Travel UK

Travel || A Walk Along the Northern Coast of England

I mentioned last week that one of my favourite parts of being in Newcastle was living close to Jesmond Dene. Well this is my other: having extremely close access to the coastal walk from Whitley Bay through Cullercoats to Tynemouth.

One Sunday morning Sam and I set out very early to make this walk. We exited the Metro at Whitley Bay and started our trek to Tynemouth. The weather cooperated off and on. It was the day before the “super storm” was supposed to hit England so we’d have periods of sunshine and periods of raining cats and dogs.

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For some reason it seemed only natural for me to do this on the mosaic at the Whitley Bay exit.

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Whitley Bay
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 Cullercoats. You can vaguely see the Tynemouth Priory in the background.
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 The tide started to come in.
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 Hat on yet another expedition.
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I found a broken whirligig.
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When we had walked to Tynemouth the heavens opened up and it started to pour. We took that as a sign that it was time for lunch. We went to the local (and most popular Fish & Chip shop).
Sam still claimed it wasn’t as good as his place in Scarborough.
 
After lunch we set out to explore bits of Tynemouth that we didn’t get to see the last time we were here, when we went to visit the Priory. For example, the Tynemouth Pier and Lighthouse. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, they wouldn’t actually allow people on the pier. The brewing super storm had winds strong enough to knock you off the pier.
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 Waves crashing against the breakwater.
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The view down the pier to the lighthouse.
 
In between drenchings, we made it down to see the Collingwood Monument. The memorial to Collingwood, who was Nelson’s second-in-command at the Battle of Trafalgar. Built in 1845, it is still ridiculous impressive and faces out to sea.
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Climbing the stairs of the Collingwood Monument.
 
I adored Tynemouth. It was quaint and quintessentially English. The street cobblestones even seemed fanciful with the leaves and the rain.
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 Okay, maybe I am being a bit ridiculous romanticising a street, but I thought it was pretty.
 
But my all-time favourite thing to do on a Sunday in the area was to go to Tynemouth Market. It’s literally held at the Tynemouth Metro Station and it is one of the best markets I have ever been to. Move over all markets in London! Everything is delicious, beautiful and most of all- affordable!
 
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After going to the Market we ducked into a pub to see Sam’s team (Sunderland) play their biggest rivals (Newcastle). Every pub was packed- standing room only- and filled with extremely emotional men. In Tynemouth it was primarily a Newcastle crowd so Sam reminded me to not say anything snarky about them as it would end badly. When they lost I had never seen such anger at a sporting event EVER. I can’t imagine what it would be like to watch a Premier League game in person.

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