I’m a bit late in posting this, but seeing as this walk and the one following it form a lovely brace of George Stephenson themed walks, it seems vaguely OK in my book.

We don’t always walk the majestic hills and dales of the North East, sometimes we have more urbanised walks and this programme’s theme of ‘Local Heroes’ has given us the opportunity of walking in some unusual places. This George Stephenson themed walk begins at the Stephenson Railway Museum near the SIlverlink in North Tyneside. The car park is free but cowers beneath some angry looking (and sounding) overhead power lines. It was a misty day and so that probably accounted for the persistant buzzing from the 50,000 volts above us. That said, the museum itself is free and really good if you have the time or inclination to visit.

Our walk took us along the labyrinth of old waggonways in this part of Tyneside and through patches of urban woodland and parkland. It’s a very popular area for locals to walk their dogs or for a family walk on a Sunday morning before lunch. The waggonways themselves are generally tarmacced or paved and therefore our route was dry underfoot for most of the way. Fringed with autumn leaves, it felt surprisingly rural despite the fact that we had houses and business parks only a few metres away and traffic noise is filtered gently away.

There was only a small group of five on this walk and so we were able to set a brisk pace, weaving between all manner of wooded areas, open grass and quite densely planted copses. We had lunch at the Rising Sun country park, sheltering beneath the trees to avoid the spattering rain that decided to arrive at about 12:30pm.

The second half of the walk included a small climb – up a mound to a giant sundial (see Twitter feed opposite) with far reaching, but misty views over the surrounding Tyneside area.

There are miles and miles of interlaced paths and tracks around here and it’s well worth a visit if you get the chance.