To the coast!

After a series of moorland walks, this one took us back to sea level and a lovely ramble around Whitley Bay. The first leg of the walk was along the old waggon-ways that criss-cross our region and provide such excellent walking. They also provide excellent biking, dog walking and jogging.

This can be a bit of a pain on some waggon-ways as you are continually dodging bikes (what’s wrong with using a bell??) or gasping joggers as you enjoy your walk. That said, I’m not too precious about it most of the time, it’s only when things end up like the M25 and us walkers end up continually giving way. This walk was a nice balance of all the groups that use and enjoy the waggon-way trails.

The ones around Whitley Bay soon leave the urban landscape to bring you out to the lovely agricultural landscape of the region. After a couple of miles along the tracks we descended into the Autumnal splendour of Holywell Dene. The colours are superb this year and the rich golden tints of beech and field maple were a joy.

We enjoyed our lunch sitting beneath this beautiful canopy, sheltering from some weak showers that clattered on the leaves above us.

The Dene walk brought us out along the banks of the Seaton Burn to the picturesque harbour at Seaton Sluice. However, by this point it was raining heavily and we were reluctant to raise our heads to take in the view.

We continued along the coast and the clouds gradually cleared and we had fine views of St Mary’s lighthouse and the NE coast. The twitchers amongst us spotted some Golden Plover in a field.

The final leg re-joined the waggon-ways and brought us back to the start point near the Metro Station.