North Tyneside Heritage Trail

There is a circular heritage trail on the north side of the Tyne. The next part of my route followed this (more or less). Information boards are distributed along its length and are well worth a read. I think there are also some direction posts, but these tended to blend into the background and were harder to spot. The information boards were a lot more visible.

My first stop was at the Lord Collingwood monument. London has Nelson's monument; Tynemouth has Collingwood's. I should of course have referred to him as Admiral Lord Collingwood. On the 21st of October he led the British fleet into action at the Battle Of Trafalgar in the ship, Royal Sovereign. Reportedly, Nelson exclaimed 'Look how that noble fellow Collingwood takes his ship into action.' A statue of the great man is on top of a massive column that is resting on a huge plinth, which is itself on a hill. The great man is so far up that you can't really get a decent view of the fellow. There are four rusting cannons on the plinth that are from the Royal Sovereign and now aim at the council offices in South Shields, across the Tyne. Collingwood was of course, from Newcastle.

I was chatting to a guy yesterday (see North Of Tynemouth) who said that the top of the South Shields lighthouse had blown off during a recent storm. Even from this distance I could see that it had lost its cap.

The Tyne

I started heading inland along the river Tyne. The tide was out revealing a large area of menacing rocks. These are known as the Black Middens and in 1864, over 3 days, it claimed 5 ships and 34 lives. Those are awful statistics by any standard. On a calm day like this it is hard to believe that so many lives could be lost, so close to shore. The events horrified the locals so much that the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade was created to assist the Coastguard for future rescue events.

The Princess Seaways, a large DFDS ferry, made a slow entry into the Tyne as I inspected the Black Middens. It looked so big it seemed surprising that the Tyne was wide enough to allow it through; looking at the OS map, this part is known as The Narrows. 

A little further down the Tyne was the metal sculpture of a fisherman at Fiddler's Green. He is sat down, cig in mouth, seemingly deep in thought. It was created by Ray Lonsdale, the same sculptor that created Tommy at Seaham (see Aliens In Seaham). An information board told me that Fiddler's Green is a legendary supposed afterlife where there is perpetual happiness. There is a fiddler that never stops playing for dancers that never tire. There's also endless supplies of rum and tobacco. That all sounded great to me until it got to the tobacco bit; I could never sit in a smoky pub again. I'm not that keen on dancing either...and I find that fiddles can get a bit annoying in the wrong hands. So maybe Fiddler's Green is not for me. It is said that when a fisherman dies, he too will enter Fiddler's Green where all his fallen friends will be waiting for him with a drink in hand.

The remnants of the fishing industry cling to life on the western quay. Along the length of one warehouse, small metal fishes were screwed to the wall, each one containing the name of a fisherman who'd worked there. Presumably, some of these were getting pissed at the Fiddler's Green afterlife.

A little further along the river I came across the carved wooden figure known as the Wooden Dolly, outside the Prince Of Wales pub. This figure is the latest in a line of figures that have stood outside the pub. The original wooden dolly was  the figurehead from a collier brig called Alexander And Margaret. It gained worldwide fame with sailors cutting bits off the dolly to take with them on their voyages in order to bring them good luck. 'They were a laughably superstitious lot, these sailors' I thought as I stroked my rabbit's foot in my coat pocket and rubbed my St Christopher's necklace with my other hand. 

My journey inland along the River Tyne finished at the North-South Shields ferry crossing. The official England Coast Path route indicates that you should take the ferry across the Tyne to continue your journey southwards. Well, either that or swim.

Above The Quays

The area near to the ferry crossing was known as the Bullring. It is supposed to have got its name from the bull baiting that used to go on around here. I climbed some steep steps to the top of the hill above me. I'd now follow the Tyne back eastwards at this higher level. There was a modern housing estate up here that must have the smallest house footprint that I've ever seen. They are almost like toy houses. I'm sure that if I'd laid down in front of a house, my head and feet would have touched the neighbouring houses. The houses did get bigger, the further east I travelled.

Eventually I came to Laurel Park where there is a statue of that comedy giant, Stan Laurel. He lived at No. 8 Dockwray Square between 1897 and 1902 when he was still a boy. The houses were slums in those days. The steps down from Dockwray Square to the quayside are said to be the inspiration for that comedy film classic, 'The Music Box' where Stan and Olly have to manoeuvre a boxed piano up a set of similar steps. I'd paid homage to this area a few years back and found a set of steps nearby that went down to the quayside, pretty much like on the film. These particular steps have now been removed and from the plans it looks like they will be replaced by a zig-zag of pavements. I can't really see them producing the same comedy value. What a shame.  

Tynemouth

I broke away from the North Tyne Heritage Trail and traversed the pretty, natural oasis of Northumberland Park. I was even able to refuel with a scone and coffee at the café, halfway across.

Just outside Tynemouth's centre, a large number of people had congregated. It was Remembrance Day. It was nearly 11:10 and they were still reading out the names of those who had fallen in the wars. The solemnity of the occasion was all getting a bit much for a young Spaniel in front of me, and he started whining and then howling. 

The town centre was busy with shoppers and tourists. I walked straight through and it brought me out above the bay at Short Sands. I started making my way back northwards to the carpark. There were plenty of surfers and swimmers in the sea. Some young lads had marked out a 5-a-side football pitch and a game was in progress. It didn't take long to get back to the carpark and the finish of my walk. 

It hadn't been a huge walk today, but I'd taken my time in order to absorb the rich history of the place. It is a very interesting area to walk around. Early next year I'll be picking up the baton on the south side of the Tyne and continuing the England Coast Path southwards.