Day 101 – Blyth to South Shields

The Commissioners is a modern hotel with nearly 50 rooms on 3 floors, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that we get a help yourself buffet breakfast. It’s hard to think when this might last have happened. Possibly as long ago as at the Best Western Hotel in Clevedon? In any event, it’s not a bad spread and we’re on our way by 8:30. As happened yesterday, we’re soon on the beach, although today the firm sand is very close to the water so we’re frequently moving away from incoming ripples. It’s a hard life, but at least it’s comforting to hear after the first hour that the notebook is still with us. However, Ben announces that on this occasion he has lost his (or, more accurately, his youngest son’s) water bottle. Anyway, again as with the early stages of yesterday’s walk, we’re able to stay on the beach for almost 3 miles, until we reach Seaton Sluice, a place name which seems ideally suited to a Geordie voice – or it is if Gary’s (and, to a lesser extent, Ben’s) attempts at the accent are anything to go by. As we walk round the sluice we realise that we could have taken a route closer to the sea, but the impurity is minimal and it isn’t too long before we’re back on the cliffs which take us above Hartley Bay and on towards St Mary’s Lighthouse. From there, we enjoy almost another hour of beach action at Whitley Sands, where Gary hears some genuine local voices discussing Seaton Sluice and also bumps into a Fulham shirt wearing holidaymaker. There’s then only a short detour from the shoreline, to walk past the white-domed Spanish City and through Whitley Bay itself, before we can get back to the beach at Cullercoats, a small and attractive resort which is famous for its artist colony in the 19^th century. And by the time we have to leave the sand for the final time on this part of the walk, we’re almost at Tynemouth with its mediaeval castle and priory – a photo requirement for John, and a noteworthy moment for all of us. Strictly speaking, we’ve spent the last few miles in the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside, but in proper county boundary terms, we’ve now reached the southern end of the Northumberland coast and are looking over the Tyne towards County Durham (or South Tyneside I suppose). We turn inland, walk along the north bank of the river, and reach North Shields shortly after noon. There are several very tempting places of refreshment along a street of converted quayside buildings, but it’s a bit early for lunch and we’re not too far from the Shields ferry, and one of the half hourly services from the North Shields Pier is due to leave at 12:30. We therefore press on, duly catch the 12:30 ferry and get to South Shields 10 minutes later. By now, John and Gary are both rather footsore (conversely Ben is almost in spring chicken mode, despite one of his boots falling apart and being held together with a spare lace), but we decide to continue for another 30 minutes so as to tick off the south bank of the Tyne and get round to the South Shields sea front. From there, we walk (or, so far as two of us are concerned, hobble) into the centre of the town and, having ignored at least two pubs, finally fall into one which is quite close to the Metro station (possibly the Ship & Royal). After a pint of cider each – and an extra half for Ben and Gary – we get to the Metro just before a train to Newcastle Central is due to leave. We reckon that, amazingly, the last time all three of us used public transport whilst on the walk was between Fleetwood and Lancaster when we took a bus to get to and from our overnight stop, the wonderful Stork Inn at Conder Green (although Ben and John took the train to get to the Ratty Arms at Ravenglass on one of the later sections which Gary has yet to complete). We arrive at Central station around 3pm and, in what is certainly a travel “first” for us, we catch three different trains. Gary leaves almost immediately back north to Alnmouth for a short family break and, following a much shorter break in the station’s Centurion Bar, John and Ben leave for Cheltenham and London respectively.  

Day 100 – Druridge Bay to Blyth

Rendezvous at Newcastle station is slightly delayed by the Good Samaritan (aka John) assisting an elderly woman to a connecting train before joining Ben and Gary – and the retrieved notebook (whoopee!) – for our century of days and the journey with Colin back to the country park at Druridge Bay. The route in the midday sunshine takes us past such iconic local sites as St James’ Park, the HQ of Greggs and a number of non-functioning wind turbines. We’re hoping to walk all the way to our overnight stop in Blyth which is a distance of around 19 miles. On a warm day and setting out just before 12:30, this could represent a bit of a challenge, but with sun cream applied and hats (or in Ben’s case a wet neckerchief) donned, we leave the park and are soon on the beach continuing our journey south. And excellent beach action it proves to be, with firm sand so we can maintain a good pace for almost 3 miles to Cresswell. We then need to head inland to get around/through the old power station and aluminium works at Lynemouth, but we’re soon heading back towards the sea around Newbiggin Golf Course. By the time we reach Newbiggin itself, it’s mid-afternoon, but we’ve already made heavy inroads into our water supplies so a stop is made at the Co-op to replenish them and also to buy ice creams (a very rare event) for John and Gary. On getting to the promenade on the south side of the town, we see a couple looking out to sea from some kind of construction in Newbiggin Bay. It’s difficult to work out how they got there, until we realise that the whole thing is a construction – it’s a sculpture of a couple known locally, it transpires, as Eb and Flo (ho ho). Anyway, we soon get back to the beach, and another stretch of beautiful sand, albeit initially with several traces of black dust from a coal seam which apparently emerges right by Newbiggin. Thoughts now turn to whether we are likely to reach the Commissioners Quay Inn at Blyth by early evening – in other words, when are we likely to have our first cider. This will depend on how and where we manage to cross two river mouths, those of the Wansbeck and the Blyth. Both are almost certain to involve diversions to inland bridges but, as we approach the Wansbeck, we can’t see many people who seem to have to leave the beach and, when we reach the river mouth, the tide is sufficiently far out for us to paddle across. Clearly, this involves several minutes being spent de-shodding, and then foot drying and re-shodding, but we still reckon that not having to go inland has saved us 20 or 30 minutes. Something which approaches confidence accordingly develops as we continue along the sands past Cambois (pronounced ‘Kemiss’ according to the Coast Path Book) that, even with a major diversion to cross the Blyth, we should reach the Commissioners within another couple of hours or so – i.e. by 7:15. And a diversion is indeed needed, and it is quite a major one of around a mile and a half inland and, having crossed the river, a similar distance back to the coast. A couple of possible short cuts are identified on John’s GPS and Ben’s OS map, but they’re not 100% clear and the potential reward is not sufficiently great as to make the risk worthwhile. We therefore follow the route in the Coast Path Book which takes us west, over a couple of main roads to Bedlington Station, south alongside the railway line, across the river at the Furnace Bridge, into Bedlington Country Park, and back east again along the south bank of the river. The approaches to and streets through Blyth are not too inspiring, but the relief we feel when getting to the quayside shortly after 7 o’clock and seeing the Commissioners in front of us is more the result of having walked a very sunny 19 miles in just over six and a half hours. In fact, according to John’s logger, the time spent walking is around 6 hours. After the long anticipated cider, check-in and showers/baths, supper is accompanied by one more cider, just one bottle of Shiraz, and no stickies. We must be tired.