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Durham Coastal Walk, 7th November 2013, Report. Len Small
Last Thursday, the 7th, saw most of the usual walkers meet at Crimdon Dene for the monthly Thursday walk. The day was cold was cold and bright with a strong breeze from the south west and a low sun in the South, it was therefore decided to reverse the route of the planned Durham Coastal walk. Bob, Glynn, John, Mick, Steve and Len plus the two dogs set off north skirting the caravan site and soon tackling the first of many Denes that were crossed and approaching the site of Blackhall Colliery where Steve was in ecstasy about the abundant wild flowers. This was followed by at least two more Denes and past the site of Horden Colliery before a brief stop at Limekiln Gill for a mid morning snack. The steep climb out of Limekiln Gill made us think how tough the recent half marathon which was run on the same route must have been, no climb is probably bigger than 75 metres but they are steep and at frequencies of almost one every kilometre. A brief diversion was made to the site of Easington Colliery where there was an old double decked man riding cage to examine and a time line of the life of the pit. Interestingly the first death at the pit was in the early 1900's and was of a shaft sinker by the name of Atkinson who was only found 3 years later entombed in a block of ice. Rapid progress was then made through Hawthorn Dene, admiring an impressive brick viaduct and then on to the South end of Blast Beach where the lunch stop was taken on the cliffs above a small cove. We were entertained by either Seals catching fish or Kelp floating in the water, even with binoculars there was still diverse opinion but no one was willing to climb down 150 meters and back to have a closer look. After lunch, a short walk north allowed us to descend onto Blast beach and walk its full length, ascending to the site of Dawdon Colliery at the North end. The cliffs along the beach were a fine example of the underlying geology we saw throughout the walk which is a Magnesian Limestone with boulder clay above supporting a fantastic grassland with exotic plants and wildlife, including the very special Durham Argus butterfly that feeds on the rockrose and can only be seen during the summer months. On the beach we saw several fossils, slag from the earlier blast furnace and relics of coal mining activities. At the site of Dawdon shaft, on Noses Point, we were met by a lady enquiring about access to the beach which we were able to give, but unfortunately without Ian we were unable to interrogate her to find, nationality, age, mode of transport, hair colour etc. After Noses Point the nature of the walk changed from wild cliff tops to walking alongside a shopping centre, then a harbour followed by a seaside promenade. Finally after leaving the coast we walked through another Dene and around Seaham Hall to catch the bus back to Crimdon Dene, via most of Peterlee ensuring those that had to pay got their money’s worth from the journey. Stats: - We started at 8:55am and finished at 2:56pm, a time of 6hrs 01mins. The overall distance was 15 miles with 300 meters of climbing. Len.
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