Old Hartley Caravan Club Site

No sooner were we back from our trip to Haltwhistle than we were planning our next trip. Trying to make up for lost time due to the Covid lockdown but also keen to stay safe and be responsible.

Once again it was a case of looking at the weather app to see where the sun would be shining and as it turned out, the sunniest spot was about 45 miles further along the A69 from Haltwhistle! So, off we set. Back over the Scottish / English border, which is generally irrelevant but in these days of COVID, it results in going from one country with its current lockdown position to another with a slightly different timetable of easing. We researched the differences to ensure that we would adhere to them.

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Old Hartley Caravan Club site is a member only site on the a cliff above the beach. It has a lovely view of the sea and St Mary’s lighthouse and the town centre of Seaton Sluice is about 1 mile away.

Our journey from Glasgow was uneventful and we arrived at the reception area of the campsite just before 1pm. We were met by a friendly member of staff and informed of the campsite’s current policies regards COVID. We were then informed that we could choose our own pitch, which is always nice to hear and gives you the freedom to find that ‘perfect’ spot. As luck would have it, we found a small pitch at the bottom of the campsite, near the perimeter fence and with great views. All was good.

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We soon struck up a conversation with an older couple, David & Isobel, who were pitched up next to us, with their caravan. David was now retired, after years of driving trucks and clearly had an encyclopaedic knowledge of roads and towns. He had passed through our home town years before and was able to describe it pretty well. The couple, in particular David, enjoyed a chat. Which was appreciated and we had planned to spend more time talking to them over the next couple of days but unfortunately due to the weather chasing everyone into their vans and us out walking for hours, it never materialised. During one of our conversations that we did manage, David recommended the local chip shop in Seaton Sluice. Stating that it has the best fish and chips that we will ever taste. Isobel agreed and added that she hates soggy chips, so always gets the shop to separate the fish from the chips, just to keep the chips nice and crisp. This sounded like the place to go and we decided to head there on our last night. As it turned out, so was half the campsite including David and Isobel. More to follow on this later!

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We had decided to stay 3 nights and looked forward to relaxing in the sun, that had been forecast.  Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas which resulted in 3 days of jumping in and out of our camper between showers. That and the strong coastal wind certainly took the shine off us expecting to be bathed in sunshine and lying about on our portable sun loungers. Never mind, at least there would be lots to see and walks to taken.

Here are some of our highlights: –

Seaton Sluice, with is an interesting if not unfortunate name, is less than 1 mile from the campsite and can be reached in a couple of ways. You can either follow the path that follows the coast and is accessed via Hartley public carpark or you can walk up to the main road and turn right at the Delaval Arms pub, which was being refurbished when we were staying. Either way, it makes for a pleasant walk. The town itself offers a few pubs, a small but pleasant central green space with public toilets and a picturesque harbour. Oh yeah and a famous chip shop.

We would recommend a walk to St. Mary’s Lighthouse. Our position in the campsite gave us a perfect view and it was nice to wake up in the morning, open the curtains and look across at it. The lighthouse is on a tidal island, St Mary’s Island and this adds to the ever-changing view you get. During our 1^st night stroll, we made our way down to a small beach below the campsite. The beach has unusual rock formations which actually look like large sections of wood but on closer inspection are definitely rocks. From here, we were able to see that the causeway across to the lighthouse was accessible and we took a note of the time, 8.00pm, as it would be our intention to cross over the following night. As it turned out, the weather wasn’t great the following night so we had to leave it until our last night. Which, as it turned out was perfect as it helped burn off the chips, we had from the Seaton Sluice chip shop.

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On day 2, we set off for a walk to nearby Whitely Bay. Leaving the campsite and turning a sharp right will take you to Hartley Public car park. Turn right at the bottom of the hill and that’s you on a very pleasant path that is shared by walkers and cyclists. Whilst on the subject of cyclists, we regretted not bringing our bikes as the surrounding area is perfect for cyclist and it turned out that our walk to Whitely Bay was on National Cycle Network route number 1! That said, we enjoyed our walk along the sandy beach which stretched for 1.5 miles into the town.

The town itself has all the elements of a seaside town with the usual amusements, beachwear shops and signage pointing to various visitor attractions but it avoided the overpowering shop fronts with kiss me quick hats and managed to keep its personality.

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For us, our trip on day 3 to Tynemouth was the most memorable. Further down the coast and about 5 miles from the campsite is the town of Tynemouth. Much more photogenic with historic monuments, ancient buildings and pretty coves; we managed to pass the afternoon away quite easily. We decided to take Dora, our campervan and parked up in the town centre close to shops and pubs. The weather was sunny but remained windy, which took the edge off the temperature. Tynemouth Priory & Castle was a stone through away from where we had parked, so that was where we started. Turning right at the top of Front Street we walked down Pier Road, which gave us some nice photos of the castle. Then turning right at Tynemouth Pier, which has Lighthouse, we made our way passed the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade Museum. A blue and white building known locally as the Watch House stands along the mouth of the River Tyne. Step inside, and you’ll find a collection of artifacts belonging to the world’s first volunteer life brigade, which was founded after a maritime tragedy. Then passed the Collingwood Monument before looping back towards Front Street again. This time, we turned left at the top of Front Street, which took us passed King Edwards Bay. Is a small, sandy beach sheltered by cliffs and grassy banks. Popular with families, the beach is overlooked by the historic Tynemouth Priory and Castle, managed by English Heritage.

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Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the campsite as we wanted to have a bit of chillout time before we took our walk to Seaton Sluice for those famous chips!

Sam, our 13-year-old Lakeland Terrier / poodle cross, was starting to feel the strain of all the walking we had done over the past few days. So, we were going to leave him behind in Dora if possible but as it turned out the sun was still high in the sky and Dora would have been too warm, so he had no choice but to come with us.

When we finally arrive at the chip shop, there was already a large queue with social distancing being observed and only 2 customers allowed in the shop at any one time but the queue was moving quickly. Just as well as we were starving and looking forward to our chips.

We had watching customer after customer leave with large paper bags full to the brim with meals. In fact, one customer had a large shopping bag on wheels which was packed full of no doubt various chip supper combinations! We were beginning to salivate, then finally we reached the front of the queue. Aileen was ushered in and I stood outside with Sam, who was also salivating. In no time at all, Aileen returned with the chips, tomato sauce, forks and a couple of napkins, perfect!

We found a nearby bench and prepared to gorge in our crispy chips.

We both spiked our chips with our forks, expecting the crispy chip exterior to resist our forks but to our surprise and bewilderment our forks met no resistance and disappeared into what can only be described as a mushy, chip shaped, potato. We frantically searched around, just in case we had both been unlucky and spiked the only mushy chip in the pack but as we frantically dug around, all we seemed to be creating was mashed potatoes.

Our hearts sank and our dismay turned to pissed off but what could we do. We had to try and eat some of it, we were starving. At least I had the consolation of a single sausage in my meal but Aileen was devastated. Sam managed to persuade us to give him a few chips but he has a dodgy stomach, so we didn’t want to take the chance.

Back at the campsite, we had just reached our pitch when David and Isobel pulled up. They had been further back in the queue and had seen us waiting. David excitedly asked ‘Well, what did you think of the chips then?’ I did my best to be diplomatic but I think they both knew that our night out to the chippy had been a major disappointment. Then Sam’s stomach began to make weird noises, this was going to be a long night.

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We would recommend a stay at Old Hartley Caravan Club site and we will no doubt return. Although we will stay away from the chip shop!

As for Sam, he survived the night and is looking forward to our next adventure.