Captain's Log

Barry's Blyth

Today I’d return to Barry’s Blyth.  I’d met Barry on the England Coast Path (ECP) on a rainy November day in 2023 (see Barry’s Blyth), when I was walking past Cambois towards North Blyth. We got chatting…or rather Barry chatted to me…and he told me all about Blyth, most of which I was unable to retrain for more than a couple of minutes. He did tell me though where not to park in Blyth…’Not unless you want to return to your car and find it on stacks of bricks with no wheels,’ he warned. I did make sure I retained that particular fact, although my parking location today was really dictated by my England Coast Path North East venture. 

I would start today’s walk from the beach carpark between Blyth and Seaton Sluice. This is the carpark I used when I followed the ECP southwards to Tynemouth and so was my link between the walks. The walk from the carpark up to Blyth itself was familiar to me, but the walk within the town would be new. The ECP follows the coast and then turns inland to run alongside the River Blyth to the A189 bridge that spans it. I assumed and was hoping that  there would be a pedestrian walkway on this since the map showed the ECP going across the bridge to the north bank of the river. That would be my turnaround point for the day. It was a bit frustrating that I couldn’t include the additional 6 miles return trip to Cambois to link up with my ECP walk from 2023, but that would have made it over an 18 mile day. I had a long drive back home after the walk and so didn’t want my return to my starting point to be too late. I’d have to plug the A189 bridge to Cambois gap on another day. 

South Blyth

After four days of walking in a rainy monochrome landscape it was great at last to start a walk with some sunshine. I walked on to the beach to be met by rich colours in the sand, sea and clouds. A large ship was anchored offshore and seemed dangerously close to the windmills out there. Over to the south, St Mary’s Lighthouse stood on its rocky island and was illuminated by a God ray. I started making my way northwards up the beach towards Blyth. It wasn’t long before I had to divert up on to the bridleway that weaves its way through the dunes. And then a light rain shower started…well, I was never going to get away with a full day with no rain. It did produce a spectacular rainbow though. There wasn’t a pot of gold where it landed, but a WWI/WWII gun emplacement. I’d last walked along here in 2017 and the dual cavernous bunkers were empty. I was therefore surprised to find that replica 6 inch guns had been installed in each bunker.  The guns were 7 metres long and could shoot 7 miles. The replicas were installed in 2019. A little further along and there were two smaller bunkers  that held  search lights. A plaque states:  

“It is dedicated to the 827 men and officers of the 225th Anti-aircraft Artillery Searchlight Battalion of the US Army who were deployed over Blyth and Tyneside in March 1944 in the Defence of Great Britain under operational control of the 30th British AAA Brigade.

Whilst in Blyth we sharpened our skills in high altitude tracking of aircraft and our stay in this part of England was marked by a gracious acceptance by the local population which helped us in our mission to gain the knowledge we needed.

The Battalion left Blyth in May 1944 and landed on Omaha Beach in June of that year as part of the invasion of Europe and the defence of Normandy.”

When I was here in 2017 it was snowing so heavily that it even settled on the sand. There was also thunder and lightning occurring out at sea. Despite this, two surfers dashed across the beach, dived into the sea and started swimming out to the huge waves. They are a hardy bunch, surfers. 

Blyth Port

Blyth is a port and much of the coastline and riverside is dedicated to their activities and so unavailable to the public. The ECP drifted to the pavement alongside the coast road. This went past one of the port’s storage yards which had massive bobbins around which various cables were wound. Beyond this I came to an area of tranquillity known as Ridley Park. It was a nice enough place although given the state of the bowling green, I doubt whether the members would win many bowling competitions. I exited the park and entered a harbour area, or Commissioner's Quay as it is known. This was a very well presented area and wasn’t really something that I was expecting given Barry’s comments about Blyth. There was a wooden built harbour with pleasant seating and even some sculptures. This was where the River Blyth met the sea and looking across the river I could see North Blyth where I’d walked in 2023.  I noticed what looked like a number of pots with holes in, suspended by chains from beams on the wooden harbour. A lot of them were covered by seaweed and puzzled me as to their purpose. I had to look it up. There are 57 of them and they have been installed to encourage animal and plant life. The holes in the pots are to allow fish to swim through and create artificial rock pools when the tide drops.  I wondered if fish could get vertigo if they were stranded in one of the pots? I had to look it up...and yes they can. There are even underwater cameras to monitor the impact of the pots. Who would have thought?

The ECP then drifted away from the river again due to the various riverside industries. It would be another mile and a half before I saw it again. During the intervening time the ECP took me through the outskirts of the town centre and then through housing estates. One of the housing estates looked brand new and yet I noticed that most of the front doors had emergency flood gates fitted. It does beg the question why on earth you’d build new houses that required flood gates. Despite the gates, I noticed that the air vents in the brickwork weren’t blocked off and so water would probably seep in under the house anyway. 

There seemed to be a thriving industry around here. They’d even found space for some small solar farms. At last the ECP brought me back to the River Blyth again. 

River Blyth

I had good views up and down the river. Over to the west I could see the A189’s bridge that would take me to the north bank. It was a good path along the river and was quite popular with dog walkers and cyclists. There were plenty of mudflats too and this attracted many birds, almost as many as I’d seen in Budle Bay the other day. Inevitably there was a lot of litter, both around the path and along the riverside. I guess it was unavoidable with all the industry about. The walk along the river was a lot more pleasant than I thought it would be and I was a little sorry to reach the bridge. Some steps took me up and I crossed to the other side on a pavement.  The area was a mini Spaghetti Junction and the ECP ended up weaving itself under the bridge twice (I think), before I reached the actual north bank of the River Blyth. I saw a fingerpost pointing to Cambois, 3 miles away. I hummed and harred about clicking the extra 6 miles out-and-back  to Cambois, but in the end I decided against it. I therefore turned around and tried to remember my way back on the spiral route under and over  the A189. 

Return

There were a lot more walkers about as I returned alongside the river. I came across a small rambling club and even a birder with a camera and tripod.  Walking back through the housing estates I came across a litter picker who was even kitted out with a safety helmet. He certainly had his work cut out clearing this area of litter.  When I reached the posher harbour area, I sat down to have some lunch. I was soon pestered by some pigeons and so I moved on to a seating area near some trawlers. I then found that the trawler was kicking out a lot of diesel fumes and so I got up again and moved to a seat in Ridley Park. That was probably the longest time I’ve ever taken to eat a cheese bap. Something I’d missed (remarkably) on my outward journey was the Bath Terrace Lighthouse. This was tucked away along a small road at the back of a row of terrace houses. Apparently it is one of the oldest structures in Blyth and stands at 18.74m tall. It is now around 100m inland, but actually stood on the shoreline when it was built.   

I didn’t bother walking along the beach on the way back to the carpark and I stuck to the bridleway through the dunes. There were so many dog walkers and dogs I was almost tripping over them. One quite large dog was struggling to walk along; its back legs buckled now and again. The owner had a specially converted pushchair to put him in when things got too strenuous. It rained as I walked along the last 200 metres to the carpark. That summed up the weather over the last 5 days, although I couldn't grumble much about today's.

Barry was right in one sense. There were bits of Blyth that I’d walked through today where I wouldn’t have parked my car. But there again, I could say that about almost every town and city in the country. I found Blyth to be a much more interesting place than I was expecting with its history and industry. It was quite pretty along the river too, with lots of birdlife to entertain you. It maybe could do with a few more litter pickers though.