Newcastle – Coastal Road Trip

Day 31 – Newcastle to Scarborough

It’s day 31 and we are driving down from Newcastle along the Durham Heritage Coast and into the North Yorkshire Moors. Plenty of lighthouses, and a surprising mixture of coastlines from industrial to picturesque.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Marske-by-the-sea, Cliff House, View to Saltburn, Hunt Cliff — Views towards Saltburn and Hunt Cliff from Marske-by-the-Sea.

South Shields

Coastal Road Trip, Littlehaven Beach and Promenade, South Shields, Lighthouse, Tynemouth Priory and Castle — After a small potter around the shops in a very rainy Newcastle city centre, we managed to get lost driving out to South Shields, and ended up driving over the Tyne Bridge three times! Eventually we arrived at Littlehaven Beach and Promenade, with its views past the bright red lighthouse to Tynemouth Priory and Castle on the north side of the Tyne.

Coastal Road Trip, Littlehaven Beach and Promenade, South Shields, Conversation Piece, Juan Munoz, Sculptures — An intriguing cluster of sculptures by Juan Munoz, called ‘Conversation Piece’ at Littlehaven Beach and Promenade.

Souter Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, Marsden Bay, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland — Souter Lighthouse precariously close to the cliffs at Marsden Bay.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland — Another National Trust property, so we made use of our membership.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland, View from top to Marsden Bay & South Shields — Despite the weather we had great views from the top of the lighthouse back towards Marsden Bay & South Shields.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland, Lens, National Trust — The helpful National Trust guide explained about the lighthouse and lens to us, and gave it a little spin.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland, Inside Lens, National Trust — Inside the lens, a very weird feeling as it spun around.

Coastal Road Trip, Souter Lighthouse, Sunderland, May Thy Lot In Life Be Happy, National Trust — Totally agree with this message on the lighthouse keeper’s mantle piece.

Seaburn

Coastal Road Trip, Seaburn, The White Lighthouse, Roker Lighthouse, Roker Pier, Sunderland — More lighthouses at Seaburn, Roker Lighthouse on the left and The White Lighthouse on the right.

Coastal Road Trip, Seaburn, The White Lighthouse, Roker Beach, Sunderland — The White Lighthouse at Roker beach looking very smart with its large weather vain on top.

Coastal Road Trip, Seaburn, Roker Lighthouse, Roker Pier, Digger, Sunderland — A bit of a renovation going on at Roker Lighthouse at the end of Roker Pier.

Sunderland

Coastal Road Trip, Sunderland, Wearmouth Bridge, A1018, Roof of car — Trying to get a photo crossing the Wearmouth Bridge at Sunderland.

Seaham

Coastal Road Trip, Seaham Beach, Seaham Lighthouse — Wow, the sun is finally peeping through the clouds today. Seaham Beach and Seaham Lighthouse at the end of the north breakwater.

Coastal Road Trip, Seaham, Tommy World War One Soldier Sculpture, Eleven 'O' One, Giant soldier — The rusty steel Tommy sculpture on the Terrace Green at Seaham. The World War One Soldier was pretty huge at almost three meters tall. Officially named Eleven ‘O’ One, after the minute of armistice peace at 11am on the 11th November 1918.

Coastal Road Trip, Seaham, Nose's Point, National Trust Durham Coast, Ps in a Pod — And more rusty sculptures at Nose’s Point along the National Trust Durham Coast. ‘Ps in a Pod’ in cast iron by Louise Plant, expressing human energy and movement.

Blackhall Rocks

Coastal Road Trip, Blackhall Rocks, View South East to Hartlepool — Despite a bit of dull road through the Blackhall area, we found these great views by making a short detour down to the coast at Blackhall Rocks. The view south east to Hartlepool.

Coastal Road Trip, Blackhall Rocks, View North along Durham Heritage Coast — And the views back north along Durham Heritage Coast.

Hartlepool

Coastal Road Trip, Hartlepool, Headland, The Heugh Light, Light House — Lots of birds keeping their beady eyes on us at the Heugh Light at Hartlepool Headland.

Coastal Road Trip, Hartlepool, Headland, Heugh Gun Battery, Cannon — The Heugh Gun Battery, the only open air WWI museum in the UK.

Coastal Road Trip, Hartlepool, Headland, Heugh Gun Battery, Well behaved dogs & Cyclists welcome here, Sign — A nice welcome message on the gun battery gates 🙂

Coastal Road Trip, National Museum Royal Navy Hartlepool, H M S Trincomalee, Dutch Houses — The masts of the H M S Trincomalee towering over some rather Dutch looking houses at the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

Redcar

Coastal Road Trip, Redcar, Coke Ovens, River Tees, Mouth, Seaton Carew — Driving over the River Tees at Middlesbrough we arrived at Redcar surrounded by steel plants and coke ovens (sadly now closed).

Coastal Road Trip, Redcar, Sculpture — Despite the sorry state of the local industry there had been some effort to brighten up Redcar’s seafront with sculptures…

Coastal Road Trip, Redcar, Penguins — …penguins!?…

Coastal Road Trip, Redcar Beacon — …and the pink Redcar Beacon, contrasting against the stormy sky.

Marske-by-the-Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Marske-by-the-sea, Cliff House, View to Saltburn, Hunt Cliff — As the stormy clouds passed over Marske-by-the-Sea it created really dramatic lighting over the view to Saltburn and Hunt Cliff.

Coastal Road Trip, Marske-by-the-sea, View to Redcar and Off Shore Wind Turbines — The view back to Redcar and the offshore wind turbines.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Cliff Tramway, Pier — The old Cliff Tramway down to the pier at Saltburn-by-the-Sea. The oldest operating cliff funicular of its type in the world.

Whitby

Coastal Road Trip, Whitby, Beach Huts, Coloured — Brightly painted beach huts curving around the beach at Whitby, our first stop along the North Yorkshire Moors coast.

Coastal Road Trip, Whitby, Harbour, East, West, Lighthouse — The East and West Harbour Lighthouses marking the entrance to Whitby.

Coastal Road Trip, Whitby, Abbey, Harbour, Bandstand, River Esk — Whitby Abbey across the River Esk.

Coastal Road Trip, Whitby, Harbour, Bridge, River Esk — Whitby was larger than we had expected, but still kept a small town charm about it, with its quaint houses nestled around the harbour. Interestingly Whitby inspired Bram Stoker when writing ‘Dracula’ after staying there in 1890… though we didn’t see any vampires on our visit.

Robin Hood’s Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Robin Hood's Bay — Before heading to Scarborough for the evening, we made a final stop of the day at the small fishing village of Robin Hood’s Bay, famous for smugglers!

Daily video

Day 30 – Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newcastle

We are starting today by heading a few miles north back in to Scotland (they can’t keep us away). We will then spend most of the day continuing our drive back in England, along the Northumberland coast before ending the day in Newcastle.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Leaders — The Tour of Britain Cycle Race arriving in Bamburgh.

St Abbs

Coastal Road Trip, St Abbs, Harbour, Blue Hut, Cliff House — Starting our day just north of the Scottish border at the quiet fishing village of St Abbs.

Coastal Road Trip, St Abbs, Harbour — Rocky views past St Abbs Harbour.

English & Scottish border

Coastal Road Trip, Coastal Road Trip, Scotland Border, England Border, Union Jack, Flags — Crossing the border back into England.

Berwick-upon-Tweed

Coastal Road Trip, Berwick upon Tweed, Bridge, Royal Border Bridge, Railway — The Royal Border Bridge spanning the River Tweed. The railway viaduct was opened by Queen Victoria in 1850.

Coastal Road Trip, Berwick upon Tweed, Parking Disc, Northumberland — I remember these parking discs as a kid, and didn’t realise they were still in use.

Coastal Road Trip, Berwick upon Tweed, Berwick Lighthouse — The simple but neat lighthouse at the end of the Berwick-upon-Tweed breakwater.

Lindisfarne

Coastal Road Trip, Lindisfarne, The Holy Island, Causeway, Danger Sign, Julian, Jarno — Crossing over the causeway to Lindisfarne (AKA The Holy Island).

Coastal Road Trip, Lindisfarne, The Holy Island, Causeway, Warning, Tide Tables — We better be quick, in fifteen minutes the tide is coming in, and we won’t be able to get back to the mainland until the evening.

Coastal Road Trip, Lindisfarne, The Holy Island, Causeway, Road, Hut, Sea — In case you get stranded as the tide returns, there’s a handy refuge hut to escape the rising tides. Your car might get a bit wet though.

Tour of Britain Cycle Race (coming into Bamburgh)

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Sign, Delays Expected — As we drove along the country lanes towards Bamburgh we suddenly found ourselves on the Tour of Britain Cyle Race route. A complete surprise. Perfect timing.

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Police, Race marshals — So we parked up on the verge, a few minutes later the police and race marshals arrived…

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Flying TV, Helicopter, Eye in the sky, Camera, TV Station — …quickly followed by the ‘Eye in the Sky”…

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Leaders — … then the race leaders came charging through….

Coastal Road Trip, Tour of Britain Cycle Race, Bamburgh, Main group — …followed by the main group. Ten minutes later we were back on the road again after this nice little interlude.

Bamburgh Castle

Coastal Road Trip, Bamburgh Castle — Stunning views over the freshly plowed fields to the huge Bamburgh Castle.

Coastal Road Trip, Bamburgh Castle — And even more impressive close up.

The Farne Islands

Coastal Road Trip, The Farne Islands, Inner Farne Lighthouse, National Trust — Just passed Bamburgh Castle, the view over to The Farne Islands and Inner Farne Lighthouse. The islands are famous for their seals and wide variety of seabirds.

Beadnell Beach

Coastal Road Trip, Beadnell Beach, Kite Surfing — Kite Surfing on Beadnell Beach.

Embleton & Newton Links

Coastal Road Trip, Embleton & Newton Links, National Trust, Beach, Sand Writing, Dunstanburgh Castle, Jarno — Jarno doing some more beach graffiti at the National Trust managed Embleton & Newton Links. In the distance you can also spot Dunstanburgh Castle.

Coastal Road Trip, Embleton & Newton Links, National Trust, Beach, Sand Writing — Washed away…

Craster

Coastal Road Trip, Craster Harbour, Flower, Purple — A little bit of colour as rain clouds rolled in over Craster Harbour.

Coastal Road Trip, Craster, Dunstanburgh Castle, Sheep, Field — Dunstanburgh Castle that we had seen earlier from Embleton & Newton Links. Now viewed from the south, walking across the fields from Craster. A bit hazy due to the rain…

Alnwick Castle

Coastal Road Trip, Alnwick Castle, English Heritage, Jarno — The seat of the Duke of Northumberland, at our final castle of the day, Alnwick Castle, just outside the picturesque market town of Alnwick.

Amble Beach

Coastal Road Trip, Amble Beach, Coquet Island Lighthouse — The tiny Coquet Island and its lighthouse viewed from Amble Beach.

Low Hauxley

Coastal Road Trip, Low Hauxley, Beach, Black Rocks — Low Hauxley Beach. Just a bit further along the beach a two-hundred meter long ancient forest has been uncovered by the sea cutting through the sand dunes.

Blyth

Coastal Road Trip, Blyth, Art, Wind Turbine, Industry — An interestingly arty and industrial coastline as the light faded passing through Blyth.

St Mary’s Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, St Mary's Lighthouse — St Mary’s Lighthouse across another causeway, at Whitley Bay.

Tynemouth

Coastal Road Trip, Tynemouth, Riley's Fish Shack, Night time — Ending the day with delicious fish tacos on the beach at Riley’s Fish Shack. We then headed inland to Newcastle for the night.

Daily video