Capital Ring Section 3, Beckenham Hill to Crystal Palace

 

1st April

I return to Beckenham Hill Station to pick up where I left off on 5thMarch 2026 and complete Section 3 of the Capital Ring to Crystal Palace. It is only a short walk from the station to Beckenham Place Park but I ignore the signposts towards “Capital Ring and Green Chain Walk” that point through the gateway opposite the station and cross over the railway line to retrace my steps along the path that runs along the northern edge of the park. After a couple of hundred yards I turn right to regain the route of the Capital Ring where I had left it before.

I take the path through the trees and up over the bridge that crosses the railway line into the woods, then follow that path in a great loop through dense woodland filled with birdsong (and yes, squawking parakeets too), passing the former lake which is now a wooded wetland then steadily uphill to a large Green Chain/Capital Ring signpost. Turning right here I walk back downhill emerging close to the western end of Beckenham Place Park Lake. It’s a quarter to one and time for a picnic lunch. Having been beaten to the one bench facing the lake I settle for one on the slope looking across the greensward to Beckenham Place Mansion, built in about 1760 for wealthy timber merchant John Cator. I notice that it could do with a lick of masonry paint 😀

After lunch I continue past the end of lake and climb uphill again, passing a large concrete squirrel, an almost Brutalist sculpture which I’m sure must scare at least some of the smaller kids. Its peeling paint is reddish though all the local live squirrels are the grey foreign invaders from across the Atlantic. The Homestead Cafe is very busy with young families but fortunately the Public Conveniences are not. I continue up the path to join a road which passes in front of Beckenham Place mansion with its tall portico. If the portico looks slightly out of place it might be because in 1783 Cator bought an estate in Blackheath with a house that he didn’t really want but which had an impressive portico. So he had the portico dismantled and rebuilt on the front of his house here. Rich people, lack of taste, not a new thing. If he were still here today he’d probably be adding a triple-fronted garage and a basement swimming pool 😏

I turn away from the house and head along a path to Stumps Hill Pond where a fox eludes my getting a decent photo, then through Stumpshill Wood (why the inconsistent spelling?) to emerge onto Southend Road. Crossing the road I begin a zig-zag trail along New Beckenham’s residential streets, with few points of interest save for The County Ground, home to Kent County Cricket Club, reminding everyone that this was once part of Kent rather than London, and the tall spire of St. Paul’s Church in Brackley Road. This part of the walk might have been a bit dull but for quite a few cherry trees in bloom and some very flowery front gardens.

I carry on along the streets until emerging from the subway under New Beckenham station I see the Crystal Palace Transmitter Tower on the horizon, looking quite close but in reality still about an hour and a half walk away. Another 500 yards or so on streets and I turn down an alleyway to escape into Cator Park where the sun comes out properly and I have to take off my gilet and stuff it into my backpack. Walking through Cator Park I cross two bridges over streams, first The Beck and secondly the Chaffinch Brook. They are both tributaries of the Pool River which the join in the middle of the park to flow north to its confluence with the River Ravensbourne just south of Catford. I walked the Ravensbourne from Catford Bridge to the Thames at Deptford Creek, I see that that was back in January 2023.

As I walk in the sunshine through Cator Park I come across some groundsmen with what I thought was a very small lawnmower. It seems to me a bit inadequate for the wide expanse of grass. On getting closer I realise that it’s actually a petrol powered disc cutter on wheels, used to trim the edges of the paths but for a moment I’m reminded of the rude joke involving a schoolboy, the punchline of which ends with the word “contagious”. You can look it up 😉

Out of Cator Park and I’m back to residential streets, a fenced off path between school playing fields, and more streets. Along the way I notice a stink-pipe in Lennard Road so I award myself two points even though it looks as if its top half is missing.

I also notice that around half of the telecoms jointing chambers (they’re not manholes) have covers with cast iron frames bearing the legend Post Office Telegraphs, which makes them likely to date from before 1911. Later ones say Post Office Telephones (or GPO, or BT). It’s quite a thing to think that these are still in use today. I can tell you that they are bloody heavy to lift out of their frames to access the cabling beneath 😅

I turn right after passing the junior school onto Cator Road - that man’s name runs through this area like the lettering in a stick of rock - then left between the houses up a short path with an old cast ‘Borough of Beckenham’ sign at each end warning that “The riding of Bicycles, Tricycles, or other similar machines on this footpath is Prohibited by Byelaw” with a maximum penalty of £5. I doubt that the cyclists take much notice now, even if they did when R Webster Storr, Town Clerk had the signs placed there. At the end of the path I enter the top right corner of Alexandra Recreation Ground and I’m greeted by a good showing of daffodils followed by another view of the Crystal Palace Transmitter Tower.

I walk the length of the park, passing a Metropolitan Drinking Fountain, exit into Maitland Road and find myself back on Lennard Road having completed a long loop to the north. I turn right down Lennard Road to cross over the Chatham Main Line railway using the station footbridge at Penge East, along Station Road past the former Park Farm Dairy building, then along the full length of Kingswood Road to reach the High Street. Some drama is afoot here involving an ambulance and three police cars in the road opposite but I continue up the High Street under the railway bridges at Penge West Station and into Crystal Palace Park.

I find Crystal Palace Park busy and largely a building site. Lots of things are behind hoardings and fences as the park is part way through a regeneration project. I’m grateful that the Public Conveniences are not fenced off and are still open! I have a choice of Capital Ring routes here and choose the slightly shorter (and recommended) route through the dinosaurs. The dinosaur area is safely fenced off, not to keep the beasts in but to keep the public out since the dinosaurs are also getting a makeover. I manage to get a half decent shot of an Iguanodon.

I’m nearly there and nearly done. The final push uphill past the Athletic Stadium brings me to the impressive building that is Crystal Palace Station. I can see the transmitter tower is much closer now and the terraces where the Crystal Palace stood before burning down in November 1936.

Capital Ring Section 3 ✅

A quick walk up and down Anerley Road reveals that it is disappointingly devoid of open pubs in which to have a celebratory pint, so I return to the station and catch the next train homeward.

A set of 52 photos from Capital Ring section 3 can be seen in this Flickr Album  (opens in a new window) or as a slideshow below if your viewer supports it. 

 

 

 

Capital Ring Section 10, South Kenton to Hendon Park

21st March

On impulse I took advantage of a sunny Saturday and rode the trains up to South Kenton to walk Capital Ring Section 10 which zig-zags across north west London from outside South Kenton station to Hendon Park. By the time I’d got to South Kenton it was twenty to one in the afternoon and since I’d not had time to prepare a picnic my first stop was Apna Superstore outside the station to grab a sandwich. A short walk on streets brought me to the Montpelier Rise entrance to Preston Park which was lined with very photogenic cherry blossom.

I decided that Preston Park was a good place to stop for lunch even though I’d only been walking for 10 minutes because the next 20 minutes or so would all be on suburban roads with no likely picnic spots. Also I was hungry. Once refueled I carried on along residential streets of semi-detached houses, past Preston Road Underground Station on the Metropolitan Line and then down Uxendon Crescent to pass under the Jubilee Line. Just after going under the railway bridge a water course in a concrete channel appeared on the left which a check on Open Streetmap revealed that this was the Wealdstone Brook, a “lost river” and troubled tributary of the River Brent, taking water - and often other less pleasant things - from the Harrow area to the north to its confluence with the Brent near Wembley. It has a reputation for smelliness but fortunately not today.

Climbing up Uxendon Hill a grassy pathway which was being cut by a man with a lawnmower led past his barbed-wire topped, CCTV sign adorned garden fence to a slightly muddy path through a small wood and then out into an open space beside the Jubilee Line.

This was the beginning of Fryent Country Park and what is the best part of Section 10. Turning right by the footbridge over the Jubilee Line I began the long and increasingly steep climb across the open field and into the woods where it continued upwards on a broad muddy path to Barn Hill Pond. The bench next to the Trig Point was conveniently available for a sit down and from there i could see the arch of Wembley Stadium to the right and through the trees to the left a glimpse of the BT Tower, the cluster of towers in the City, and of course the ever-present Shard.

After a while I left this viewpoint behind, walking around the pond and about 20 yards down a woodland path before returning to the pond and turning right along the path that I should have taken, which led steeply downhill (which was the clue that I had wandered off course at the pond) through Barn Hill Open Space. There were signs warning that the path might be slippery but I was happy to find it had dried out enough to offer reasonably firm footing all the way to the bottom where the route turned right along the edge of the woods to the car park. Having crossed the busy A4140 Fryent Way a gap in the hedge led into an old hay meadow, then through another gap on the far side into another meadow. Standing in this field surrounded by white flowering Hawthorn hedges which filtered out the sound of traffic leaving only the birdsong (not parakeets for a change) it was difficult to believe that I was in London. I sent a panoramic photo to my sister with the title “This is London” and got back the reply “Is it hiding behind that tree?” 😀

I passed a small pond with a couple of information boards next to it then followed the hedge line through another couple of fields where the grass was a bit squelchy but no deep mad and up onto Gotford’s Hill. From the Capital Ring signpost at the top there is another good view of the Wembley Stadium Arch.

From the top of Gotford’s Hill I descended through more fields and Hawthorn blossom to a short alleyway that led out of Fryent Country Park and out of the countrified bit of Section 10. From Salmon Street which wasn’t at all fishy I turned into Lavender Avenue which seemed conspicuously lavender free but at least had cherry blossom then zig-zagged through more residential streets to the B454 Church Lane. I crossed the road by the imposingly tall St. Andrew’s Kingsbury Church with its spire thrusting up into the blue heavens then turned left down Old Church Lane. Here on the left set among Yew trees in an old graveyard I found the much more interesting 12th Century Old St. Andrew Kingsbury. This old church building, replaced by the much larger one I’d just passed, has a pale green copper-clad spire, incorporates Roman bricks into its structure and is now used by the Romanian Orthodox Church. More immediately important was the big flat stone table grave near the door which made a very handy place to sit and rest in the shade of the Yews.

From the old church I headed down the lane to Birchen Grove past the allotments and through a gateway to reach the northern side of the Brent Reservoir. A long stretch of water more popularly known as the Welsh Harp Reservoir after a pub which stood nearby until it was demolished in the 1970s. Constructed in the mid 1830s by damming the River Brent and the Silk Stream the reservoir was intended to provide water to the Regent’s Canal and the Grand Union Canal which in the 1820s were suffering water shortages. They had become so busy that the number of lock operations was draining the pounds faster than the existing water supply could fill them. From the dam at the western end there are two outflows, the River Brent and a canal feeder channel that runs south to eventually flow into the Grand Union Canal Paddington Branch near Harlesden railway station. Not that you can see the outflows from the Capital Ring which skirts north around the grounds of the Welsh Harp Sailing Association before running parallel to the water.

I followed the path for about a mile beside the reservoir, occasionally making short diversions to the waterside where I could see sailing boats and a Golden Retriever blatantly ignoring the No Swimming signs, until I came to Cool Oak Lane and the Welsh Harp Bridges, crossing the Silk Stream on the footbridge provided parallel to the very narrow old road bridge.

This would be the last bit of open space until reaching the end of Section 10. At the end of Cool Oak Lane I turned left to cross the busy A5 West Hendon Broadway, made more complicated by footway diversions and temporary traffic lights for roadworks, which made what should have been a right turn into Park Road into a left turn. Park Road took me over the Midland Main Line railway and then the M1 Motorway just north of Staples Corner, site of two IRA bombings in 1992 and 1993. It was a long old slog up Park Road between semi-detached houses with small front gardens, bins and junk on the footways, and only the occasional stunted cherry tree in blossom attempting to brighten up the scene.

I crossed under the A41 Hendon Way dual carriageway and into another residential street, Beaufort Gardens where the local council had adorned multiple lamp posts with notices which stated all the public behaviours, from begging to peeing, for which you could receive a £1000 fine. A right turn into Cheyne Walk then left into an alleyway and up onto a footbridge over the Northern Line Edgware Branch where I had to squeeze through a group of people wearing their Saturday best who seemed a bit put out at the inconvenience of moving aside for anyone to pass, then down the other side and into Hendon Park where Section 10 ends.

The bench became free so I had a sit down, the last of my water, and an oat bar before following the path alongside the railway line towards Hendon Central station. By the exit from the park I spotted a Public Convenience. Ah, good. Locked up and looked like permanently shut, not good. It smelt of piss around the back so presumably a lot of people had needed to risk the £1000 fine. Perhaps provide fewer threatening notices and more necessary facilities Barnet?

On reaching Hendon Central Circus and after walking past it twice because the front is somewhat inconspicuous, found The Bodhran pub where I was able to do what Barnet Council had denied me and then have a very welcome (and very reasonably priced) pint of Murphy’s ☘

Then I had another pint of Murphy's. Then I decided that I really should go home 😁

It had been a lovely day for a walk and about half of this section is very nice, the other half was quite tiring though. 

Here’s a link to 48 photos on Flickr (opens in a new tab)

Or slideshow below if your viewer supports it:

 

Capital Ring, Falconwood to Beckenham Hill - Sections 1 (end), 2, and 3 (start).

5th March

A nice sunny day to go and walk Section 2 of the Capital Ring so I went back to Falconwood station. I was last here on the 27th of November2025 and then it was very dark. Too dark to complete the last part of section 1 in fact because stumbling about in the pitch black through Sherpherdleas Wood was too risky. So to avoid being troubled by the possibility of mild OCD I first walked back up Rochester Way and turned onto a sunny woodland path at the Capital Ring signpost to fill in the gap and complete Section 1.

I followed the path around in a big loop through the trees, crossing Eltham Park North and then alongside the railway line which had brought me to Falconwood until I reached the concrete bridge which spans both that railway and the Rochester Way Relief Road.

Capital Ring section 1 ✅ - totally this time.

Updated Flickr Album for Capital Ring Section 1 (opens in a new window) 

Section 2

From the start at the concrete bridge this section is only three and a half miles long, plus another half mile link to Grove Park station. A nice gentle stroll on a sunny afternoon taking in Eltham Park South and Eltham Palace on the way and finishing up alongside the River Quaggy. That was the plan.

I followed the path around the eastern and southern boundaries of Eltham Park before taking the short diversion just before the fenced off games courts to the toilets by the cafe. There were several benches nearby so I decided it was time for my lunch. True I hadn’t walked far but it was one o’clock and the map didn’t suggest that there would be a suitable picnic spot for some distance going forward. Samosas were consumed while the dogs and joggers circumnavigated the park in the warm sunshine. Before setting off again my hoodie went into my backpack as it was nice enough for shirtsleeves only.

Exiting the park a section of suburban road walking followed, brightened by a huge magnolia tree flowering in a front garden before crossing Bexley Road and heading down Butterfly Lane. I didn’t see any butterflies but instead just where the lane curved right there was a big hollowed out tree that appeared like a huge antlered beast standing on four elephant-like legs.

Shortly afterwards I reached Conduit Meadow with the low brick structure called Conduit Head partly sunk into the grassy slope. This was built in the 16th century to provide water for Eltham Palace. Wooden pipes brought water from springs higher up the hill to a tank and sluice within the Conduit Head to provide a controlled supply of fresh water which ran in a pipe beneath the moat to the royal palace.

After crossing Footscray Road and a bit of a slog up North Park I crossed Court Road and walked in the shadow of a tall Tudor brick wall along Tilt Yard Approach. The Tilt Yard referred to - a place for knightly jousting competitions - was added at the Palace of Eltham by Henry VIII who had spent much of his early life here and was keen on such games. Turning left into Court Yard brought me to the gates of Eltham Palace itself. I have previously visited Eltham Palace courtesy of a Christmas Present of a year’s English Heritage membership so had no need to pass through the gates this time, instead turning right alongside the moat and down King John’s Walk.

King John had a very long walk, all the way to Mottingham in fact, first down hill then turning south and climbing up past the Palace Stables to wide fields with a fine vista over London. From a bench near the top I could see landmarks from the Crystal Palace transmitter tower to the west through the cluster of towers in the city, The Shard (of course), and those on the Isle of Dogs. On King John’s Walk itself there is an information board with a diagram showing all the various landmarks to be seen. It faces a high hedge. You have to squeeze through a narrow gateway into Vista Field to actually see anything.

I walked down the other side of the hill to rejoin King John’s Walk at Middle Park Avenue then followed it over the footbridge crossing the Dartford Loop railway line and crossed the busy A20 dual carriageway. Shortly after which i crossed the Little Quaggy and passed from the Royal Borough of Greenwich into the London Borough of Bromley. King John’s walk, now a much narrower path, ended at Mottingham Lane but the Capital Ring carried on, turning right and passing the Mottingham Farm Riding Centre on the right and Eltham College Junior School on the left before turning left onto a footpath with high metal pallisade fences on both sides. They really don’t want anybody getting onto the playing fields of Eltham College.

The fenced off path followed the boundary of the playing fields before eventually reaching the River Quaggy, here in a deep concrete channel and marking the boundaries of the boroughs of Bromley and Lewisham. I started hearing disembodied voices at this point, which was a bit odd until I stepped closer to the river and realised that a couple of welly-clad urban explorers were wading along the river below - it was only a few inches deep - and the concrete channel caused their echoey conversation to travel to where I stood. We exchanged greetings and then headed upstream although I was on the dry route.

I passed through a car park to reach Marvels Lane where Section 2 ends and then crossed over to get a better picture of the River Quaggy flowing from its source further south (where it is known as the Kyd Brook).

Capital Ring Section 2 ✅

Flickr Album for Capital Ring Section 2 (opens in a new window) 

But it was only three o’clock. I had a decision to make. Go to Grove Park station and head for home early or carry on along the Capital Ring? Section 3 goes from Grove Park to Crystal Palace and is quite far at 8.3 miles including links to stations. If I carried on for a bit I could shorten that for next time and although I didn’t have the guide notes printout with me I have the route in Co-Maps on my phone and the Capital Ring is generally well way-marked. I decided to carry on for a while to a point where I could conveniently break at a bus stop or station.

Section 3

I turned right and carried on up Marvels Lane passing a set of fancy copper-domed gate houses at the entrance to Pennington Way with a large house visible behind and at Grove Park Library turned right, crossed the road, and then left into Coopers Lane. Coincidentally something from a barrel would have been quite welcome at this point.

A right and a left at Baring Road took me into Railway Children Walk, a path which runs beside Stratfield House, site of the home of E. Nesbit author of The Railway Children, a great book and a popular film starring Jenny Agutter and Bernard Cribbins. At the end of Railway Children Walk comes the actual railway, though not the one in the film and not at the bottom of the garden. This one is the South Eastern Main Line and has a tall cage-like footbridge to cross the four running lines and three tracks leading into the large commuter train stabling complex at Grove Park Sidings.

Also seen from the top of the footbridge was Hither Green Cemetery. Twenty minutes of wheely bins and other residential street hazards got me to Downham Woodland Walk, a narrow strip of mature trees with a well surfaced path running between playing fields, schools, and houses and with a couple of ninety degree turns, first left then right before reaching the A21 Bromley Road. Not before having to navigate around four Police Officers performing a stop and search on someone with whom they appeared to be well acquainted - he thanked them and wished them a nice day when they’d finished. I was glad it was daylight.

I crossed over at the lights and walked up Old Bromley road to enter Beckenham Place Park, the largest green space in the Borough of Lewisham, so it says on the sign at the entrance. I stopped for a rest on a bench for a drink of squash and checked the map. Beckenham Hill Station lay just west of the park where i could get a Thameslink train back into town so where the Capital Ring turned south across the park (and I don’t recall seeing a sign at that point?) I carried straight on to the station.

While waiting for my train I checked the GPS track I’d started at Falconwood and found that by carrying on to save having to walk 8.3 miles on the next outing I had inadvertently covered 7.8 miles on this one 🙄

Flickr Album for Capital Ring Section 3 - so far (opens in a new window)

 

Tyneside Travels

 February 23rd to 28th 

It had been a long time since I’d last visited Newcastle-upon-Tyne. That was on a Saturday afternoon in July 1981 having just walked most of Hadrian’s Wall and we were only there while waiting for the 10.30 pm coach back to London. A return visit seemed due. I’d stay for five nights this time rather than five hours.

Monday

I wouldn’t be doing with cramped long distance buses but the relative comfort of the 1214 Lumo train from London Kings Cross. I’ve travelled with Lumo before (to Edinburgh). Their one-class service is much cheaper than LNER, the service on board is good, and for a modern UK train the seats and legroom are not bad at all even if you are 6’5”. The train arrived at Newcastle Central at five minutes past three for a convenient check-in at the adjacent Royal Station Hotel. Good job I’d remembered to bring my passport which they insisted on seeing at check-in. Newcastle must have separated from the rest of the UK at some point in the last 45 years 😀

Once settled in I set off for a walk around the city and to get something to eat and drink, heading first down to the Quayside to see the famous bridges.

Later I went into the Victoria Comet pub opposite the railway station for a pint of bitter. In a thin glass. Their web site claims Our pub is well known for appearing in the cult gangster film classic ‘Get Carter’, as the first stop for Michael Caine’s hitman character when he arrives in Newcastle. Sources elsewhere on the internet (so it must be true) suggest that the pub Carter goes to opposite the station when he first arrives in Newcastle was The Long Bar and that that was demolished not long after the 1971 film was made. I don’t know who is right but everyone was certainly drinking from thin glasses, mostly Italian lager. Fortunately they also had a fairly good range of cask ales to ensure that I’d return. Interestingly I did not see one person drinking Newcastle Brown Ale the entire time I was up there. Not even with a bottle and a half-pint glass. What happened to regional stereotypes?

Tuesday

Back in 1981 when we approached the outskirts of Newcastle after a week of walking in hot weather (we were all sunburnt on the right hand side only) our party split in two. The completists would carry on walking through to Wallsend. Those who had had enough caught a train into the city and found a suitable pub in which to wait before reuniting with the others for the bus home. The latter idea appealed more to 18 year-old me so I’d never seen the Eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall. Forty-five years on I still didn’t fancy the walk. Instead having breakfasted on a local delicacy consisting of sausage meat encased in flaky pastry, retailed by a Mr. Gregg, I hopped on the Metro train to Wallsend. I got an Adult Day Saver ticket for £6.70 which would allow me unlimited travel all over the Metro Network plus the Shields Ferry for the day. To put that into context that 90p less than a single 22 minute ride from my local station to Reading.

It’s a short walk from Wallsend railway station to the Segedunum Roman Fort museum which marks the end of Hadrian’s Wall next to the River Tyne. A space age Viewing Tower 35 metres tall overlooks the site of the Roman fort, now visible only as lines where the walls stood, the actual buildings long gone, becoming a convenient quarry for local builders.

The site became the Wallsend Colliery and from the 1880s the fort area was covered by streets of terraced houses for the workers in the shipyards. The museum displays cover two main stories of things that have gone. The Roman occupation and life in the fort is the larger subject. The other story is that of the famous Swan Hunter shipyard which grew up in Wallsend. Between 1842 and 2006 over 1600 ships were built here including RMS Mauretania (1906) and the former flagship of the Royal Navy, HMS Ark Royal (1981), as well as many tankers. I must admit the Swan Hunter side of things was more interesting to me, perhaps because it’s from within my lifetime. Even more so the former shipbuilder who was showing his grandson around the museum and reflecting on the change in the scene since the yards closed.

I did at last get to see the end (or the start) of Hadrian’s Wall where a small part of it remains, poking out toward the river through the railings surrounding the fort site.

I wonder whether the completists from our 1981 group saw much? At the time the shipyards were still here and the houses still covered the fort.  

From Wallsend I took a train to Whitley Bay, the North East’s big seaside resort, now somewhat diminished. But for Dire Straits fans the famous Spanish City is still there and still looking pretty as mentioned in the 1980 song Tunnel of Love although now flanked by a Premier Inn.

I had a coffee on the seafront surrounded by fearless and noisy starlings and then got a train to Tynemouth. As I arrived the sun came out and bathed the Priory and Castle in golden light. I walked up to Admiral Lord Collingwood’s memorial on the headland where it was very, very windy but afforded great views across the mouth of the Tyne to South Shields and back up the river towards Newcastle.

Then I headed back on the train to the city.

36 Flickr Photos of Whitley Bay and Tynemouth (opens in new window) 

Wednesday

Another day, another Metro Day Saver ticket. This one took me back to the coast. It was a nice day for it too. First I went to South Shields. My Nan (paternal grandmother) was born in South Shields although I wasn’t really sure of that fact until a few years ago so I sort of have roots in Tyneside, albeit very shallow ones. Nan was born in 1896, making her an actual Victorian and died when I was still a child. I recall her as a small but formidable woman, quite strict, who had raised four sons and two daughters - probably explains the strict part - and it’s only looking back now that I can recognise that she had retained her North East accent despite moving to Suffolk, Pembrokeshire, West London, and back to Suffolk. Anyway I can at last say that I’ve been to Nan’s birthplace and very nice it is too with sandy beaches and a picturesque red lighthouse.

I joined the small crowd on the pier and watched a giant vehicle carrier ship come in from the North Sea and shepherded by a tugboat make its way between Tynemouth and South Shields and disappear up the Tyne. Then I walked along the seafront and through the town to take the ferry to North Shields. This plan was promptly scuppered because the Shields Ferry was suspended due to the north landing being damaged by a storm. Bugger.

37 Flickr Photos from South Shields (opens in new window)

Plan B. Train to Sunderland. I have a vague recollection of stopping for supplies at Sunderland once on a road trip to the Scottish Borders. This time I walked from the station to the Wearmouth Bridge, crossed the river and saw a sign pointing to “St Peter’s Church AD674” and decided to go there. Only the west wall and tower are Anglo-Saxon, the rest having been rebuilt, added to, and restored over the subsequent centuries. I guess Bede would still recognise some of it though.

I looked at the map and decided to carry on to Seaburn railway station. Then I remembered that a sign on the platform at Seaburn had said it was only 15 minutes walk from the beach so I had the bright idea of walking there via the seafront at Roker. The flag-shaggers had been out to adorn the lamp posts of Monkwearmouth but apart from that it wasn’t too tiresome a walk down to the front at Roker. For a Wednesday afternoon in February it was even quite busy.

Wrong time of year for guided tours of the pier tunnel and lighthouse though unfortunately. I walked along the front, up through Roker Park, and threaded my way through the residential area to Seaburn Station where I was surprised to sea an unexpected windmill sticking up above the houses. With excellent timing a train back to Newcastle showed up almost immediately.

24 Flickr Photos from Sunderland and Roker (opens in new window) 

Later that evening I took a stroll across the High Level Bridge and back via the Swing Bridge just for the opportunity to get photos of the Tyne bridges at night.

Thursday

I couldn’t visit Newcastle without visiting the actual castle really so after breakfast I did just that. I arrived shortly after it opened for the day and it was quiet. Shortly after that the party of (possibly Portuguese) school students arrived and it was… less quiet. On the plus side I could eavesdrop on their guided tour. What remains of the castle is divided into two sites, the Black Gate and The Castle Keep. They are separated by a bloody great railway viaduct carrying the East Coast Main Line above you. This is not immediately obvious when you come out of the Black Gate back into the street. Some signage might help since you can’t see one building from the other.

I was a bit disappointed that the roof level of the Keep was locked off due to “risk of dangerous winds”. Especially since you only found this out after climbing the ninety-ish uneven stairs to the locked gate at the top. The rest of it was still worth it though.

12 Flickr Photos of Newcastle Castle (opens in new window) 

Next stop was St. Nicholas Cathedral which was very cathedral like.

There are a lot of grand old buildings in Newcastle, coal and shipping used to pay well. There are as you’d expect a good many statues too. Behind the cathedral you can find probably the oddest. High on a wall above an ornate doorway into the back of Cathedral Buildings The Vampire Rabbit stares down at you. Totally black save for the staring eyes and red, bloody fangs and claws you might miss it as you walk by. Be sure it will be watching you though. There’s a panel on the wall giving a couple of stories to try to explain this strange apparition, including the idea that it might be a hare with its ears on backwards. Which just raises more questions.

12 Flickr Photos from Newcastle Cathedral (opens in new window) 

I also visited the Laing Art Gallery, the ornate Central Arcade, the large covered Grainger Market, had a general explore of the city centre, and later dined at the Victoria Comet before wandering back down to the castle for a really nice pint in the Bridge Hotel opposite the keep and right alongside the High Level Bridge. I think there was live jazz upstairs which was clearly audible downstairs. Either that or they have a very eclectic jukebox.

Friday

All the walking around over the last three days was beginning to tell on my joints. So I elected for a gentle ride on a train. Durham or Hexham? I flipped a coin, Hexham it was. The better outcome I think in the end. About half an hour on the train and I stepped out into a sunny Hexham. I walked slowly up the hill from the station to the market place, then through a park with masses of crocuses in bloom to Hexham Abbey.

You cannot help but look up when you enter the abbey - it’s designed that way. I think it is an even more impressive space than the Cathedral in Newcastle. So much carving, so much painting, so many stained glass windows, so tall. Also two very worn tomb effigies, almost faceless so that they reminded me of The Auditors in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

After the abbey I had coffee at a Buster's near the Moot House, wandered the lanes of the town centre and failed to resist the temptation of the delightful smell coming out of Paxton’s Fish and Chip shop on the Market Square. Sat on a bench on the market in the sunshine eating cod and chips. In February.

I went back down the hill, got a cold drink and something for lunch on the train home the next day (I do like hotel rooms with fridges, even if this one only had three of its four feet) and with plenty of time to spare sat next to the River Tyne by the stone many-arched road bridge. It was so nice that I did sweet FA for the next half an hour.

Until it clouded over and sent down a few spots of rain to remind me that this was The North and February. I got the train back to Newcastle. Had an afternoon nap. Watched Top of the Pops. Watched Endeavour. Packed. Slept.

45 Flickr Photos from Hexham (opens in new window) 

Saturday

Train - Tube - Train - Train - Walk - Home. No train dramas for a change.

What a good adventure that was.

The Big Trip To Tyneside Flickr Album, 247 photos (opens in new window) 

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