well have been another country, an impression strengthened by travelling another route closer to the coast.

Berwick-Upon-Tweed, with breakwater and lighthouse

We passed by Berwick-upon-Tweed, the northernmost town in England, with its lighthouse, walled fortress and views of the North Sea.

The Berwick Breakwater

We sped along the shores of the North Sea, where peaceful sheep pastures and quiet villages lay between rocky cliffs and rippling waves. After the storm, the sea had settled to a mild, serene expanse, reflecting clouds off its blue surface.

One place we'd like to visit in warmer seasons is the town of Alnmouth, a beautiful coastal town on its own little spur in the harbour that catches our eye every time we pass it on the train. It's also close to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, a legendary place that formed the setting for epics like Vikings and The Last Kingdom.

After the storm and the short stay in Edinburgh, these gorgeous scenes passing across the window like a film seemed cheery and soothing at the same time. It might not be our home waters, but the North Sea and the streams in every town were a lifeline, adding beauty and vitality to the land.