A North Sea coast walk to a unique pub: the Marsden Grotto, South Shields | Walking holidays

I have lived and labored within the north-east of England for nearly three a long time and explored nearly each mile of its shoreline. The stretch between the rivers Put on and Tyne is commonly ignored, maybe as a result of it’s partly hid on the map by the Sunderland and Newcastle conurbation. On earlier bike rides and walks I’ve come throughout previous lighthouses, industrial and army relics and different curious options. Now I’ve strung all of them collectively right into a route that features a succession of sandy bays.

I begin at Roker, a suburb of Sunderland, and finish on the Marsden Grotto in South Shields, a pub with rooms which were hewn out of the cliff face. It has been considerably upgraded since my earlier go to so I’m eager to present it a attempt.

Swapping the town for sand, I set off on a gentle morning, uncertain whether or not to put on one layer or two. I see fishers perched on Roker Pier, which gently arcs out to a lighthouse.

The primary curiosity I encounter on the headland earlier than Whitburn Bay is a cast-iron lighthouse whose design was based mostly on a Tuscan column and contains an oriel window. It used to face on the southern pier at Sunderland however was relocated right here in 1983. The tide’s out so I can proceed alongside Seaburn seashore, one of many many elements of this coast which were considerably improved up to now 10 years or so. The rebuilt promenade is now backed by Asian and Italian eating places in addition to fashionable new homes with glass-fronted balconies going through the ocean.

In distinction, empty fields again the subsequent stretch of coast. Empty, that’s, aside from their mysterious mounds. They’re harking back to neolithic lengthy barrows however are literally the butts of a rifle vary erected through the first world battle. Reverse the vary, Finn’s Labyrinth additionally will get me considering. It’s a medieval-style stone puzzle set out within the grass behind a pebbly seashore, however I discover out later that it was in-built 2015 to commemorate the creator’s canine.

There’s no mistaking the subsequent milestone on the route, Souter Lighthouse. Opened in 1871 and now owned by the Nationwide Belief, it stands on a headland and, because of its elevated place, the tower stands a mere 23 metres excessive. I make a fast scamper to the highest, the place the information tells me how the lights weigh 4½ tonnes and activate a mattress of mercury weighing 1½ tonnes, whereas the view extends for about 45 miles in each route. The tower’s red-and-white stripes couldn’t be extra becoming to the realm given the colors of Sunderland soccer membership.

Magnesian limestone geology characterises the area. In addition to offering a habitat for wildflowers (the realm is a website of particular scientific curiosity), the limestone additionally offered a priceless useful resource. It was quarried at Marsden from the early Nineteenth century, as evidenced by the stays of 5 large limekilns looming over the coast street a little bit additional north. They have been fuelled by coal from an adjoining colliery, as was the lighthouse, the primary within the nation to make use of electrical gentle energy from a coal-fired generator. The miners lived in a purpose-built village beside the lighthouse that was demolished in 1968.

The sculpted form of the coast right here can be right down to the limestone. Marsden Bay jogs my memory of Praia da Rocha in Portugal. Cormorants and kittiwakes crowd on to the highest of sea stacks and arches in the identical density because the holidaymakers who used to pack the seashore beneath, as captured within the previous pictures I had seen within the recreated lighthouse keepers’ flat.

North of the bay, open fields separate the footpath from the homes of South Shields and provides the route extra of a rural really feel, consistent with the better-known neighbouring coastlines of Northumberland and North Yorkshire. Indicators on the cliff edge and bunches of flowers warn of the hazards of a crumbling coast. What I initially assume are numbered posts for a Nationwide Belief path are literally reference factors for rescue.

As I close to the top of my coastal saunter I move three tiny seashores. Man Haven bay was as soon as used to launch pilot cobles (small crusing boats) when the ocean was too tough to launch from the mouth of the Tyne. Neighbouring Frenchman’s Bay was named after a French ship that ran aground right here within the seventeenth century. The final seashore of the trio lies beneath Trow Level and is topped by a recreated experimental disappearing gun. The unique weapon from the late Nineteenth century was designed to drop beneath floor in order that troopers may reload out of enemy sight earlier than elevating it above floor for firing.

Sadly, and in distinction to many of the different sights alongside this coast, the present gun is in a poor state, rusting and sprayed with graffiti. The view makes up for it although, extending to the dual piers tipped by lighthouses that guard the mouth of the Tyne.

The sunshine is beginning to fade as I retrace my steps to Marsden Bay, following a slender path that winds right down to the seashore, certain for my ultimate vacation spot, Marsden Grotto. There’s different entry from the street through a cliff elevate. In-built 1938, the shaft mimics the adjoining sea stack and I’m wondering if its design was based mostly on lifts on the previous colliery. I like the best way so many options of this stroll are intertwined and rooted within the rock.

“Sorry. No wifi. You’re in a cave!”, reads an indication behind the bar. Clients barely want a reminder of their location. That is a unprecedented eating venue, claiming to be the one rock cave bar within the UK. The grotto dates again to 1782 when a lead miner, Jack the Blaster, arrange dwelling within the caves. In addition to serving to smugglers, he would provide refreshments to guests who got here to see his novel abode. A later proprietor within the mid-Nineteenth century, Peter Allan, who quarried stone for the limekilns, constructed extra rooms into the caves and turned Jack’s home into an inn. By way of coastal curiosities, I’ve saved the most effective till final.

Google map of the route

Begin Marine Stroll automobile park, Roker
Distance 7½ miles
Time 4 hours
Ascent 124 metres
Problem Straightforward

The pub

Marsden Grotto operates as a pub and a restaurant-with-rooms. There’s a alternative of seating: on a terrace with battlements outdoors, within the bar overlooking the seashore or, most intriguingly, tucked away in caves on the again, which used to deal with a ballroom. My companion and I shared a surfboard platter (£35.95), which included calmly battered cod items, crispy whitebait, mackerel pate, pancetta, large king prawns with heads and tails on, and chunky chips. We didn’t want dessert.

The rooms

Marsden Grotto has 10 trendy, well-appointed and cozy rooms. Options embody standalone roll-top baths and basic French-style furnishings. All however one of many rooms enjoys a view of the North Sea, however for the complete, atmospheric grotto expertise, one can select to sleep inside the pure rock partitions of the “cave room”, which is ready into one of many unique caves blasted out within the 18th century.
Doubles from £109 with continental breakfast, marsdengrotto.com