The first section of the Hadrian's Wall walk was to only be 5 miles as Newcastle was a convenient point for returning home on the Metro and also would be a good place to start the next section. We all assembled at Segedunum Roman Fort to collect our Hadrian's Wall Path Passports for stamping - a good turnout of 12 walkers. At Segedunum we could see the eastern end of the wall, discovered when extending Swan Hunter's in the early 20th Century.
The eastern end of Hadrians Wall before it runs into the river at Wallsend
From Segedunum we started our walk along the National Trail alongside the River Tyne on the way to the Quayside at Newcastle. This would be a walk of contrasts; the remnants of the Tyneside's ship building past compared with the rejuvenated Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside.
It was a very overcast and cold day. In fact it wasn't long before we experienced a short burst of hailstones at which point Syd J got a bit carried away with the Roman theme of the walk and exclaimed "Hail Caesar!" Surprisingly, this provoked lots of groans all around!
Not the most picturesque walk but very interesting nonetheless; some evidence of thriving industry but mainly the remnants of the previous greatness of the Tyne's shipbuilding industry - very sad. The change is starkly illustrated by the fact that the nearby pedestrian tunnel at Jarrow was once used by in excess of 20,000 people per day, mainly shipbuilding workers, whereas now it is mainly used for the occasional cyclist. On a positive note the Tyne is said to now be one of the best salmon fishing rivers in the UK.
As we rounded a bend to approach Newcastle the Quayside came into view with the impressive Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, Sage Gateshead and many other new buildings contributing to a rejuvenated Quayside.
As we got closer we could see seven of the Tyne bridges one behind the other; a very impressive sight despite the grey backdrop.
The Millennium Bridge is the world's first tilting bridge and is so energy efficient it costs only £3.60 each time it opens.
Having reached the Quayside some of us went to a nearby pub for lunch and a drink while others went to a coffee shop before we all returned home. Here another contrast became evident with some of us having to pay full price on the Metro and some didn't!
