Northumberland in 4 days
Four nights, north up the coast and home through the hills, from Newcastle. Every leg below is computed on our own road router; every stop count comes from our live map.
222 km all in, about 3h30 of driving across the week — including the run home to Newcastle.
Stops below are described by type and area, not business name — we do not name a pub or farm as welcoming campers unless they have actually said so. The counts are live from our map and honestly labelled unverified.
Two warnings this coast is known for
- The Holy Island causeway floods on every tide, and every year it takes vehicles with it. Check the published safe crossing times before you commit — and never trust the car in front as evidence.
- The National Trust and coastal car parks are day parking. Much of this coast is National Trust or National Landscape, and their car parks do not allow overnighting — the detail.
Night 1 · Amble or Warkworth
Up the A1 and out to the coast where it gets good. Warkworth's castle-and-river loop is the evening walk, and Amble has the harbour, the fish and the working-town feel the postcard villages lack.
Stop type: Campsite or pub stopover. Amble has more options; Warkworth is prettier.
Within 10 km on our map: 13 campsites & caravan sites · 1 LPG — unverified, from OpenStreetMap.
Night 2 · Seahouses, for Bamburgh
The heart of the castle coast: Craster to Dunstanburgh on foot, Embleton Bay, then Bamburgh — the best castle silhouette in England, best seen from the beach at low tide.
Stop type: Campsite around Seahouses. The coastal car parks between here and Bamburgh are signed no-overnight.
Within 10 km on our map: 25 campsites & caravan sites · 1 service points — unverified, from OpenStreetMap.
Worth the boat: the Farne Islands from Seahouses harbour, in season.
Night 3 · Berwick-upon-Tweed
Holy Island first — tide table permitting — then the last town in England. Walk the Elizabethan walls at dusk; it is the best free thing on this entire trip.
Stop type: Campsite or holiday park by the town. Holy Island itself: day visit only for a van.
Within 10 km on our map: 15 campsites & caravan sites · 2 service points · 3 water points — unverified, from OpenStreetMap.
Slow section: none. This is the easiest driving day of the four.
Night 4 · Wooler, for the Cheviots
Inland, and suddenly empty: the Cheviots carry a fraction of the coast's traffic. Wooler is the walking base, and this is some of the darkest sky in England — step outside at midnight. Home to Newcastle is about an hour.
Stop type: Campsite or farm site around Wooler and the Till valley.
Within 10 km on our map: 4 campsites & caravan sites — unverified, from OpenStreetMap.
The part that is not about driving
This coast is quieter than Cornwall or the NC500, and keeping it that way is the deal: the no-overnight signs on the dune car parks went up for a reason. Book the campsite, do the castles by day, and leave the beaches to the tide.
Wild camping in a motorhome is not a legal right in England — overnighting needs the landowner's permission, every time. The full explanation →