Unlikely destinations.............Hartlepool!
And No, I'm not joking!! We've spent time with friends, this weekend in Hartlepool and discovered what a great place it is.
We drove up the A19 and crossed via the Middlesborough Transporter Bridge, then went to the Salthome RSPB reserve - where we watched a kestrel hunting over the marshes, terns on the ponds, and curlews calling overhead. From there we went to the Teesmouth Nature Reserve on the other side of the road, and walked along the beach, watching the huge container ships enter the Tees. After that a short drive took us to the parking area at the side of the road, to watch the Harbour seals in Greatham Creek where you can see seals in the creek inlets to the side of the main A178. A highlight was watching four short-eared owls hunting over the marshes and scrubland just off the A178. After that we went to the Marina and the Folk and Maritime Museum in Hartlepool, and had a walk around the reconstructed 18thC port - with shops and houses open to the public, and just as it would have been! Then a walk around HMS Trincomalee, which has been restored and refitted as if it were just about to set sail for the orient. We also visited the folk museum where we learned about the German bombing of Hartlepool in the early days of World War 1 as well as a lot of other interesting exhibits. We walked around the 'Headland' which has some lovely houses, beaches, a statue of Andy Capp (the cartoonist was from the headland) and the 'Monkey Trail' of local landmarks . There is a story, true or not, that the fishermen of Hartlepoool hanged a monkey thinking it to be a French spy after a French warship sank just outside the town.
An unlikely destination, but definitely a worthwhile one!! Our friend pooh poohed it when we first suggested it, but they loved it and are going back with their new motorhome in November. There are so many places nearby that we've never visited and we've decided to find interesting things to do in them all - and leave the more popular places to the hoards of tourists!
What unlikely destinations are there in you area that you'd recommend?
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Our bolthole is Ferry Meadows at Peterborough ,and we have met over the many years of useing the site numerous people who cannot believe how much there is to do in the area,
Some years ago a warden said to us people come here for a couple of days stopover,then book on and book on then when leaving say" how do we tell our friends we have just spent two weeks in Peterborough"
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We have recently some time at the Club site White Water Park at Stockton on Tees and I would say not only is the site one of the best Club sites I have stayed on but a fascination area. See here Industrial Archaeology is a particular interest to mine and that area is rich in that subject.
David
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Very pertinent post Val as I am currently putting an itinerary together that will include the area around Middlesborough and Hartlepool for next year. It will probably start near the Humber and we'll work our way up to Northumberland for late Spring and Summer.
I was reading a book about bird sites last night that mentioned Saltholme plus quite a few others around the Tees. Then there's the railway heritage of the area to see.
Hope we'll be able to get in now that you've given the game away.
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Chap that bought my last yacht keeps it at Hartlepool. Trincomalee was previously the TS Foudroyant and was moored in Portsmouth harbour for many years.
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If you're up that way here's another place to add to the list, The National Glass Centre....looks like it has a good café too. It's near Gateshead, so a bit further north. Recommended by a family member who visited recently.
National Glass Centre LINK
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The fish and chips at the chippie opposite Saltburn Pier are second to none!
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You have to dismiss the industrial architecture on both sides of the Tees, which is brutal, but no longer the smoky, chemical smelling place it once was! And nature is obviously happy there - witnessed by the huge number of different birds, including skylarks which you don't often hear these days, lots of butterflies and other insects, and the seals - which have re-colonised what was once a very polluted river - the only harbour seals in Europe to ever re-colonise an area.
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Well our latest stay was on a CL that comes under a Scunthorpe listing! Great CL and brilliant for wildlife, which just goes to show how wildlife will recolonise old industrial areas.
We've had some fun looking at the reactions of neighbours when they've asked where we've been.
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We stopped on a CL near Hartlepool a few years ago so that we could go to a Bruce Springfield concert at the Stadium of Light at Sunderland, and very convenient it was too.
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I confess to having made a trip to Hartlepool specifically to visit the Trincomalee. I wanted to see what the ship was now like and show OH. When I was about 15 I spent a week on the Foudroyant when it was a hulk moored off Gosport as a training ship. Can't say I recognized much.
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sailed out of the marina some years ago when it hadnt long been open
