WHERE'S THE WALL??
This marks the formal beginning of our 10-day hike, though we actually cheated and did the first few miles yesterday afternoon. (See Saturday’s entry)
After a large, English breakfast, I talked Andrew--Oaktree Lodge Hotel's proprietor and cook--into letting me take his picture before we left. We won't forget his lovely little hotel and warm welcome.
Outside, before we headed up the hill to the Whitley Bay Metro Station, I took one last picture of the North Sea. We had several more beautiful views from the Metro on our way to Walls End. Funny that the wall technically ended here. The town should have been called Walls Start!
After a short ride back on the metro, we resumed our walk where we stopped the evening before, at the Tyne Bridge in the city of Newcastle. (Catherine Cookson fame) As we will for the next 10 days, we continued walking almost due west.
This morning, the route followed along the beautiful Tyne River. The weather was great--cool and breezy with a few hazy clouds. One after the other, we passed under seven bridges: the Millennium, then the massive Tyne, the red Swing Bridge built in 1876, the High Level Bridge, built in 1849, the Queen Elizabeth I Metro Bridge, the King Edward mainline railway bridge, and the New Redheugh Bridge.
As we walked along the Tyne, our guide book gave lots of interesting history. It was like a guided tour and was very helpful the whole way. Russ became the tour director and kept me well informed for the rest of the walk!
Periodically, piers jutted out in the river and gave even longer views.
Frequent informational signs told about a particular part of the Tyne or a certain historical era. Some were interesting; some not!
There were a lot of new buildings, hotels, and one vast business park that was very modern, with beautifully kept grounds. And for some strange reason, there were UK flags everywhere, but nary a one with the familiar stars and stripes from the USA!
OK, so there were also benches along the path. Who could pass up a sunny day, pretty scenery, warm bottled tea, and a little rest! Not me . . .
Well, guess what we saw across the river? We didn't expect to see Costco in Great Britain. Russ was ready to swim over just to get a berry sundae!
We finally came to the end of the River Walk, and here the path went inland for awhile. We would return to it a little later, however.
Looking back as the trail went up the hill to a new section.
Here I am, plodding along ahead of Russ. It was getting warm, and the path climbed a bit here.
We saw some strange sign posts along the way.
One reason the trail detoured up and around was because we needed to get across the A1 Motorway (British Interstate highways).
After a long stretch of woodland, we came to the Tyne Riverside Country Park. Our B & B was very close--for which I was rather pleased! We had snacked on fruit and power bars for lunch so even though it was the middle of the afternoon, we were ready for dinner.
Our B & B was here at the Keelman's Lodge: http://www.keelmanslodge.co.uk/
The restaurant is part of the Big Lamp Brewery and was doing a booming business on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The food was good and prices reasonable. There was a really nice patio, but the breeze made it just a little cool to eat outside.
Our first full day, and it was a success! Feet a bit tired, but what a great day!
HMMM, WHERE'S THE WALL??
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