King Charles Coast Path - Whitley Bay to Newcastle (★★★☆☆)

This walk is the second of two days of walking, having previously walked from Ashington to Whitley Bay on the previous day.

Today I am heading along the coast to Tynemouth - where I will cut down to North Shields, and on to Wallsend to meet up with the Hadrian's Wall Path, which I will follow to Newcastle.

As an early warning - it was nice to complete Hadrian's Wall Path on this trip, but the walking from North Shields to Newcastle wasn't amazing. If I were to do this walk again, I would use the Shields Ferry to cross to South Shields and then walk on to Sunderland from there (sticking to the Coast Path route).

For those interested only in the Hadrian's Wall Path section of this day's walking - scroll down to the section titled 'Wallsend to Newcastle'.

Whitley Bay to North Shields - Coast Path

From Whitley Bay, I first head off to get some supplies for the day, and then begin in earnest - following the coast southwards, away from Whitley Sands.

This early section of walking features some of the larger cliffs along the Northumberland Coast (although this is not saying much) - with a mix of beaches, cliffs and an urban environment as we head past Brown's Point, to Cullercoats Bay.

Cullercoats Bay

It is obvious that the good folk of Whitley Bay like to get out and about in the morning - with a morning jog being the most popular activity, but with early morning swims and cycles also being high on their list of 'things to do to start the day'.

This beach at Cullercoats Bay is clearly a popular spot for an early morning swim, but there are more people out on the next beach at Long Sands - with dog walkers also out in force on this beach, and with surfers coming into view at it's furthest end.

Long Sands

This stretch of walking includes a lot of different beaches. We finished on the previous day with a large beach at Whitley Sands - and here we have smaller beaches at Cullercoats Bay and Long Sands - but we are not done, because before we reach Tynemouth, we must first pass Short Sands beach.

At Tynemouth we reach Tynemouth Castle, and continue round to reach Freestone Point.

Tynemouth Castle

It is possible to walk out along the North Pier to Tynemouth Lighthouse - at the entry point to the harbor - and I had planned on doing so today, but the winds are up, and the waves are hitting against the sea wall - which has somewhat dimmed my enthusiasm for this idea.

Instead, I settle down on a bench and see in the Amsterdam ferry, which I will meet up with at its birth in North Shields, later on in the day.

Incoming ferry from Amsterdam

Getting going again, my path now follows behind this ferry - as I start to walk along the banks of the River Tyne, with Newcastle now lying in front of me.

Following the ferry to North Shields

The riverside path is reasonably busy today - with people mostly walking out towards me - and I head along through this busy section to reach the lighthouse in the above picture (on the left beside the river).

As we pass this lighthouse, we also pass the site of Clifford Fort (you can see the east wall of the fort as you walk past), which was a defensive gun battery, placed at the mouth of the Tyne during the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 17th century.

There isn't too much to see here - but our path continues on past a second lighthouse, and then we start following a road along the edge of the Tyne - before reaching the North Shields terminal (for the Shields Ferry).

This section so far has been a really good walk, but although we are going to continue on into Newcastle, the Coast Path instead heads across the river via the ferry - and resumes at South Shields on the far side of the river.

If you would like to jump to that walk, click to go to the writeup for the walk from Newcastle to Sunderland and scroll down to the 'South Shields to Sunderland' section of that walk.

North Shields to Wallsend - River Tyne Trail

For those who are going to stick with me for the rest of this walk - we are now well on our way into Newcastle - with Wallsend being our next major calling point as we start following the River Tyne Trail.

Initially this walk starts as strongly as it finished - and after a short diversion around some disused docks, we meet up with Royal Quays Marina.

Here we find a pretty little marina - and finding some more benches I decided that this would be a good place to have my second break of the day.

Royal Quays Marina

View from my bench

The marina is next to the Amsterdam ferry terminal - and this makes this an interesting place to sit and watch, as there are numerous Dutch cyclists heading past - and out for what I guess is their idea of a holiday (mine is walking though, so maybe I can't comment?). 

From here (and once I have got going again), the path continues on through a park (yay!), before joining up with a dual carriageway (boo!) - which I now have to follow to East Howden.

But after a short stretch spent following this dual carriageway, I make the call to divert off the River Tyne Trail - which heads down and continues along roads - and instead stick with the cycle route I have been following - which heads out over scrubland.

This cycle path does prove to be a good choice - and although it crosses over the A19, it is not a bad route, and seems to be what passes for countryside in this part of Newcastle.

This takes us down into Willington Quay, where I join back up with roads for the next section, until I finally get round to Wallsend.

Wallsend to Newcastle - Hadrian's Wall Path

At Wallsend we turn off the raods and here I find myself arriving at Segedunum Roman Fort - and the beginning of the Hadrian's Wall Path.

Segedunum Roman Fort is the most easterly fort on Hadrian's Wall - although Arbeia Roman Fort, lies further round to the east, but off the wall (at the mouth of the River Tyne).

But this is as far as Hadrian's Wall extended - and indeed originally it didn't even extend this far (ending in Newcastle) - with this section out to Wallsend being a later extension of the wall.

A model of the fort in Roman times

There isn't too left to be seen today - mostly because the Victorians built over the top of the original fort, and so what remains is mostly the layout of the fort (which can be seen from the raised tower).

The one section that has been reconstructed is a replica Roman bath house, which you can see from the main path as you head by.

The replica Roman bath house from the path

There is a part of me that is curious what foreign visitor's walking east to west along the wall make of it all at this point - because unfortunately this section of the wall is hugely disappointing, and to be honest the whole Newcastle section of Hadrian's Wall is particularly half-arsed, without much to see along the way.

Walking west to east this spot creates a problem, because this also doesn't really feel like a great place to end a walk - and with that in mind my suggestion is that walkers don't end it here.

Instead if you are walking west-to-east, I would suggest that you head off to the Metro and take the Metro to North Shields ferry terminal. Then you can head over the Tyne on the Shields Ferry - and walk round to the twin Arbeia Fort - which is a better preserved site and which includes a rebuilt west gate (see below):

The twin Arbeia Fort at South Shields reconstructed west gate (not at Wallsend)

With this having more substantial remains, this feels like a more fitting end to the walk - and you can see more information about the fort in the middle of the walk writeup at this link.

But today we are going east-to-west - and whilst the scenery is a little lacking along this section of the trail, the locals are very friendly, and as I rest on a bench I get joined by lady out collecting blackberries with her husband - who is also keen to rest her feet.

And here we have a nice chat about the area, the fact that they might move the Shields Ferry further up towards the sea, and about how friendly it is here. 

After this chat I continue along my way, and cross over a minor road, where we get to see a large sculpture of a roman coin.

A sculpture of a roman coin

And then on we go along this path, wedged between industry n the left and houses on the right - before the trail starts to smarten itself up a bit as we head into St Anthony's.

But as we come into St Anthony's there is a split in the trail. The cycle route continues on, but the Hadrian's Wall Path drops down off this cycle route, to run along the edge of the river at Walkers Riverside Park.

Down by the River Tyne

It is a very quiet section to walk along here - and there really aren't very many people about. You can see a lot of the old industry along the river, but the river is not particularly well connected up to the houses to the north.

Walkers Riverside Park was built in the 1980s and is getting a bit rough around the edges, but at the same time the people I do see out and about are friendly - including two kids out on bikes who stop me to ask if some wood in the river is a shipwreck; and it is indeed the remains of a ship that has long ago been left to rot on the rivers edge.

I looked this section of park up online and this section definitely has mixed reviews. Some of the reviews are very positive and focus on the prettiness of the flora, while others recommend it as a good site for taking drugs, and a place to get hunted down by troublemakers on bikes - so swings and roundabouts really. 

It is undoubtedly neglected and in need of a bit of love to turn it back into a popular and well visited site, but before too long St Peter's heads into view further along in the distance.

As we close in on St Peter's we meet back up with the cycle route once again - and I'm not sure if there is any wall related reason why we dipped down along the river, or whether the trail planners just thought we might want to have a break from the cycle path. Indeed there isn't a whole lot of wall related paraphernalia along this section at all.

St Peter's ahead on the right

By now we are getting very close to the centre of Newcastle - and the posh developments are starting to pop up again. In particular the area around St Peter's Marina is looking particularly up market today, although one of the benches had been burned out by vandals.

St Peter's Marina

Leaving behind the marina, the path cuts inland to follow a quiet road - and still isn't exactly an advertisement for the City of Newcastle - but hope lies ahead, because the best developed parts of Newcastle are now in sight.

And here, as we pass St Lawrence, everything changes in an instant -  and all of a sudden the sparkly and well presented centre of Newcastle begins.

Now we're walking along the river front, towards the many bridges of Newcastle - saying hello to a friend to happens to pass by - and then continuing to take in what is now a very attractive city centre.

The bridges in the distance

The bridges closer up

At the Swing Bridge, I have reached the same spot I reached when I was arriving at Newcastle from the other direction (walking from Hexham to Newcastle) and so Hadrian's Wall is complete. In all honesty I'm not sure if this extra bit has been worth it, but I suppose you have to walk it all.

For now though, it is time to turn to the right - and take on the big climb up to the station, on the higher ground above - and head home.

Total Distance: 14.3 miles (4.3 miles on Coast Path, 4.9 miles on Hadrian's Wall Path)

Total Ascent: 850 feet (243 feet on Coast Path, 213 feet on Hadrian's Wall Path)

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ ★ ★ / 5

Click for the next section along the coast from Newcastle to Sunderland.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 88 OS Landranger map - while there is also a Northumberland Coast Path guidebook that covers Berwick-upon-Tweed down to Newcastle centre or a Hadrian's Wall guidebook that covers the section from Segedunum which both include OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.