Little Haven (South Shields nr Newcastle upon Tyne)

We were very happy to spend last night at the same B&B as two nights ago, when we had the car towed to Hawick (took us ages to work out why they pronounced it hoik, obviously haw ick. The B&B was very comfortable and the hosts were great. We drove from Hawick to a National Trust property, Cherryburn. It’s where Thomas Bewick, one of Northumberland’s supposedly greatest artist, wood engraver and naturalist was born. He carved the wood block that was used for the printing of one of England’s bank notes. He was born in the cottage in August 1753, he grew up there until the age of 14 when he moved to Newcastle upon Tyne to become a bound apprentice. For many of his wood cut engravings used for printing, he rubbed a lead pencil on the back of the water colour painting he wanted to use, put the painting on the wood block and transferred the lead to the block.

 

 

We then moved on to the Penshaw monument, officially The Earl of Durham's Monument, which is a folly built in 1844 on Penshaw Hill. It is dedicated to John Lambton (1792–1840), 1st Earl of Durham and the first Governor of the Province of Canada. It can be seen from many miles away. Strange structure to build. Fortunately, access to the top, up a steep spiral staircase through one of the columns was possible. Again, we wouldn’t have seen this if we didn’t have the issue with the car. Good views over the countryside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last visit for this warm sunny day was to the Souter Lighthouse. It was built in 1871 and was the first lighthouse in the world purpose built to be lit by electricity. There is a fog horn on the site that used to sound whenever visibility was less than 2 miles. Only 72 steps to the lantern room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now in an unexpectantly nice hotel, right beside the Tyne River, just near the river entrance. We can watch tugs bringing ships in to port, power skiers playing and, at the moment, wedding party revellers from our window. Probably the best combination of location/room/weather/views that we’ve had so far.