Jill Forgham writes: Bank holiday weekend would usually be Notting Hill carnival for me but this year I broke with tradition and left Neil to enjoy the parade so that I could explore Northumbria with the Polys. It was a decision well made!
The university accommodation bore little resemblance to my time in halls of residence – the size of the fridge! Two sofas! Very comfortable and not at all scary once we got used to crossing the double motorway to get into town. Gillian welcomed us to Newcastle with an excellent city tour and it was a lovely evening, the bridges and Victorian buildings looking so elegant in the northern light.

I chose the Middle walks for the first two days, to ease my body into the trip and then went for the Long walk on Bank Holiday Monday. Tuesday I allowed myself a free afternoon to sketch and paint on Lindisfarne and that regime worked perfectly for me, I managed it all without feeling too tired. It was such a nice balance of options, terrain and sights to see, I was extremely impressed with all the hard work that had gone into crafting our trip to the north.
My favourite day I think was the first day. We took the train to Alnmouth (taking care not to jump on the non-stop LNER direct to Edinburgh, same platform!) and then cut inland. I don’t think I have ever walked through fields of broad beans before. Corn fields were all around, dark brooding skies overhead and it was very beautiful. I love to see the rolled haybales, golden in the sporadic bursts of sunshine. We passed a potato farm and had fun weighing ourselves on the giant weighing pallets. Stuart enjoyed seeing a signpost pointing the way to ‘Crisps’. We emerged onto the coast just in time for lunch and that was a real highlight, sitting on a driftwood log looking at the endless sand stretching in each direction. Once restored, we took the coast path up along the dunes (Stuart rescuing his famous hat that had been blown deep into the bracken along the way). We cut inland round some very upmarket chalet caravans with enviable views and then emerged into the village of Alnmouth where Geoffrey recommended Nanny Pat’s tea and cake shop. She had closed but obligingly reopened her courtyard just for us. Ida had done research on the attractions of the village and so we popped into the excellent gift shop and historic church (beautiful stained glass), some paddled and a group stayed on for a pub dinner.

I enjoyed sharing a flat with other Polys and on Sunday evening after our adventures in Hexham, Ida and I got out our watercolours and showed each other the different techniques between Chinese and Western traditions. We stuck our resulting artworks on the giant fridge and had a mini exhibition, it was a lovely thing to do together.
The walk from Seaburn up to South Shields was a treat, we saw sea birds on rocks, some great lighthouses and heard a foghorn (luckily we were well past it before it blew its test blast). We saw lots of locals on this day, out enjoying the bank holiday and the seaside atmosphere. There was even an African club having a BBQ with music on the beach at one point, I was tempted to join in. We reached North Shields in time to take the ferry across the Tyne on an old fashioned boat, and we could see the mouth of the river going into the sea, another highlight. Then home, the long way round, on the Metro, like a toy train but very efficient and taking us right back into the heart of Newcastle.

On Tuesday morning Susan took us on a fine tour of Berwick on Tweed, we saw bridges, castle ruins, ramparts and fine sea views before ending in the lovely old town. Stephen recommended a particularly fine cheese scone (with feta and apricot) so the cafe lady quickly wrapped it in clingfilm for me to take across the causeway to Holy Island. The fleet of taxis took us through driving rain onto the island, very atmospheric, but luckily the rain clouds soon cleared in time for the circular walk (and my plein air session, although not easy in high winds!).
Thanks to everyone who made this such a memorable and enjoyable break away.

Gillian, Susan and Danny write: Fifty one Poly Ramblers took the train to Newcastle for a bank holiday weekend based at the University of Northumbria. The journey experience depended on which train you were on but suffice to say my train was somehow overtaken by a service that was supposed to depart 50 minutes later. On the plus side this did result in a substantial refund from LNER. Settling in to our accommodation was somewhat chaotic as people went backwards and forwards to reception reporting missing items including cutlery and crockery and toilet rolls, non-functioning key cards and in one case a broken fridge! Eventually we were able to set off on our orientation walk, split into two groups due to the size of the party. We headed back into the city centre, pausing at Grey’s Monument (to Victorian Prime Minister Earl Grey who is also associated with the tea), admiring impressive buildings in Grey Street and made our way down to the River Tyne with its iconic bridges. From there we climbed a long flight of steps to reach the Castle and the Black Tower. The next stop was Newcastle Cathedral but somehow my group managed to miss it and we ended up at the Catholic Cathedral instead. Susan’s group missed the steps but got to the cathedral, missing the castle! It was visible further down the road but by that time everyone was hungry. We had already lost several participants to Wetherspoons earlier on. At that point we decided to call it a day and dispersed to find food and rest, a largish group ending up in Pizza Express.

On Saturday long and middle walkers set off for the station for a train north to Alnmouth. We headed south, inland at first and then picking up the coast path to return to the lovely coastal village. The long walk extension continued south into the pretty village of Warkworth on the River Coquet. We had made good time, so were able to stop long enough after our picnic, for those who wished to, to visit the well-preserved medieval church, castle and hermitage. Others took advantage of the various tea shops and pubs. We then returned through the fortified gateway and over the ancient bridge towards the sea and followed the coast path to Alnmouth.
In the meantime, the strollers walked to the north of Alnmouth village, along the beach to Seaton point, and then back through the dunes. After lunch in the village, they took a bus to explore nearby Alnwick including the amazing second-hand bookstore in its old station.

Sunday’s walks took us inland to the Tyne Valley, Hadrian’s Wall country. The middle walk started with an hour in Corbridge, a lovely village full of independent shops and a rich Roman history. A local on the train had recommended Grants bakery and many of the group spent their time having coffee and very large cakes. The weather forecast was not encouraging and it was clear we would be hard pressed to complete the walk before the rain set in. We headed off on the flood plain of the Tyne in windy conditions eventually finding shelter in the woods. We stopped for lunch in a lovely clearing. So far no rain. Then into the woods and it was not until we were almost at the outskirts of Hexham before the rain started in earnest. My plans to admire the historic buildings of Hexham and visit the Abbey were scuppered when I discovered that Northern Rail had cancelled 3 trains in succession due to lack of drivers. We were facing a long wait to get back but Stephen consulted google and found that there were buses running to Newcastle. A few of us headed down to the station to investigate while everyone else piled into the Abbey café just before it closed. Sadly the Abbey itself was closed due to lack of stewards. Luckily we all managed to cram onto a bus for an uncomfortable but interesting 70 minute journey to the city centre.
The strollers did exactly the same walk as the Middle walkers but started two hours later because of problems with the trains. Deja Vu! They also caught a bus back to Newcastle but, whilst waiting for it at the station, they passed the time with a drink in a pub close by.
The long walkers, led by Susan and Pam, started off in Hexham, walking along the Tyne for a while before climbing up through fields and woodland with lovely views over the river valley. Fortunately, the large number of cows which had blocked our way through on the recce had decided to pasture elsewhere. As we descended into the village of Newbrough the rain was beginning to fall heavily. We were able to shelter in St. Peter’s church which is built on the site of a Roman fort. Some of us ate our picnic in the porch, while others sat in the church. After lunch, the rain having eased off, we followed what was the Stanegate Roman road before turning off to make our way with several ascents and descents towards Haydon Bridge. We had heard from Gillian that the trains were cancelled, so on arrival we checked the time of the replacement bus and then settled in at the pub for refreshment and a rest. One walker had suffered a nasty fall on the descent and we were lucky that a kind lady in the pub was able to offer first aid. It turned out that either we were at the wrong stop or the bus didn’t come, but luckily a local bus arrived and with a quick change in Hexham we finally arrived back in Newcastle.

On Monday our walks were focused on the coastline between South Shields and Sunderland and gave many of us our first experience of the Tyne and Wear metro. The long walkers headed to Seaburn just north of Sunderland to walk north to South Shields while the middle walkers, led by Cathy, walked in the opposite direction. This was a lovely walk, much less industrialised than I expected but with plenty of interest. We met the strollers at our lunch stop and met them again at the ferry terminal. The long walkers had hoped to visit Tynemouth on the north side of the river but time and energy had run out and on disembarking the Tyne ferry at North Shields we all headed to the metro station. It being a bank holiday weekend there was inevitably some engineering work on the Metro so we took a circuitous route back to the city centre and a couple of people stopped off for a look at Whitley Bay en route.
That evening most of the group gathered at the Maldron Hotel in the city centre for a meal to mark the end of the trip although half the group stayed on for another day to visit Lindisfarne,

Susan writes: On arrival in Lindisfarne it was raining very heavily. Some of us retreated to a very busy café and others found some shelter for their picnic. We were lucky as by the time we had eaten our lunch the rain had stopped. We split into groups and passed a very pleasant afternoon walking, painting and visiting the various ruins and buildings. The longer walk took us to the priory and church before some of us braved the steep climb up a rocky section from where we had a wonderful view of Bamburgh castle. We met up again with those who had taken a simpler route to the castle. From there we left the numerous tourists and set off in the warm breeze along the east side of the island into the national Nature Reserve towards Emmanuel Head. We took a group photo under the striking 35 feet high triangular structure, built between 1801 and 1810 by Trinity House. It is one of the earliest daymarks (a navigational aid for shipping) built in Britain, possibly the earliest one. Winding our way through the dunes along the north side we emerged from the reserve, checked our shoes and clothing for the invasive pirri pirri burs and returned to the village to await our taxis for Berwick.

Thanks to Ida, Maggie, Melida, Hilary, Patricia, Chris, Siew Kee, Jo, Jackie C, Nita, Jill  for photos