Friday 13th January 2023
We parked the car near the Drive-Thru Costa’s at the marina in Hartlepool and set off around the marina, across the lock gate, past the Hartlepool Monkey bronze statue.
Perhaps Hartlepool has so little else to recommend it that it proudly retains this piece of folklore, that a monkey was the sole survivor of a shipwrecked vessel in the Napoleonic wars and the locals hanged it as a French spy.
We followed the promenade out of Hartlepool; the tide was too far in to get onto the beach until Seaton Carew.
The day was bright and clear and the weather forecast suggested we might reasonably expect to stay dry. The beach here is wide and pretty flat. When I walked this way in 2019 it was covered in a thin layer of coal particles and men were raking it up. Perhaps they did a remarkable job or perhaps it all depends on the prevailing weather conditions but there was very little coal dust to see today.
As we approached the North Gare Breakwater, the waves were still occasionally reaching the stony embankment along the shore line but we managed to squeeze between the waves and the rocks without getting wet and climbed up the stones to reach the top of the breakwater and continue along the dunes above North Gare Sands.
All good things must end and we turned inland to follow tarmac for the much of the rest of the day’s walk. We walked up to the A718 which we would follow until Port Clarence and the Transporter Bridge. This is the official route of the England Coast Path and so there is either a tarmac pavement or a grassy path, parallel to the road the whole way. This means verge-hopping is not required but the incessant noise of HGVs passing becomes quite wearing and certainly prohibits any conversation – not that we have much of that while we are walking.
When we wanted to stop for a break, the only places to sit (other than the top of a crash-barrier) were the narrow, sloping benches in a couple of bus shelters and so we availed ourselves of one of those and perched there to drink our coffee. Fortunately we were out of the strong wind and had the sun streaming in on us so we felt quite warm.
Further on, at Greatham Creek, there were benches at the artistic viewing screens where one can look out over the creeks and marshes at the over-wintering birds and sometimes see seals, so the information boards tell us.
A mile or two further on is Saltholme RSPB reserve. We considered going there for lunch but it was slightly off-route and we still had another mile to reach the Transporter Bridge then seven more to get round to the other side to finish so we decided that, as it was already gone 12.30, we didn’t really have time. We pressed on to Port Clarence and the Transporter Bridge where there are three rather austere and cold, concrete benches devoid of any shelter. We ate our lunch admiring the steel structure that we cannot cross. The Transporter Bridge has been closed since 2018 and still awaits full engineering reports and a decision on its future. The Visitor Centre, on the other side, remains open but pedestrians are not allowed on to the walkway at the top until more anti-slip surfacing has been applied. Unfortunately the steps on the north side were removed in the late 1970s and so pedestrians will never be able to cross and descend on the other side.
The next four miles alongside the A1046 are just tedious with the heavy traffic thundering past and a view of decaying old industry and areas of redevelopment.
Eventually we came to the Tees Newport Bridge; it is an old lift bridge which is no longer functional. It was with much relief that we turned north off the far side of the bridge to follow the riverside path. Here we were “sharing” with the Tees Way and the Eight Bridges Walk. On our left was the River Tees and the industrial sprawl we had been walking through for the last two hours on the far bank. On our right is a series of redeveloped industrial complexes and commercial units. This was an unlikely setting for the highlight of the day’s walk, however, I spotted a porpoise and we spent some time watching as its head and dorsal fin appeared for just a second or two as it made its way initially upstream but then turned seawards and we lost sight of it.
A few moments later, Jill spotted a seal.
There was nothing very uplifting about the last couple of miles to the south end of the Transporter Bridge. We debated walking the three quarters of a mile into town to catch a bus back to Hartlepool but, with the walk from the bus-stop back to the car, and the half-hourly bus taking 45 minutes, it would probably make us much later getting home. So we opted for a taxi back to Hartlepool – it took ages to arrive then took us the wrong way in Hartlepool so we weren’t sure we’d made the right choice.
Now we have just one more day’s walking and Jill will have caught up with me.
More Justcoasting 
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