1255 Rivera Coastline

I live within a day's walking of the most varied and attractive coastline as anywhere in the British Islands. Sure its lacks the isolation of Scottish shores, the rolling sands of Southport, or the seaside of Scarborough, but I can experience aspects of all three, enjoy fish and chips from the voted best restaurant in the North or a quality three course meal at the National Glass centre.

I am fortunate to be able to have the time and the means to do this as I share the environment with some of the most economically and socially deprived people in Britain. The problem is not the lack of political will or effort at local and national level. The reality is that it has become cheaper to important coal for our power stations and only a minority of domestic households burn coal, while ships are built in other places, as is much of the steel. It is cheaper and more environmentally friendly and consumer popular to have Scampi sent half way across the world to be hand shelled and then returned home to be packed for the supermarket shelves, or for our Christmas time decorations to be made in China, than locally.

Various actions have and are being taken to change the local economy to the modern world, and tourism is one of these. However the task is how to ensure an increase in the all year number of visitors staying in the wide range of hotels and guest houses, or taking a good meal in the dozens of restaurants, pubs and cafes, along or close to coast and riversides, without destroying the special nature of the environmental mixture.

Seaside South Shields
The stretch of wide sands between the Tyne river mouth and the south harbour pier wall is known as Little Haven, and this is the name of the purpose built 62 room modern hotel at the beginning of the coastline. Here you can a couple can stay for £64 at weekends, including full English Breakfast, or for £94 with two children in a family room, or for that special treat the Penthouse Suite at £180 a night. Between the hotel and the pier wall there are public care and coach parks and a wide beach overlooking the river mouth, which is used for those who wish to keep close to the funfair and fish and chip outlets.

The amusement arcades at the Ocean Park Fun Fare are open all year and the rides from Easter until September from 10 am until late. Part of the Funfair is the Dunes complex which includes a pub restaurant, a ten pin bowling centre and billiard tables, as well as traditional amusements. There are several fish and chips restaurants, tea rooms and ice cream outlets. To one side of the Amusement Park there are beachside homes and between the park and the beach the Local authority has developed an all weather outdoor centre for skate boarding, football and other sports.

The depth of the sands of the beach is extraordinary, with an area of dunes and a small row of beach chalets homes which have been improved to the extent that they are hired out for both week and weekend holiday homes at reasonable rates. Next to the chalets is a popular Italian restaurant which incorporates two railway carriages. Along this stretch of costal main road there are two other restaurants bars with the popular Sand Dancer recently renovated to create a beach bar atmosphere. There is also the amphitheatre with entertainments for family, teenagers and children throughout the summer months of July to August. There is also a covered walk way which doubles as a band space and entertainment area if it rains and from the top there are great views in all directions. There are glorious banks of flowers on the other side of coast road and a former wall of fountains is also used for flowers. The three parks, the caravan and camping site and the football recreation pitches are all on the other side of the road, together with the amateur theatre, the original Life boat, the Sea Hotel and the Ocean Road parade of restaurants and guest house hotels.

Trow Rocks, Frenchman's Creek and Marsden Grotto. At present the Sand Dancer and the old Bandstand marks the end of Seaside South Shields, with the former New Crown Hotel across the coast road to Sunderland. There are plans to convert the bandstand into a café and build a hotel and conference centre on the Gypsies Green Stadium, and which each year becomes part of the end of Great North Run facilities. The land between the beach road, used for emergency and public vehicles, and the Coast Road widens considerably at this point, all the way to the former Trow Quarry and Rocks, above which sit's the former World War 1 gun emplacement.

The beach can be used for sunbathing but swimming is prohibited as this is the designed area for water sports and at different times of the year the surfing is highly regarded.

It is from a recently closed beachside restaurant before the former Quarry that the coast line changes with the majority of the bays and inlets hidden from the Coast Road and from parts of the Leas. It was coincidental that on an early day of my summer walking, a three mastered and rigged sailing ship was anchored off the entrance to the River Tyne, reminding of former times when such vessels would anchor off shore and lower boats to bring in contraband. The most famous location is the cave inside the cliffs at Marsden Bay, subsequently turned into a restaurant and bar.

The story begins with an Allenhead miner and his wife who decided to live in the cave when he retired aged 80 with the consequence that gentle folk came on horse and in their carriages to look at this phenomenon, and couple had the great idea of providing refreshments. The cave was then developed into an Inn and a smuggler was shot with his ghost haunting the place ever since and a pint is left out each evening and is sometimes drunk. Another man who betrayed his comrades was imprisoned in a barrel which was held by the winch which took the contraband up to the cliff top through a cave shaft.

The main development of the cave into a major building occurred between 1828 and 1874 resulting in eight rooms including a kitchen, ballroom and bedrooms. The facility was then aquired by the Whitburn Mining Company, which in turn became the Harton Mining Company and a barrister was installed as tenant whose main interest was gambling. Tenant after tenant followed and the establishment degenerated. In 1898 the lease was acquired by Vaux, the former Sunderland brewing and hotel owning company, and became the freehold owners in 1939. The Marsden Grotto has a lift alongside the cliff which takes visitors down to the first floor dining room, or the lower bar with beach veranda where snack meals can also be purchased. Towards the end of the twentieth century the fortunes of Vaux changed and the establishment closed its doors. The vast River Wearside plant was demolished and has remained vacant for over half a decade because of an ongoing dispute about its future use. Oxford Hotels acquired the Grotto in 2006 and it has been developed into a fish restaurant with the lower level now Jack's bar.

It was a bright sunny day when I made the walk down the pathway from the Leas, and then across the rocks and sands to the Inn. There are also two sets of public steep stairs, leading to he beach, although one was closed for safety reasons. It is wise not to walk too closely below the cliffs because of the risk of falling rocks. I arrived at midday and was able to take the last vacant table on the veranda, enjoying an overflowing prawn baguette with a little salad for £5.50. An accompanying full salad costs an additional £2. I spent a pleasant hour overlooking the famous Marsden Rock, once arched, until it too began to fragment so it had to be blown up to prevent serious injuries to the many young and old who like to explore at the base.

My journey exploring the rocky coast land was only halfway.

1752 For Northumbrian towns on a hot day

And so Thursday July 2nd, Mediterranean Hot reached the North East and enveloped Tyneside for twelve hours of the day. It was the kind of day to inspire into action and not the day to stay inside pretending it was just another day. It was a day which reminded of why I had once wanted to create a new life in a climate where such days are the norm. Unfortunately the weather forecast for us was that heavy rain would following during Friday. I was uncertain how to enjoy this reminder of what might have been

It was not until 11 am that I ventured out deciding to take fitness walk but accepting my age and condition sufficiently to take the car down the hill and parking just before Ocean Road. I went down to the front to look at where the Council is proposing to build a new swimming pool. There was no estimate of when it would be completed but hopefully I will live to see it finished and in a physical condition to use. There will be no excuse then although I assume that during weekdays especially in term time there will be school parties and it will be necessary to get up early or go late afternoon or early evening. I still have to lose another stone before considering such activity.

The new Italian Restaurant appears to have become established as it remains open until late at night. It offers a three course lunch for just under £8 which includes a choice of any Pizza or past on the menu with prices around £7 to £8 which means that one gets a limited choice of special starters. and ice cream or coffee for free. Then there is usually a drink to start with, so call it £10 a person. I wondered how many takers they have. However it compares favourably with the pubs offering two main courses for between £7 and £9, because if you add a starter drink, a food starter and pudding or coffee to finish the final tally will be closer to £10 than the£5 I used to pay when I eat out regularly at midday several times a week between twenty and ten years ago.
I climbed the sand dune behind Dunes, well the link was with Las Vegas, but it is a good dune giving a different perspective on the Bay as from the Hill the view is obscured by the trees in the parks. There was a refreshing strong breeze coming off the sea and one longer for many more such days, although my on going work would be more seriously affected than it has been since taking the decision to make my seventieth a different experience from the sixty nine beforehand, and if possible sufficiently memorable to help me through the ordeals and processes of increasing old age.

As I walked down the other side of the dune I re-jigged what had been in my mind when I set off and walked as far as the Amphitheatre. If the weather held I would attend the first free evening gig of the year having missed all the eight held during June for one reason or another. I walked back though the park commenting to myself that the Council had made a mistake in not recreating a Victorian tea room to replace the popular facility which had existed before, no doubt under pressure from the nearby outlets on the sea front who wanted the custom.

I was home just after midday and checked the score at Durham. As I had anticipated Worcestershire had not collapsed in the same way as Durham and the match was likely to go into its fourth day. I had a lunch of smoked mackerel salad with the rest of the cherries and checked the score at the midday interval 60 for 2 and judged that my assumption of a fourth day was accurate. I would go on an explore into Northumberland in search of Wilkinson stores and black display folders and found the locations of three others at Cramlington, Ashington and Blyth to that at North Tyneside where I knew where it was located from having gone in search of a cup of tea on a previous explore of the town centre.

In forty years I have previously driven through Ashington once. This is a medium size town of under 30000 people situation three miles from the coast and was once the heart of the Northumberland coalfields. It still regards itself as a village with its own dialect which is a variant of Geordie and Mackem

It is also the birthplace of a number of internationally known professional footballers who all played for the Ashington Football Club. The best known are the Charlton Brothers of Bobby and Jackie. Bobby survived the Munich air crash and went on to play for England and become the ambassador of British Football and his beloved Manchester United. Jackie made his name at Leeds had less of an international career as a player but went onto manage both Newcastle and Middlesborough and the Northern Ireland National side. Both players were part of the 1966 successful World Cup squad.

In Ashington’s pedestrian town centre there is a statue of one footballer, Wor Jackie Milburn who scored 238 goals for Newcastle, a club record to this day. Others includes Peter Ramage who also played for Newcastle but has since moved to a London Club in a lower division. The two present day outstanding sportsmen are Cricketers, former World number one fast Bowler Steve Harmison and his brother Ben were also born in the town. The Former owner of Newcastle who built the largest indoor shopping mall at Gateshead, the Metro centre and developed St James Park into the present stadium Sir John Hall was also born in the town. I once took a party of Councillors from Wuppertal to meet Sir John and tour the Metro Centre. He spent an hour explaining the importance of the centre to the North East. I had told him in advance that their Council had voted to prevent a shopping centre in or near their town. I then met his son and son in law for a drink while the visitors went shopping. Among others from the town was the first head of Scotland Yard’s bomb squad, an astrologer, an opera singer and an author and architect.

Ashington survives but it still has the look of a town with a past rather than a future. There are approved plans for an open cast coal field outside the town with will provide 60 jobs where once thousands were employed in the central coalmines and those in neighbouring communities such as Ellington, Linton. Woodhorn and, North Seaton. I found the car park tucked away at one end of the high street behind the now closed and grim looking building which was once converted into a Netto supermarket but had a prior history lost except to the oldies none of whom were about so I could ask. Wilkinson is located at the other end of the High Street in a new building close to the railway station which is now only used for freight trains. It is sad but Ashington is not a place anyone would chose live or even visit. You received an education which hopefully took you away from the pit and to Newcastle, or down south or across the world. It is not surprising that there was also the emphasis on sport. Another outlet used to be painting as a hobby and the work of Ashington Pitmen Painters has become internationally known.

Whereas Ashington is struggling to survive, Blyth about he same distance from Newcastle as South Shields presents a very different face. Yet Like Ashington it was once the centre for coal mining, the transport of coal, ship building larger than on the Tyne or Wear. and fishing and is located on the river Blyth as it reaches the North East Sea. It is medium size town with around 35000 yet as a superior shopping centre to South Shields over twice its size. While there were some shuttered establishments in side streets the feel of the town centre is very different and this is also reflected by the port remaining in use bringing in pulp from Scandinavia for the newspaper industry. The Quay area had been developed with new buildings and sculptures and a wind farm of nine turbines. However a large number of resident now work on North Tyneside and Newcastle to use the tunnel to the South Tyneside and Sunderland. A superficial reaction but I immediately had the sense of a town with a future and an identity fit for the 21st century.

In between these two towns is Cramlington, a new town created around a former village. It is an artificial community bland without character. The town is bigger than either Ashington or Blyth and comprising large wide avenues of new semi detached and detached housing around a functional indoor shopping centre. There are several large industrial zone separate from the housing with an emphasis on pharmaceuticals. It gives the impression of being a model town for the 21st century, souless, colourless, cultureless.

As for the purpose of the visits, Cramlington provide four black display folders and Ashington 3 whereas Blyth had only one green 40 page folder in stock. The reason why none of the stores has ordered more of the 40 page volumes is that no one is buying the 20 page and all the stores have two or three boxes of these and obviously hope once the 40 page editions have sold out people will take the 20 page size.

The treat of the afternoon was to visit Newbiggin by the sea, an attractive town with straddles a large bay Although once a small port for shipping grain and for coal mining reflected in some of the housing away from the high street, the atmosphere is very different from the others town visited. It is in fact a large village with a population of around 7000. I parked at the far end of the main road which ends at two car parks and the church. One belongs to the golf club and the second is public and free and headland to a grass covered headland with a stone monument created for the millennium under which there is a time capsule containing creations by local school children. From here you have a commanding view of the bay and its fine sands. The sand is new as the former beach eroded and £10million of new sand had to be imported with additional works to prevent further erosion. On this warm day the bay was a splendid sight. There is none of the usual seaside attractions here. The Parish church is imposing and originates from the 14 century. There is small heritage centre nearby. John Braine the author of Room and Life at the top wrote his first novel while working here at Newbiggin public library 1954-1956.

Looking at the time I decided I would not attempt to go to North Shields where I knew parking would be a problem and head for the Tyne Tunnel before the rush hour. I was tired on returning home but resisted sleep listening to the Worcester radio commentary on the game at the Riverside. Durham had bowled out Worcestershire for a lower total than anticipated and pressed ahead with scoring runs in their second innings closing the day with 120 odd runs to win and 9 wickets in tact. It was then I remembered that it was Thursday and there was a concert at the amphitheatre and the sun was still shinning.

I made an evening meal of salmon fish fingers and mixed beans in tomato sauce and then took the car to the sea front to find somewhere to park. It was very busy with a constant stream of traffic in both directions along the sea front and similarly pedestrians. mainly young. I found a space on the road itself before realising that the charge was 1 pence a minute or 90 pence until the free time from 8.30. I went on to the public car park at the Sanddancer but it was full so made an exit and came back around the roundabout and on to the parking area on the grass on the other side of the roadway. I parked opposite Minchella’s and the show off motorcyclists and went off to investigate the parking charges at the only ticket machine at the entrance tot he site which extend the length of the fromt from the caravan and camping site to the Gypsy Green stadium. The charge is 70p a hour or £2.30 all day which is very reasonable. There was a stiff cool breeze and although still warm from the evening sunshine I chose to remain in the car with the windows open listening to the music, although shortly after eight I closed the one on my side of the car which gave the best of both worlds, warmth and the music from the passenger side window.

There were about thirty five motorcycles when I arrived and this increased to fifty at one point with constant comings and goings and around 100 calling during my period of stay. It was difficult to work why they went coming and going with some only stay for a short while after finding who was there and exchanging a few words. What was interesting is that no one paid for parking and only some joined the queues for service from the cafe.

There were two bands. The First Eureka machine was formed in 1972 and is Leeds based, playing a traditional form of hard rock. I rate them as OK. I have been unable to find out about Mugshots the second band of the evening. I did prefer their sound better but around 8.30 I grew tired and returned. I was in bed by 10pm and went immediately to sleep.