Back in 2018, I started my UK life in Newcastle upon Tyne. Just before the pandemic has started, I moved out to London, where I am currently sitting by the table at Ole and Steen sipping coffee and trying to write something at least a bit sensible, which is unbelievable hard, believe me.
Back in June after one Saturday night, my friend and I decided to take a train back up there. Back to the North East Coast, where everything began.
Train from Lonon King`s Cross station takes around 4 hours journey and, it cost you a fortune I believe we paid approximately 60 pounds for a return ticket with 30% off with railcard. If you fancy going a lot more low-cost as I used to before, I become way too comfortable you can take a coach from London Victoria for 8 pounds, and you will get to enjoy 8 hours on the bus.
Was it always so tiny? I thought once I reached Newcastle train station. Funny how things change and stay the same at the same time. Back then, I was a girl from the countryside scared to live in the big city. Everything looked so exciting and full of hope. So here we were again in the town which once felt like a whole new world, and now we can stroll around in 2 hours.
Our first steps led to the Baltic gallery; frankly, I never really fully understood modern art, so my relationship with the Baltic is based mainly on souvenir shop, which always has some good literature for nowadays feminists.
The thing with North East Coast is that you never know how to dress. It`s pretty much cold till one pm every day regardless of the season; after that, you can lie down on the stunning sandy beach and get tan again regardless of the season.
After we dumped stuff in the hotel, we took a metro outside of Newcastle. First stop at South Shields seafront. South Shields itself is nothing special apart beach and the coast path. I have seen quite a few English coasts, and still, I think that one what South Shields, Sunderland, and the surrounding area have are one of the most spectacular in England.
For nostalgic reasons, we decided to take the ferry from South Shields to North Shields. There is honestly nothing special about that, but it`s a good shortcut.
The day we finished off in Wetherspoon`s Five Swans pub with a couple of cocktails which gave us (or at least me) a pretty hard time climbing stairs for a toilet. By the way, toilets in Five Swans are something extraordinary and worth a visit, I promise!
The second day has been about the seaside. We took a metro to Whitley Bay and walked approx two and a half miles towards St. Mary`s Lighthouse. After that, we head to Tynemouth, another two and a half miles along the coast.
Would I recommend visiting North East? Absolutely! Perfect place for hiking lovers or party animals (guess which category I am, haha).
My North East Coast, despite everything, I still love you and will come back one day again.
