Bede's Way

Like me, the Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel is 64 years old. Thankfully I can truthfully say that unlike the tunnel, I have not had millions of pounds spent on my renovation. Making matters worse, is the fact that work on the tunnel has been suspended owing to the building company going into administration. It has already been closed for a year and is likely to remain that way for at least another 12 months. Consequently my plans for getting to St. Paul's church in Jarrow had to be altered. Instead of a nostalgic walk through the tunnel, I took the ferry across the Tyne to South Shields and then a metro to Bede. From there it was but a short walk to St. Paul's.

The purpose of the journey was to tackle the 12 mile walk known as Bede's Way which links the twin churches of St. Paul's in Jarrow to St. Peter's in Monkwearmouth on the outskirts of Sunderland. The Venerable Bede was in fact a native of these parts as I am sure you will be aware. Obviously you will of course have read his 'Historia ecclesiastica gentus Anglorum' (The Ecclesiastical history of the English people). 

My participation in a walk near Ullswater in the English Lake District earlier in the week, was called off owing to inclement weather. So I was pleased of the opportunity to get a decent walk in when the weather improved a couple of days later. Having slapped on the sun protection, I set off from St. Paul's following initially the course of the River Don, which in Anglo-Saxon times was quite a substantial river that surrounded Jarrow on three sides. Now, it is little more than a stream.

As Mikhail Sholokhov wrote..... 'And Quiet Flows the Don.













Having navigated my way past and underneath the busy A19 road, I then found that much of the early part of my walk was through pleasant fields and pastures teeming with wild flowers and the noise of traffic was thankfully soon replaced by the more pleasant sound of birdsong. This was more like it.



The walk is conveniently divided into six sections which can be tackled separately thanks to the close proximity to public transport systems such as buses or metros. I was determined to finish the whole route in one day but it was reassuring to know that I could abort the walk at any time if the weather turned or another emergency arose.

Thankfully the weather remained fine and dry and eventually I began to head towards the coast on what is known as the Linnet Way.













To be honest I never spotted any linnets. They may have been frightened off by this fellow.


Having taken lunch at the end of the third stage I found the remaining parts of the walk to be by far the most pleasant and interesting. 

One path brought me up to the former water pumping station at Cleadon. The site is dominated by a grade 2 listed tower which is actually a chimney and which can be seen from miles around. As you will immediately see from this photo, the tower is built to resemble an Italian campanile bell tower.



Leaving that structure behind I climbed a short distance, bringing me to the highest point of the Cleadon Hills, dominated by an old windmill which dates from the 1820's. It was damaged in a storm in the 1870's and was then used during the First World War for artillery target practice. I have visited this spot before on previous walks and I have to say that the view is quite breathtaking as one can see down the coast towards Sunderland, across County Durham towards Chester-le-Street and Penshaw Monument and then in another direction right across to Tyneside. 

As I began my descent towards the coast, I was able to look back at the two dominating landmarks I had passed earlier.

The path eventually brought me into the attractive village of Whitburn where, being ahead of schedule, I paused to take in some of the views.



Like the village pond which at one time used to flood in very wet weather. Such were the extent of these that the adjacent infant school was often flooded forcing pupils to sit on their desks to avoid the water.








The village also featured a number of other attractive buildings.

After resting in the sunshine with a cool drink, I pressed on through the attractive park and out onto the sea front where I turned south to tackle the final part of my journey to Monkwearmouth.

Or should I head to Germany instead?












I decided that Germany could wait for another day, so I stuck to my original plan and it wasn't long before I reached my destination, the recently restored church and grounds of St. Peter. As I sat gazing at the church I thought of Bede and his fellow monks who probably walked those same footpaths 1400 years ago and I wondered just how much the landscape will have changed in those years.

It was only as I sped through that landscape on my metro journey back to South Shields and I was able to pick out some of the landmarks I had passed on my earlier walk, that I fully appreciated just how much ground I had covered. I have walked that distance and further on many previous occasions but somehow I felt a greater sense of achievement on this occasion.  Perhaps it was the spiritual nature of the walk that made me grateful that I was healthy enough to complete such a challenge.