A Walkers Tale

Earlier in the year, I had set out on two separate walks along the North Downs Way - heading out in spring to walk one half of the North Downs Way from Rochester to Dover  (over three days), and again in summer to walk the other half from Rochester round to Farnham  (over four days).

This writeup is a combination of two walks I did - the first from Whitley Bay to Newcastle , and the second from Newcastle to Sunderland . On both walks I really enjoyed the coastal sections, but didn't enjoy the inland stretch into Newcastle - but rather than have to constantly explain that whilst those walks were bad, the combination of the two is actually good - I have here recreated the coastal stretch of walk from the two walks.

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.

The opening of the Northumberland Line in late 2024 opened up train access to Ashington - and in early 2025 I made use of this new train link to walk from Ashington to Alnmouth  along the Northumberland Coast .  Today I am repeating that same train journey to Ashington, but on this occasion I will be heading south from Newbiggin-by-the-Sea - and walking down to Whitley Bay.

Having spent the previous day doing a long stretch along the Yorkshire Wolds Way , I was planning today to do a shorter walk, and settled on doing some more coastal walking . More specifically I plan today to head down to Bridlington, and walk back up towards Filey ( in the end I stopped at Bempton ).

This winter I have been trying to get out and about for more winter walks - and one of the types of winter walking that I have found I most enjoy has been coastal walks . And so today my goal is to tick off a new stretch of coastline, between two of the major cities in the North East - Newcastle and Sunderland.

The Northumberland Coast Path is one of the most underrated trails that can be walked in England - with some major historical sights, near perfect beaches and relaxed cliff top walking. Last year I had spent two days walking along this path, walking initially from  Berwick-Upon-Tweed to Bamburgh , and then from Bamburgh down to Alnmouth  on the following day.

Living up in the North East - up between Darlington and Middlesbrough - one of my local stomping grounds over the years has been the North Yorkshire Moors - which offers a fairly quiet and peaceful place to go walk in pretty countryside, away from the crowds who generally tend to head west to visit the lakes.

Today is the second day of a two day walk from Berwick-Upon-Tweed to Alnmouth - and on the previous day I had walked the Northumberland Coast Path from Berwick-Upon-Tweed to Alnmouth Having stayed overnight in Bamburgh, I am up early, drop by key behind the desk and - after spending a few minutes working out how to get out of the hotel without setting off any alarms - head out on my walk.

Great Britain has a long coastline to walk and explore, and those coastlines offer up a wide variety of different scenery - from marshlands to dramatic cliffs to golden sands. Up in Northumberland what you find is predominantly softer coastline, focused on those golden sands - rather than dramatic cliffs, with steep drops.

This walk was the second of two days of walking - starting at Filey, and walking along the coast northwards to Whitby. Having stayed over in Scarborough, this second day would involve a walk from Scarborough up to Whitby. Click for the writeup for the previous walk, walking along the Cleveland Way from  Filey to Scarborough .

Over the years, I have spent a lot of time walking on the North Yorkshire Moors - with much of that happening along the Cleveland Way . This is one of the more underrated trails around the country - offering a full mix of farmland, moorland, cliff views out from Sutton Bank, and then a stretch of coastline from Saltburn down to Filey.

This year I have been ticking off sections of coast in the North East of England , and on this walk I tick off another section and find an unexpected gem, with a walk from Sunderland round to Hartlepool. The walk starts with humble beginnings, as I head out of Sunderland train station - and then head west to join up with the coast path, as it makes its way around Sunderland Docks.