Part the Second. Day 2 Sunday 6th March - Tyne Bridge to Wylam.

The aches and pains of last week have largely gone but Nigel has now picked up the lurg and is coughing and spluttering along with chewing Victory V's; Fisherman's Friends and paracetamol! Starting bright and early (10am-ish) we headed from the Sunday Market on the Quayside over the Swing Bridge (still on its original 1870's bearings!!) and onto the Gateshead Quayside.

This was surprisingly interesting (and that's no downer on Gateshead, just that we expected to be trolling through an industrial wasteland!). Passing the old Dunstan Coal Staithes (when will they repair the fire damage?), we continued through the new residential area designed by the Hemingways (of Red and Dead fame) which was very well laid out. However, at this point we had just left the riverside and now headed into the industrial bit, but not too much of it!

We managed to sneak back down to the riverside once we'd negotiated the Metrocentre and strolled alongside the railway (to Carlisle) for some distance. Unfortunately, a couple of the proposed tracks and paths alongside the river have not yet come to fruition, although we noticed some headway near Blaydon, so we had to persevere alongside the main road for a short distance before cutting off down towards the river again and subsequently to the Newburn Bridge. By this time, nearly 8 miles, the sun had been warming us up so well that refreshment was essential to stave off dehydration! Fortunately, upon crossing over the bridge we came found the Boathouse again - you may remember that we were less than impressed with this place last year - however, it's now under new management and serving real ale!!! Well what a place to catch our collective breaths, refresh and have lunch, not forgetting the all important netty break!

The sun continued to shine on us as we wound our way through Newburn Riverside Park and along the Tyne. We cut inland again once the cycle-way became adjacent to the path as it looked much less likely to suffer from erosion/subsidence than the precarious river's edge path!

Once on this we strode out towards Wylam, passing the birthplace of George Stephenson (he of The Rocket and other railway stuff), a tiny 2 room dwelling! Onward we went and Wylam came into view with the bridge over the river leading to the railway line and our target - The Boathouse Inn, with its selection of 14 hand pulls (cider and ale) - all handily placed for the train back to Newcastle!

So, with about an hour to kill before the next train we repaired to the bar (absolutely heaving with people and dogs!) for a couple of Tyneside Blondes, a Sunny Daze and a Scrumpy! Suitably refreshed we managed to catch the 4:20 rattler into Newcastle which gave us a selection of views of our walks both today and of last year.

All in all, a glorious walk in glorious weather.

Onward and upward!

We're back! Day 1 Sunday 27th February - South Shields to the Tyne Bridge

Just when you thought it was all over and we had retired to the bar to ease our many and varied aches and pains, Spring is nearly here and so is the Three Tyne Trial (oops Freudian slip! I mean Trail obviously). We've picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves down and started all over again!!!

Enough of the waffle - we are walking from South Shields to the source of the North Tyne, which is, as far as we can work out, somewhere around the appropriately named Deadwater Fell!

So it was on Sunday gone we lined up on South Shields Pier on a bright and breezy morning to walk the 12.6 (ish) miles to the Tyne Bridge. We did it of course although Anne &; Nigel couldn't move the next day. Radio silence from the Willis's - I'm working on the theory that we would have heard if they had to be hospitalised.

It was actually most(ly) enjoyable - especially the bit sitting down on the Shields Ferry! We passed two Roman Forts (Arbeia and Segedunum), we walked across the entrance to the new Tyne Tunnel (no jams yet!), we walked through a park in North Shields and along old waggonways in Willington Quay and Walllsend. We saw the backbone of an old keel boat beached on the river bank and walked through the remains of St Anthony's Lead Works. The last bit is the wonderful walk into Newcastle, with the bridges, SJP, the Baltic and Sage all opening out in front of us fantastic.

Amazingly - no pubs were visited but as next week's walk ends in Wylam I fear we will have to visit the Boat - still it's only one pub (with 14 real ales on tap!!). Bring it on!