Next geo-walk in the programme is at Siccar Point

Led by local expert Dr Ian Kille of Northumbrian Earth, the geo-walk on Wednesday, September, 20 will be approximately 4km. It will start at 2pm and finish at around 5pm.

To access the foreshore requires a very steep scramble down a grassy bank and this part of the walk is only suitable for the sure-footed, with a good level of fitness.

Siccar Point is an eye-catching location with cliff-top views south along the rugged coastline to Fast Castle and north towards Pease Bay, with Torness Power station and the Bass Rock in the distance.

It also happens to be the best example of a very few locations where the ancient sea-floor rocks of the Silurian Period are directly overlain by the land-surface rocks of the late Devonian Period (a 65-million-year age difference).

Ian said: “When James Hutton and his two friends went looking for this location in 1788 and found this inconformity, as it is now known, they made history, literally.

“Here, sea-floor sediments have been uplifted, folded and eroded before they are overlain by river-sediments, which in turn form rocks that have also been uplifted and eroded.

“Hutton realised you need vast amounts of time to do this – much, much more than the 6,027 years calculated from a literal reading of the Bible.”

Booking is essential for all walks. To book a place, email Ian at [email protected]

For full details of this walk and others, go to www.northumbrianearth.co.uk/geo-walks