|
Sunday 12th was looking to be a nice evening
so we decided to head to the coast for tea. If you're going cruising on the sea front, you might as well pose and what better way than in a Jeep!
The trip took us passed some old military sites too, the first being RAF
Usworth, built in 1916, as we headed East from Washington. Usworth started
life as a Royal Flying Corps aerodrome, then became a WW2 Sector Station and
finally Sunderland Airport, before being demolished to make way for a car
factory. Even the Grade 2 listed Lamella hangar was torn down. We continued
through Boldon and stopped just East of Cleadon for a few pictures. |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
We drove on towards the coast, meeting the coast road at Whitburn, before turning South to Seaburn for sausage and chips! It took a while to find a parking spot, unfortunately having to turn around North again and park on the landward side of the road. We stopped there for our takaway before continuing North to turn around and this time parked on the seaward side of the road. Wifey and child went off to the beach to do a gymnastic photoshoot at the waters edge while I stayed in the Jeep, starting to read a book about the air battle over Ceylon. |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
From there we turned around again and once more headed North. Back through Seaburn, through Whitburn where we passed the old military shooting range. I fired a .303 rifle here back in the early 1980's when in the Air Cadets. The mounds of earth at the end of each range are still there, but the range buildings and stores were demolished for houses around 2015. Just North of Whiteburn is Souter Light House and that was our next stop. |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
We turned off the main road to the light house car park, then back along this side road to towards another car park, as there were some nice grassed and wooded areas for more photos along that road. Wifey and child went for another short walk while I was taking pictures. |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
After leaving Souter, we followed the coast road North West, passed Marsden to South Shields, stopping at a couple of car parks on the way. The first has Tynemouth Priory in the far distance, so we continued all the way to the mouth of the River Tyne for a closer picture ( 2nd last shot ). In that picture, on the left is Herd Groyne Lighthouse. On the beach between the Jeep and this light house is the third of the former military sites on our tour. Not really visible in my photo, but clearly seen on recent Google Earth images, is a sea plane ramp. In 1916, a sea plane base was built here for the operation of sea planes and flying boats. It also served as a refuelling station between bases in Lincolnshire and Scotland. The station occupied 21 acres and included five Type F seaplane sheds each 200 x 100 feet. The station was active from April 1916 until 1919. |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
We left South Shields heading South East again along the coast road, stopping briefly at the grassland at Horsley Hill before continuing to Whitburn and turning West through Boldon, passing close to the former Boldon Camp on our way home. We clocked up a little over 35 miles on a very pleasant evening drive. |
|||