Saturday 10th February 2024

Today was all about the Severn Bridge. We had yet to cover it to link our England walk (so far) to our Wales Walk (so far). And what better way to kick it off than a parkrun. We had much discussion as to how to travel to the start – drive, run or walk … but drive it was and we parked up in Chepstow.

There we met up with our great friends, Ros and David (who have a getaway house in Chepstow) and Matt Jones who was staying with them for the weekend. David has an injury so was time-keeping today but the rest of us eagerly lined up for the start of our favourite Saturday pursuit – the parkrun. To be truthful it was a fabulous run, an out and back to halfway across the bridge, with spectacular views. Despite some incline on the way out it all felt OK, particularly a long stretch of downhill on the return. Weather was mild too – absolutely no complaints.

The very best bit was going back to Ros and David’s for tasty sausages, bacon, eggs etc. and lashings of tea and toast. Great to spend time with such lovely people – lots of laughing and exchanging our travel and many Redway Runners memories.

David kindly drove us back to the hotel where we had a quick turn around before heading out for the Severn Bridge again. This time we had to walk the whole way across it, so covering the Coastal Path distance and achieving the retrieval of our car. It was a wee bit more chilly and windy by this time but still a fabulous walk. Cyclists certainly rule the way on this route though – make no mistake! It turned out to be less than 3 miles though so an easy day all round. Hey ho, that’s how the cookie crumbles. 

 

Friday 9th February 2024

We’re back for more. Two weeks to fill the coastal path gap we have between Chepstow in Wales and Minehead, Somerset. Today we walked between Pill (the name originates from a Welsh word for tidal inlet) and Aust (derived from the latin name Augusta) and I can tell you the day was a real mixed bag!!

We drove up from Milton Keynes yesterday afternoon – we’re not due to start our house-sitting until Sunday so we’d booked into a Travelodge for 3 nights. Seemed like a good idea at £40 a night as it was just near the Coastal Path and also well positioned to do the Severn Bridge parkrun plus a couple of days walking. It was a foul day weather-wise and the hotel was on the M48 Service area with pretty uninspiring dining facilities, so not the most attractive of starts. It was a choice between Costa and Burger King for dinner so the burger won out – and we treated ourselves to a can of Gin and Tonic each from WH Smith to cheer ourselves up – Rock and Roll. And gasp horror – no free Wifi. 

We had a great night’s sleep though – the bed was comfy. Steve had planned the first day’s walk but by the time we woke in the morning he had devised a whole new route. The best we could do for breakfast was a BLT sandwich from the services, with a cup of tea. But it was so lucky we had that as we saw nothing else until we returned from our walk 5 hours later! 

We took an Uber ride to the pretty village of Pill, the sun was shining and all was well in the world. In a very short space of time we were crossing the bridge on the M5 Motorway and from thereon in we were walking through dockside and industrial areas, residential areas and miles of roadside – with articulated lorries whizzing by at 60mph – it was a pollution fest for 7 miles … it just seemed endless and dispiriting. 

At mile 7 however things took a better turn and there were paths that took us away from the roads so the noise levels greatly improved. And we had views of the estuary and the magnificent bridges – the Prince of Wales Bridge and the Severn Bridge. The weather had largely been kind to us but for the last two miles we got drenched in a downpour and with plenty of flooded paths we arrived back at the Services like drowned rats. 

It was 13 miles of walking today – unless you’re trying to complete the whole UK coastline I would suggest it’s one to miss. But having discovered a bit in daylight today we find we’re near the lovely village of Aust and, now we’re all dry and recovered, we’re about to visit the pub for refreshment. Tomorrow’s another day – it’s Severn Bridge parkrun and we’re meeting Ros and David. 

The Boars Head in Aust

Tuesday 19th September 2023

I have to admit, hand on heart, that today’s walk was quite uninspiring! The first couple of miles was along the Hartlepool promenade so that was fine, with lovely sea views. We even stopped for coffee – we weren’t going to let any opportunities pass.

But after that it was road walking, then across a golf course and then more road walking more or less all the way. We passed through Seaton Carew which seemed a pretty seaside area and along Seal Sands (but no seals to be seen). Apart from that our backdrop today was largely a power station and heavy industrial sites. Really not the best … but every bit has to be done! On the positive side, it was completely flat the whole 10 miles.

About the most interesting part of the walk was seeing the impressive Transporter Bridge – even though it was closed. That brought us to the end of our walk today and in fact it’s the last bit of walking for now – it turns out that our house-sitting accommodation is further from the coast than we’d imagined. So Durham, we’ll be back another time.

And it was with heavy hearts we walked today – after hearing the terrible news this morning of a tragic loss of young life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Christine and family. RIP Ben. xx

Sunday 17th September 2023

Horden to Hartlepool

After Friday’s torturous walk, I had to think hard about continuing on with this UK Coast Walk project … but after much inner and outer discussion, I put my big girl pants on (and trousers!) and got back on that horse. We left our airbnb accommodation in South Shields today and drove to Horden Railway Station, to pick up the path from where we left off. The plan was to walk 12 miles to Hartlepool and catch the train back.

We had read in the guide that the first 3 or 4 miles included clifftop and woodland walking with ascents and descents, so we braced ourselves for some more of what Friday had delivered. However, it was like someone had read our blog and as a result had sent workers out in the night to lay tarmac, fix up coast path signs and chop down all the stingers and prickles. It was so different (after all that worry) … there was no slipping, sliding, tripping, scrambling, stings or scratches … and we didn’t get lost, not once! There was one area of ‘overgrowness” but we sneakily found a shortcut to avoid it (Steve said I won’t tell anyone if you don’t)!! And there were definitely some climbs but with manageable terrain it was completely do-able. We breezed it.

Lots of cliff top walking with spectacular views of the wonderful Durham coastline. So many walkers out for their Sunday afternoon stroll on the beach. My favourite thing – hearing the waves crashing, breathing in the wonderful sea air, hearing the seagulls cry out, taking in the views of sea and sand for miles – it’s just unbeatable.

The sun popped out a couple of times but it was largely overcast again, no rain. Incredible winds however.

After 8 miles of walking we reached civilisation – a promenade. A remarkable thing we’ve noticed on this coastline is that there are so many houses with sea views here – and not the expensive sort of beachside homes you found in many counties, but regular terraced homes and new builds etc. So, walking past all this stunningly located housing we felt sure there’d be cafes in abundance … but it was another 2 miles before we reached the area of ‘Headland’ and came across ‘Mary Rowntrees’ cafe and restaurant where we luxuriated in our first coffee of the day. We were joined by the owner and her son who were absolutely lovely … they asked us to take photos of their restaurant for the blog.

And then we just had to carry on along the Coastal Path a further two miles to the marina in Hartlepool. This involved some road walking so not very glam, that was until we reached the newly developed marina with its cosmopolitan mix of bistros, bars, cafes and restaurants – clearly a popular hangout. HMS Trincomalee is moored here amongst other cultural attractions.

After all the worry, besides the fact that we were heading into the wild wind most of the day, and it was 12 miles, it was an absolute breeze …. and so the adventure continues. xx

We are now installed in our house-sit in the town on Willington, near Durham, where we are based to do some further coast walking as well as looking after the beautiful ‘Casper.’

Friday 15th September 2023

Sunderland to Horden

Stinging nettles and the wearing of shorts is not a great combination … I can categorically confirm that! Especially when the environment seems to have stopped producing dock leaves – always a life-saver when we were kids.

Today’s walk started in the rain … and it ended in the rain, in fact it was wet and misty pretty much all day. As you may tell, it was overall not the best of days … and I’m allowed to grumble because I lived through it.

Started off well with an early bus to Sunderland, made our way to the bridge and down to the opposite side of the docks from yesterday, so we could head south on the coastal path. There was a steep descent of slippery cobble stoned path to the dockside – this turned out to be the start of a slip sliding day.

The first couple of miles was not as glam as yesterday’s beginning although Steve was excited to see the homage to footballer Raich Carter. But the coastal path route was signposted well (always a bonus) and we soon found ourselves at Hendon Beach. Looking ahead it was clearly not going to be a promenade day, very much cliff top walking. We got chatting to some Local Council workers who were there to cut grass and, when asked, we told them that the path we’d experienced so far was well maintained and clearly signposted. All good … they were chuffed.

It was shortly after this, round about the County of Durham sign, that things went seriously wrong – lack of coastal path signs found us taking wrong turnings, walking round in circles and through all sorts of tricky terrain. A number of these errors meant that we endured even more steep ascents and descents than we needed to do … oh how we laughed!!! Between that and finding some paths completely overgrown, so getting scratched and stung to pieces – in the rain – things were not shaping up well. But of course we soldiered on – we were not far off Seaham where breakfast awaited.

After eight miles we had reached Seaham which this year won an award for the ‘Resort of the Year.’ Also famous for it’s mole sanctuary. But for us it provided a place for sustenance and the chance to sit down and reassess our mission. Do we call it a day … or do we walk on, knowing that it would be another 7 or 8 miles to the next public transport linked destination? Well, after tuna melt toasted panini and restorative mugs of cappuccino of course you’re ready to ‘bring it on’ and so we wrapped up warm and headed on our merry way.

I have to say, there were some incredibly scenic parts to the next leg of the walk, albeit largely shrouded in mist and we were never far away from the sea, which we love. Also some touching memorials to the area’s mining history. However, this section of coastline was one of the worst paths we’d encountered … it was tough. In summary, it was massively overgrown, slippery underfoot, narrow paths that literally just about fitted in the width of your foot, so many steep inclines with difficult steps and of course the same going downhill each time … again and again and again. We continued to get lost and found ourselves retracing our steps, we had to wade though water and sinking mud. At one point we had to scramble up a hellishly steep, stone uphill path that was so overgrown we could see nothing beneath our knees – we just had to step and hope for the best with all sorts of tripping and slipping hazards. I lost my balance for a moment and grabbed out … onto a piece of gorse (not great). This particular scramble will forever be imprinted on my brain and the echoes of “this is ridiculous” and “I hate Coastal Walking” will surely be remembered!!? And … why oh why did I wear shorts?

So, 16 more miles to add to the collection … and yes, you know it, we’ll be back for more. But for this section at least – trousers definitely recommended.

Saturday 16th September 2023

No rest for the wicked – another early morning as we had volunteered to be ‘Park Walkers’ at the South Shields parkrun. Boy was it cold and windy. But there were over 200 turned out in this harsh weather to run the beautiful route. A Full English Breakfast at the Sand Dancer pub afterwards seemed utterly justified.

Thursday 14th September 2023

Walking from Sunderland to South Shields

After a long car journey up from MK yesterday, we settled for an early dinner and an early night in our very comfortable bijou Airbnb accommodation in the Sandhaven area of South Shields. (Some of our fellow Redway Runners would have been in these parts last weekend, finishing the Great North Run). And so it was that we were then up with the larks this morning to hit the Coast Path Trail. But too early in fact for Steve to use his bus pass, having decided to bus to Sunderland and walk back … wind directions considered. At £2 a pop for bus fares at the moment though there wasn’t much call for grumbling!

Disembarked at St. Peter’s Church in Sunderland and had a short walk through the city, taking in the spectacle of the ‘Stadium of Light.’ Many years ago, Steve drove me, Alice, Geraldine and Emma all the way up here for a ‘Take That’ concert … waited for us and drove us home again. In desperation I had bought the much sought after tickets online, not having a clue how far away from us it was – but Steve came to the rescue, “Love is ” … and all that.

We happened upon a set of steep steps leading down to a dockside path, from there we picked up the England Coast Path signs and the signs were pretty spot on the rest of the walk. So a smooth and picturesque start with signs of the city’s shipbuilding history and parts of the University campus. Still too early for the cafes though – seems that folks don’t breakfast till 10.00am around here.

Once we reached the promenade there were eating establishments a-plenty and so we tucked into breakfast baps and lashings of hot tea. The whole walk today was with stunning sea-views and alongside wide sandy beaches. We ‘southerners’ are full of thinking our beaches are the best but I can tell you Northumbria takes some beating. There were a handful of swimmers and surfers in today – I’m determined to try out this September North Sea by the end of the week – suspect it’s a wee bit colder up here!! Mostly promenade and cliff top walking today, essentially flat but always scenic. Passed through Roker, Whitburn, Marsdan Bay, Souter Lighthouse, Sandhaven and Littlehaven. Saw Lime-Kilns, Lighthouses, windmills and even a Cave Bar and Restaurant – something for everyone.

This area is so pristine with wide open recreation areas. Some fabulous sculptures and art installations all along the path too, as well as some beautiful rolling lyrics along the wall. Keeping it correct we walked all the way up through Littlehaven to the ferry point, as we’d finished off in North Shields the last time we were up this way. We clocked up 11 miles today.

From the coastal path end we walked a further two miles to get back to our Airbnb – always seems like dead miles when not recorded on Strava! But a fabulous first day for the Rambling Roses, back on our beloved Coast Path.

Sunday 16th July 2023

We were kindly invited to join some fellow Redway Runners to celebrate the start of Ros’ retirement and to walk some of the Wales Coast Path. And so it was that Ros Crawley and David Jockel welcomed Steve and I plus David Rose into their magnificently renovated property in the historic town of Chepstow. This picturesque town is resplendent with castle … and several castle car parks which confused us at first but we soon got our bearings and felt very much at home.

For the purposes of this blog I have chosen to think of us as Enid Blyton’s Famous Five characters (George, Dick, Julian, Anne and Timmy) rather than accept that we are all 60+ and beginning to suffer the inevitable aches and pains! Having said that, I found myself in the illustrious company of an Ironman, Ultra runners and Marathon runners … and then there was little old me with my solitary 10k medal – I was a little apprehensive but always up for an adventure!!

Late afternoon, we had a little walk around the town, crossing the bridge into England and strolling along the pretty banks of the River Wye. Made it back in time to see Carlos Alcaraz’ fabulous Wimbledon victory before popping the champagne corks to celebrate Ros’ retirement. A fabulous evening, enjoying a delicious raclette feast, kindly provided by our hosts, some planning for the next four days of walking, lots of banter …. and of course, lashings of ginger beer!!

Monday 17th July 2023 Cardiff to Newport

Today’s plan was to travel by train to Cardiff and walk from there to Newport, which the guide informed us would be 15 miles of flat and easy walking. We were joined at the station by John, a college friend of David’s – a fellow Welshman. And off we eagerly set in the sunshine.

Now, we had 4 chaps in the group all keen to share their expertise in orienteering, we had a map, a Wales Coast Path guide, an Ordnance Survey app, plus someone local to the area but sadly rather a lack of helpful coastal path signs. The few signs that we did find encouraged us onwards, stopping for some discussion at points (which admittedly Ros and I just went along with and followed) … what we hadn’t figured was that we were following the signs that took us out of Cardiff in the completely wrong direction. So, although we got to see more of the city than we had bargained, it meant some unpleasant walking with traffic and fumes, plus an infuriating extra 2 hours and 6 miles added onto today’s hike!!! At this point we nervously laughed about it and felt hellishly relieved when we finally found the turning to take us down the lane to the Sea Wall and the views of the Severn Estuary.

At last we were on our way – sadly not too scenic to start as we passed the Water Treatment Works shortly followed by a sprawling Travellers’ settlement. Now we all try so hard to be accepting of people’s choice of lifestyle but this proves more difficult when for the next half mile we had to walk through piles and piles of their discarded waste – not the most pleasant of starts. Things did improve though and after a short stretch of shingle walking followed by scrambling through some ferociously overgrown brambles, it was mostly that flat and easy sea wall walking the guide book had suggested. It seemed pretty endless at times, the embankment just stretching miles ahead, as far as the eye could see. We had intermittent showers too which meant waterproofs were on an off at regular intervals as the showers were quite heavy and then followed by roasting sunshine.

It was along this stretch that we were introduced to Ros and David’s kissing in the ‘kissing gates’ tradition – in the five years they have been together, not one kissing gate has been passed through without a romantic embrace – so lovely. And there were numerous such gates today – a lot of smooching.

After 10 miles we stopped to have a picnic – much needed sustenance. We tucked into deliciously prepared sandwiches and crunchy apples and took the chance to rehydrate and rest our weary feet … and then we soldiered on.

More straight and flat sea wall, occasionally manoeuvring between cows and sheep, definitely the miles started to take their toll as we finally reached the city of Newport. It might have been our weariness but we all said that Newport seemed a bit unloved, litter everywhere. And it certainly didn’t endear us to the place by discovering the humungous hill that we had to climb to get the Railway Station. Lots of moans and groans at this stage … mostly from me!! We practically crawled our way up to the platform after 21 miles of walking … everything hurt! And then at the last minute, our train arrival changed to a different platform – so more crawling for our blistered feet … if we hadn’t laughed we would have cried.

It was a tough day but we rounded it all off with Steve’s scrumptious homemade lasagne, lots of laughs, beer, wine … and a very early night.

Tuesday 18th July 2023 Newport to Goldcliff

A more leisurely start to today as we had planned a shorter walk and also decided to use two cars rather than relying on public transport. Some excellent logistic planning successfully resulted in a car at either end and the ‘Famous Five’ all booted and backpacked up in Newport ready for today’s adventure. We were missing John today – our honorary gang member – he was back to his PE Teacher job today and I’m sure feeling the sting of yesterday.

We had to endure about 6 miles of industrial and urban walking first, accompanied by some heavy traffic … and once again the waterproofs were on and off. We had great views of the Newport Transporter Bridge, built in 1906, which transports vehicles and passengers in its suspended gondola – this could have been our route and would have saved a couple of miles but (thankfully) it was closed. My feet had got so badly blistered yesterday and I’d plastered up the best I could but it honestly felt like I was walking on broken glass. So between that and getting engrossed in more chatting today, the pace was somewhat slower.

We stopped off in the tiny village of Nash and made use of the deserted children’s playground to sit and have our bountiful picnic – today we’d gone all out – sandwiches, crisps, fruit and welsh cakes – we were living the life! It then took some searching and going back on ourselves to pick up the path that would eventually lead us to the estuary. Not far from Nash we found a wonderful cafe set up on the Newport Wetland Nature Reserve and were able to treat ourselves to hot steaming coffee while observing the fabulous wildlife – heron, great white egret, bobbing geese and parades of ducklings. Steve even managed two slices of carrot cake even though his lunch had hardly settled – he wasn’t going to miss any feeding opportunities!

Shortly after we were back on that familiar sea wall, but we had had some variation earlier with some woodland walking, meadows and some long unpleasant sections of overgrown prickly things. Lots of boardwalks on this stretch which aided the journey …. and a plethora of kissing gates which meant a plethora of kissing. xxxxxxx

Our watches clocked 11 miles as we reached the car and we enjoyed getting back to Chepstow at an earlier time today. Because that meant one thing … afternoon naps for the elderly.

David (Rose) knocked up an incredible ‘Cawl’ – the most comforting Welsh Lamb stew you could imagine – served up with strong Welsh cheese and crusty bread – mouth watering. Followed by Scrabble and Articulate and many many laughs.

Wednesday 19th July 2023 Goldcliff to Caldicot

A pretty straightforward walking day … that’s once we’d got going of course. We had decided on the two cars again but parking up at Caldicot (near the Rogiet Parkrun) proved a little tricky. Those darned parking meters! Ros and I giggled in the car as our three men did battle with various meters before settling on roadside parking. Even our little joke … “how many men does it take to use a parking meter?” met with frustrated silence!!

We made our way back to where we finished off yesterday and nearly the entire walk was on the sea wall with the Severn Bridge in the distance – flat and easy … and dare I say, a little monotonous. Luckily we were rich in company over these few days and covered an array of topics in conversation – the Education Sector, British and American politics, the economic crisis, Cricket, Football, Music and history as well as exchanging stories about our life to date, our families and friends – especially mutual friends (some of you Redway Runners might have found your ears burning this week)!

After a mere 9 miles we were back to where the car was parked on the road near the Rogiet Parkrun … another section in the bag.

We were back home in time to see some of the Ashes Cricket which particularly thrilled a few members of the gang. Chantelle, David’s lovely daughter had driven over from Bristol to join us for our last evening all together. Another evening of delicious food, wine and getting to know each other even more.

Thursday 20th July 2023 Caldicot to Chepstow

A quiet and charming easy day considering its proximity to the Severn Crossings. All quite spectacular.

We started the day with a bus ride from Chepstow – and we bagged the front seats upstairs with the big window. Winding our way down narrow country lanes was a right adventure – who’s the bravest? And tree branches clawed the roof and made us jump each time ( we’d brought secateurs with us today but this was a little out or reach). What larks!

The blue circle mosaic marks the end of the 876 miles stretch of the Wales Coast Path … and it was the end of our 4 days of walking, arriving back in charming Chepstow.

What a marvellous 4 days of walking it has been and 51 miles covered. And more especially, some fabulous friendships made, Ros’ retirement celebrated and the new holiday pad in Chepstow well and truly christened.

I researched Enid Blyton’s Famous Five novel writing and the intended moral was “to make each day count and live life to the fullest.” I reckon that sums us up – we may not be spring chickens but we’ve all got plans not to waste anytime – things to see, places to go, memories to make.

I can’t wait for our next ‘Famous Five’ adventure.

Sunday 12th February 2023

The last two days had been about running, so it was back to coastal walking …. but, as it was all about promenade walking today we opted for the lighter footwear of trainers. Plus my walking boots were still caked in mud and I didn’t want to be looked down on again!!!!

What could be better than starting off the day with a full English? Our lovely friend Simon (a Sandgrown’un!) had informed us that his best friend Andrew owned a cafe just near to our today’s starting point – so it would have been rude not to!! Unfortunately his Andrew was out playing golf but we tucked into the most delicious of breakfasts with lashings of tea … and it was great service + reasonable prices. Recommend ‘The Dunes’ all round.

Then it was hot foot onto the promenade and we spent the next few hours enjoying the spectacle that is Blackpool. It’s quite a one-off with its illuminations, trams, splendid seafront hotels, the funfair that dominates the town, the magnificent Blackpool tower, the glitter ball, the miles of sand (no donkeys out today though), the pier, the amusement arcades, the roman design esplanade structures, the Victorian shelters etc. the list goes on and on … and, dare I say it, a hint of tackiness in places, but you’ve gotta love it.

After 5 miles at a good pace we had completed the Blackpool stretch … but the walk was far from over … the promenade continued through Anchorsholme, then Rossall Beach and into Fleetwood. Extremely easy walking but I’m ashamed to say it did get a bit monotonous – nothing much changed once we’d left the big town. And my energy levels were dropping. I was going to bring fruit but Steve assured me that there’d be plenty of coffee and donut stands along the way … and I just couldn’t get those hot sugary rings out of my mind! We missed our one opportunity to re-energise by walking past the one and only cafe on this stretch between Anchorsholme and Fleetwood … it being suggested that there’d be plenty of other opportunities ahead (I’m saying no more on that matter!!!!!) – but not one. Even when we reached Fleetwood after 12 miles of walking, the cafes, not surprisingly, all had queues.

With empty tums and sugar-cravings we rode the tram back to Starr Gate – entertained by a jolly conductor. Dived into the nearest shop (Dunes cafe now closed) and as soon as the first bite of Snickers slipped down I felt my body rejuvenate. I’m not usually a sugar snack sort of person but today my body was just craving it … all was now well in my world.

And getting back to base to our two little charges – it’s no wonder dogs are used in therapy – they soothe all your woes away.

This may be the last walk for now. We’ll be back to finish the lovely Lancashire coastline another time!! We have some decorating to do in Lymm! Alice and Jon have moved into their new house which happens to be just an hour away from where we are … and guess what, it’s a project!!

Good luck and HAPPY NEW HOME Alice and Jon. xxxx