Captain's Log

Cambois

It was the final day of my 6 day Tyne Tees Taster campaign. It was going to be an easy one too with a relatively short walk to fill in a small gap in my England Coast Path (ECP) Venture. Once this hole was plugged, I’d have walked all the coast from Scotland to the River Tees. I had intended to walk this section of the ECP in 2023 (see the Captain’s Log, Barry’s Blyth), but after a conversation with Barry, a dog walker at Cambois (pronounced ' Cammus'), I decided to leave it for another day. The problem was that there was a massive construction site just outside Cambois and I wasn’t sure whether the ECP would actually be open. He informed me that his brother would probably be shooting in the fields beyond the construction site and that I should say ‘hello’ to him.  I didn’t really fancy approaching somebody with a shotgun and so it gave me another excuse not to do it. In the end, I just followed the coast to North Blyth and this was a nice enough walk in itself. The gap I had to fill today was an out-and-back short section from Cambois to the dual carriage way bridge over the River Blyth. 

I parked in a small coastal carpark, just north of Cambois. The carparks are refreshingly free in this area. It was a grey day and misty too. Looking southwards down the beach, I could just about make out the end of North Blyth. I met a couple of dog walkers as I walked southwards. I thought one of them was Barry when I saw he had a Spaniel, but it wasn’t him. I came to the multi-coloured houses on Unity Terrace. I wondered whether they just passed on the paint pots until they ran out. There was a middle section of houses that remained white; presumably this was where the miserable people lived. I soon reached the small roundabout and headed westwards along Harbour View. 

Cables And Data Centres

When I was here in 2023, there were signs everywhere for Britishvolt and I presumed all the construction traffic was for that enterprise. The £3.8 billion battery ‘gigafactory’ was intended to boost the UK's electric car manufacturing. Well, that didn’t actually happen. In the location where I’d seen all the construction, I now found some large industrial buildings. A sign said that the site was owned by JDR Cables and that they made subsea cables. The construction of the facility cost £130 million pounds. Opposite, on the other side of the road, I could see yet another massive construction project taking place. Research revealed this to be an investment by a US firm QTS to build a data centre complex incorporating 10 data halls. It will house AI and cloud  computing services. A BBC article from March 2025 says the investment will be £10 billion, which seems rather a lot of money for 10 data halls to me, but what do I know? Anyway, the huge earth movers were in operation and so something might happen. 

Mount Pleasant

An ECP fingerpost pointed me away from the main road and down a side road that had been blocked for vehicular use. Apparently this used to be the main road.  Weeds were appearing along the road in places and I wondered how long it would be before nature reclaimed it. The road led me into the little village of East Sleekburn. It was a pretty little place and very quiet since the main road to the coast no longer went through it. At the other end of the village, I crossed a bridge over Sleek Burn and then a fingerpost directed me down to the side of the burn. I thought I might be in for some mud and puddles, but the terrain was surprisingly dry. I walked alongside Sleek Burn and could see a factory up ahead. It looked remarkably similar to the JDR Cable factory I’d seen earlier. I wondered if they’d also got another factory further up the river. It was a minute or two before the penny clicked and I realised it was the same factory! The path had turned around and was heading back eastwards and I’d not realised. The path came to a large farm called Mount Pleasant. It had a couple of large, modern barns on its site. It also had all the machinery lined up neatly at the side of the farmyard. It looked like one of the most neat and organised farms I’d ever seen. A path led from the farm towards the River Blyth. 

River Blyth

As soon as I reached the side of the River Blyth, I disturbed an Oystercatcher that had been foraging in the mud. His squawks made all the other birds take flight too. I remember walking on the south side of the River Blyth and being amazed at the birdlife along this river. You’d think with all the industry along it, they’d find somewhere better to live. The footpath along the riverbank was surprisingly dry too. Somebody had been along recently and cut a lot of the gorse down, something for which I was thankful. There were good views along the river and soon I saw the A189’s bridge ahead. It got noisier and nosier until I reached the bridge. I’d filled the Cambois-Blyth gap on my England Coast Path Venture. All I had to do now was to turn around and retrace my steps to the car. 

Return

As I walked along the approach road to Mount Pleasant farm a Jack Russel came bounding towards me and started snapping around my ankles. It made an incredible amount of noise, but it wasn’t actually biting me. The owner was an old woman who was struggling to walk along the road with a walking stick. ‘Stay there and I’ll come and put her on a lead’ she bellowed over the yapping. I did as instructed. The old woman managed to get across to me. She was so frail that I wondered whether it was safe for her to be out walking. The dog continued to dash around our legs and there was constant yapping. The old woman bent down to try and grab the dog’s collar, but the thing was moving too fast for her to reach it. I thought about grabbing it myself, but I didn’t fancy getting my fingers near those snapping jaws. Eventually, the woman managed to grab its collar and attach its lead. It was still jumping about and snapping though. She bellowed that she’d only had the dog 4 months and that she’d had a 'traumatic upbringing.' I told her that I’d get out of her way and hopefully she’d quiet down. I looked back after walking 50 metres and the woman was making steady progress towards the farmhouse. The dog was still yapping.      

On the main road to Cambois, some workmen had been setting up some temporary traffic lights on my outbound journey. On my return, I could see what their work involved. They were cutting down a lamppost. One man was cutting through the metal with a cutter and another one was trying to push it over. Four other men stood around looking worried.  When I was about100m past it, I heard a crash. Nobody shouted ‘timber.’  

I walked past the multicoloured terraced houses of Unitiy Terrace. I found a building on the other side of the road with a sign saying it hosted the Cambois Camera Club. It seemed such a small village for a club house. Their website says that the club has been meeting since 1950. I bet they’ve managed to acquire some interesting photos of Cambois’ local history over the years. 

The sun was just starting to appear as I reached the carpark. The walk had only taken two and a half hours. It had been quite varied in its short distance; I’d seen the sea, seen the site of the £10 billion data centres, enjoyed some dry field walking and had a very pleasant amble alongside the River Blyth. It had been a great way to conclude my Tyne Tees Taster campaign.