Blyth Spirits. (Northumberland) November 25th

  An extra midweek walk for three of us, Brian, Margaret and me. We met at the Mermaid car park at the south of the town of Blyth and had coffee at the fish and chip shop/restaurant/ice-cream parlour before setting off. 

The map for this walk is OS Explorer 316 Newcastle upon Tyne and it could be useful on the second half.

                      Car park and cafe at Blyth. Plenty of room and it's free.

  We set off, after some initial confusion as to the actual starting point, and walked south, passing the beach huts before descending to the sandy beach itself. There is a footpath/cyclepath that runs from the cafe to Seaton Sluice if you prefer not to walk the sandy beach.

                             Blyth beach huts on the promenade above the golden sands. Lots of walkers out with dogs.

                         Blyth was a submarine base in both world wars and the defensive battery remains. Open to the public sometimes. The gun is imitation.

The sand was soft and a little hard going as a result but good leg strengthening exercise.

When we reached Seaton Sluice we followed the lower path alongside the old harbour, crossed the river by the footbridge and turned right to go under the modern road bridge and into Holywell Dene.

                       The cut was made in the 18th century to make the loading of coal and glassware easier. It was built for the Delaval family, local land, glassworks and mine owners. Trade declined in the 19th century. The cut had locks at either end to provide a steady water level. The sluice, a device to clear the old harbour (below) has long gone.

       The old harbour, footbridge and road bridge.

Once in the dene we followed the Holywell Burn. Initially through a field and then into woodland. At one point there is a choice, a fairly smooth path on the north side or a rougher undulating footpath on the south. We chose the south. At at least two spots the Friends of Holywell Dene have placed bird feeders in the trees, we watched blue tits, great tits, nuthatches and chaffinches happily feeding. 

                                    In the Holywell Dene

                           Spot the birdfeeder

                                  Spot this one

Once there was a railway

At the railway bridge we took the track on the left to Holywell Village. When we reached the first houses we turned right across fields to Holywell Pond where we called a Herbie and sat on a bench by the bird hide.

                     Holywell Pond from the bird hide. Heron on the island ensuring a good walk.

Sitting in the sun we shared Skinny whip bars, savoury buns and lemon drizzle cake.

Lunch and bird watching over we followed the track east, crossed the old railway line and having walked the edge of another field turned north east towards Seaton Delaval Hall Farm.

When we reached the A190 (the Avenue) we turned left, crossed the road and turned right onto a minor road. When the road turned sharp left we continued on the farm track towards Seaton Red House Farm and then on to Lysdon Farm. Through the yard and into a field which was grazing for several horses, very friendly too.

The footpath here runs close to a railway line that is mostly used to bring fuel for the power station at Ellington. We walked through a small plantation and across more fields with more horses until we reached South Farm where we were politely told we were on the wrong side of a fence, our feet were not treading a public footpath. Round the farm though and we were on the A1061 . We turned right and were soon back at the cars.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and databse right 2020.

The walk is about 9 easy going miles, lovely mixture of coast, woodland and fields.

                                  Obelisk on Delaval Hall estate