England’s northeast coast is one of the most spectacular in the country but remains perennially quiet and largely deserted; long may it remain so.  This is the view across the sands at Embleton to the distant ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle which stand like a witch’s teeth on a spellbound horizon.

I know this stretch of coast intimately – just inland is Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Club and its fine links course established in 1900.  The day I took this photograph I was not playing and not really regretting it.  The racing waves are testament to a harsh north-easterly, the sort of day when a golf ball adopts a largely independent life (at least when I am holding the club):

(click on image to enlarge)