Sat 3.5.14 - Tranche 1 - day 1 – Newcastle to
Wylam.
(Walked from 11.30-16.30 incl. 1hr stops and not including the sightseeing)
Got to Newcastle at 1am, went to my hotel
and in the morning did an hour or so of sightseeing of the city. Then after
breakfast I started the proper walk.
 |
| View from Eldon Square |
 |
| Norman Castle |
 |
| Medieval Gate near Norman Castle |
I decided to start the walk from Newcastle Tyne
Bridge as I had not been well the week leading to my walking and cut off the 5
miles from Wallsend to Newcastle Central.
 |
| Tyne bridge |
 |
| Looking back towards Newcastle |
 |
| Follow the trail signs |
Given the urban hard surface walking, in
retrospect, I am very glad I did miss it, and any thoughts of making up for it another
time, have been put to rest.
Even more glad when at the end of the day I
realized I had walked nearly 13 miles between the proper trail walk and sightseeing
in Newcastle and most of them with my backpack on my back!
 |
| Ready to go, in the Hotel's lift |
Newcastle to Lemington was mostly industrial
although I did see a few Kittiwakes and a pair of shelducks feeding in the mud
around Elswick.
 |
| Shelducks feeding in the mud |
The path from Lemington became much softer
underfoot and once I reached Newburn the landscape opened up and got to the river
again. I stopped for lunch at Newburn at
the Tyne Riverside Country Park which sits right by the river.
 |
| Learning a bit of history along the way |
When I started walking again I followed the path
along the river. Fantastic views of the
river and of birds. Walking listening to their sounds and chirping was just the
perfect music to my ears. On leaving the
country park there were also bell-ringers from the church in Ryton, on the
south part of the river, which accompanied me for part of the walk. Idyllic!
Walking along the river and in woodland or
by fields I was rewarded with the sight of many birds: A cormorant drying its
wings, pheasants, a solitary heron waiting for his dinner to come by in the
river’s waters and mallards, jays, robins, blackbirds, crows, gulls, chiffchaff,
blue tits, goldfinches…
 |
| The river from the Tyne Riverside County Park |
 |
| Playing in the river with a motorboat... |
 |
| A heron waiting for its dinner to come by... |
 |
| Relaxing view of the river looking upstream |
 |
| River walk among pine trees |
At the end of the river walk the path turns
right and you find yourself in front of George Stephenson’s cottage now run by
the NT and that has a lovely tea place with a few seats outside in the garden.
Welcome place to stop and visit if you are interested in trains and engines as
there is a small museum in the cottage or just for a cuppa and a cake.
 |
| George Stephenson's cottage |
 |
| The side garden tea-room |
From here it was a short walk to Wylam and
my stop for the night. Wylam is a village (rather a large one) and thanks to
Google maps I managed to add an extra ½ mile trying to find my B&B!!
Anyway once found the B&B owners (the
Craven’s) turned out to be delightful and very friendly; no sooner I had been
shown to my lovely room the owner offered to take me and two other guests,
staying the same night, to a restaurant in nearby Ovingdon, as there was
nowhere decent to eat in Wylam, so they said. Consequently we got driven and
picked up after dinner and we had a very delicious meal too.
In the morning I had a very filling
breakfast with all you can ask and dream of.
Left Wylam with a lift from Dad Craven to Heddon on the Wall and here
had my first view of some of the remains of the wall.
B&B in Wylam: Wormald House.
No comments:
Post a Comment