We have spent the last few days in Newcastle visiting Fiona and family. On Tuesday Fiona was not working and Hannah and Leo had a day off school due to it being an in-service day so Fiona took us to South Shields. In all the 23 years we have been going to see Fiona in Newcastle we have never been on the promenade on South Shields so this was a treat and the weather was perfect.
It's not an easy journey to get there as you either have to head into town or go through the Tyne Tunnel so in this instance Fiona took us over the Tyne Bridge.
The entrance to the River Tyne and the other side is Tynemouth
We stopped at a beachfront cafe for a toast and a drink and these Starlings were very tame
Hannah is great company and is soon going to explore more Dutch universities on a trip to The Netherlands with her dad and brother Leo later this month.
On Wednesday my son in law Mario was going to collect groceries from Asda which is next to The Rising Sun Country Park so at 7.30am he dropped me of there so I could walk back to the house along the Waggonways and Bridlepaths. It was a 4 mile walk and only the last 200 yards along Teviotdale Gardens was on a public road. The paths through the Rising Sun Country Park were lovely and quiet and you would never realise you were in the middle of a city.
My walk passed Newcastle United Training Ground and even at that time of the morning fans were gathering to see the team arrive for light training. They had a big match that evening in The Champions League against Paris SG and won it in great style 4-1
These are the Waggonways which were used many years ago to transport coal from the many small mines to the River Tyne to be loaded onto ships.
On Wednesday afternoon I took Gaye to Whitley Bay for a Coffee and Scone in the Cafe frequented by Vera in the TV series of that name. It was a big disappointment as the Cheese Scone was almost uneatable. We did however manage a nice walk along the promenade afterwards.
Gaye outside the new Spanish City which used to be a fun fare but is now more upmarket Cafes, Restaurants, and Shops.
The beach at Whitley Bay. Some of these photos are not the size i wanted by my Laptop did not upload some of the photos from my phone so this blog was started on my Laptop and finished on my I-Phone.
