Captain's Log

City Centre Circuit

I spent 3 days in Newcastle in October 2025 with an intention to find out what the city had to offer. I’d visited Newcastle many times before, mostly as part of the Great North Run event, but I’d not seen many of its historical, art and museum offerings. On my list of places to visit were the Castle, Baltic Centre For Contemporary Arts, Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Laing Art Gallery, Victoria Tunnel and the Great North Hancock Museum. There is a Captain’s Log for each one of these places (follow the above links). There were lots of other statues, monuments,  bridges and other curiosities that I came across too and I’ve labelled these on the above map. Over the 3 days, I walked to all of these places from my hotel base on the Quayside and I later realised that these could easily be joined up into an enjoyable circular route. So this is my Captain’s Log of the route I walked to link all the above places in Newcastle. It took me 3 days  altogether, but that’s because I spent quite a lot of time wandering around the points of interest I visited along the way. At 6 miles, the walk could easily be done in 4 hours, but the views are so good that I’d recommend not to rush it. The documented  walk starts and finishes at the Central Railway Station, but it would be easy to join the circuit at any point. 

Quayside

The good thing about the route to the Quayside from the Central Railway Station was that it was all downhill. That’s a definite advantage when you have to carry a heavy bag to a Quayside hotel, although a disadvantage when you head back after your stay. Halfway down Side I found a seagull dragging a dead rat across the road by its nose. I’m not really sure where the seagull intended to take it since the rat was far too big to be lifted off the ground. I left him to sort out his breakfast. The green steelwork of the Tyne Bridge ran way above my head. I love how the elevated carriageway integrates with the buildings around here. The Newcastle Arms exists only under the bridge. I wondered whether the Tyne Bridge was built around these buildings or vice versa. There was lots of scaffolding around the bridge as part of a 4 year maintenance project. As well as providing a passage across the River Tyne, the bridge is also home for 1,200 pairs of Kittiwakes. The contractors built some replacement Kittiwake ‘hotels’ on the top of the bridge’s towers last year, but the birds snubbed their beaks at them.    

The Sunday Market was in full swing when I reached the Quayside. This occurs every Sunday between 09:00 and 16:00. I headed off through the stalls and had to join a convoy of people to make any  progress. I’d forgotten about the market and was hoping to sit at one of the picnic benches here and admire the classic views along the Tyne. There was no chance of that today. I reached the other end of the market and continued along the quayside to the amazing Millennium bridge. I never tire from seeing this amazing construction. I’ve never actually seen it tilt to let tall boats through. Maybe one day I will. Later on in the day, I did take a separate wander down the Quayside when it was dark. The Millennium Bridge was illuminated in alternating colours. The lights from the Glasshouse  also reflected on the river. I watched half a dozen kayakers paddle from the Millennium to the Tyne bridge. Each kayak had coloured lights strung along it. It was a magical scene.     

I retraced my steps back towards the Quayside market and joined another ‘people’ convoy to get me through to the other side. 

Castle, Cathedral And Vampire Bunny

I made my way back towards the Central Railway Station. Instead of using the roads, I used the Castle Stairs to gain height. These are a formidable set of steep steps that provide a good workout. The steps brought me out to the impressive Keep of  the Castle (see Newcastle Castle for the Captain’s Log of my visit there). Just beyond the Keep was the Black Gate which used to be the main entrance to the Castle. A short distance further up the road was the unusual Lantern Tower of Saint Nicholas Cathedral with its coronet top (see Newcastle Saint Nicholas Cathedral for the Captain’s Log of my visit there). A fire lamp used to be lit on the top of the tower to guide boats along the River Tyne and people across Town Moor. I walked around the perimeter of the Cathedral and came across the Vampire Bunny above the door of one of the nearby houses. This unusual sculpture was a manic looking bunny (or hare) with fangs. It is not entirely clear why it was put there; I recount a couple of possible reasons in the above Captain’s Log. I made my way back to Black Gate and then to the Keep. 

High Level Bridge, Glass House And Baltic Centre

I joined the pedestrian walkway on the High Level Bridge. The bridge was opened in 1849 and was designed by Robert Stephenson, who was the son of George Stephenson. It was the world’s first combined road and rail bridge. The bridge uses cast-iron arches over its six, 38 metre spans. There were up to 12 metres of silt overlying the bedrock of the river bed which made construction particularly difficult. I admired the ornate cast iron framework as I progressed along the walkway. It wasn’t looking bad to say it was 175 years old. There was an amazing view eastwards along the River Tyne. Below was the Swing Bridge that was first used for traffic in 1876. Hydraulic power is still used to move the bridge today. It is probably located at the site of the original Roman bridge (Pons Aelius). The next bridge along was the magnificent Tyne Bridge. This bridge was completed in 1928. Beyond that was the Millennium Bridge which was opened in 2001. 

After crossing the bridge, I made my way through the streets towards the unmistakable Glasshouse. This was a huge glass and steel structure that dominated the cross-river view from the Quayside. It is an international centre for musical education and concerts. Wet Wet Wet were playing tonight. Some of the tickets were going for 3 figures (and I’m not including the pence with that) and so I decided to give it a miss. There was a great view looking across to the Quayside and over the city skyline. I could see the stands of St James's Park in the far distance. 

I followed a footpath around the back and side of The Glasshouse and then descended some steps towards the River Tyne. The route down offered a superb view of the Millennium Bridge. I reached the promenade area and looked up at the massive Lego brick of the Baltic Centre For Contemporary Arts. This building used to be a flour mill before it was completely gutted and redesigned for its current use  (see Newcastle Baltic Centre For Contemporary Arts  for the Captain’s Log of my visit there). 

Millennium Bridge, Victoria Tunnel And Jara Cimrman

I walked across the Millennium Bridge and kept a canny eye out for speeding cyclists. It was a lovely sunny day and the views were magnificent both ways along the River Tyne. Reaching the other side, I walked eastwards along the Quayside before branching off on to Horatio Street near Mariners Wharf. At the end of the street I found a statue of Colonel William Lisle Blenkinsop Coulson. He was a founding member of the Humanitarian League (formed in 1891) who opposed both corporal and capital punishment. He was a forerunner to the modern animal rights movement, campaigning for the banning of all hunting for sport and vivisection. It seemed odd that they’d got the statue of him looking across the busy road to a toffee factory. Why on earth they didn’t turn him around to look in either direction along the Tyne is a bit of a shame.

I crossed the road towards the toffee factory but couldn’t smell anything. During WWII, a bomb fell near here on some bulk supplies of butter and sugar. After the subsequent fire had been extinguished, it is said that the smell of toffee pervaded the area for quite a long time. A short distance up Ouse Street I came across the information boards and entrance to the Victorian Tunnel. This started life in the mid 19th century as an underground railway system to transport coal from Spital Tongue Colliery to the River Tyne. During WWII it was converted for use as an air raid shelter. I headed up Lime Street and reached the office of the Ouseburn Trust. I’d booked a guided tour with them of the Victoria Tunnel  (see Newcastle Victoria Tunnel  for the Captain’s Log of my visit there). 

If it wasn’t for the ubiquitous graffiti tags, the Ouseburn area would be really quite pleasant. There was half a chimney there which you can actually see in a photograph in the opening credits of the TV show, The Likely Lads. The chimney was reduced in size so that it wouldn’t be a navigational aid to the German bombers since the main east coast railway line ran over the Ouseburn Viaduct a short distance away.   

I walked up Stepney Bank road and near to the top I came across a curious house that had a blue front door on the first floor opening into fresh air. The house wall had also been painted in the style of Hokusai’s Great Wave. There was also a blue(black) plaque that read:
"Jara Cimrman 1869-1966 approx. Bohemian philosopher, adventurer and inventor.

Jara Cimrman invented the electric light bulb assisted by local inventor Joseph Swan. Thomas Edison later copied the idea and patented it in his name.
Cimrman is also noted for donating Jesmond Dene to the people of Newcastle after winning it from Lord Armstrong in a game of cards."     

Oddly enough, I’d recently listened to a documentary about Edison and how he conducted thousands of experiments to achieve his inventions. He didn’t come across in the documentary as somebody who would have stolen an invention. Something didn’t ring true about this plaque and so I had to research it. It turns out that Jara Cimrman is a Czech fictional comedy character. It is a Czech running joke that whenever an invention or discovery is referenced, it’s attributed to Jara Cimrman. In a world of misinformation, we are now getting spoof blue(black) plaques! 

Laing Art Gallery And Great North Hancock Museum

I followed the busy A193 westwards. This was the least pleasant part of the walk; fortunately it only lasted for 10 minutes or so. A footbridge took me over the Central Motorway, towards the city centre. This brought me to a rather dodgy area (near Market Street) of what looked like derelict buildings. Apparently it is a precinct that became abandoned to the homeless, drug dealers and graffiti taggers. It seemed odd to see such dereliction so close to the city centre. It wasn’t a place to linger and within a minute later I was back into the gentrified city centre as though the dereliction had been a figment of my imagination. In fact I arrived directly at the doorstep of the the wonderful Laing Art Gallery (see Newcastle Laing Art Gallery  for the Captain’s Log of my visit there). 

From the art gallery I headed along New Bridge Street and then turned right on to Northumberland Street. Eventually this brought me to the tall Boer War Memorial next to the Haymarket Metro station.  The area was full of youngsters since the Newcastle University campus was all around here. I crossed the road to St Thomas’ Green and studied The Response, a memorial to soldiers marching off to the Great War. The memorial focuses on the massing of the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers in April 1915. These were led by ‘Drummer Boys’  from Gosforth Park  to the Central Station, and then on to Belgium and France, and ultimately for a lot of them, to their deaths. It seems a very human and sad memorial.   

I crossed the Barras Bridge Road and on Claremont Road I found another entrance to the Victoria Tunnel. This was locked up since the only section open to the public is via the entrance at Ouse Street and the Ouseburn Trust. I entered the grounds of the Great North Hancock Museum (see Newcastle Great North Hancock Museum  for the Captain’s Log of my visit there). 

Grey's Monument And Railway Station

I retraced my steps down Northumberland Street and turned right onto Blackett Street. After a short distance this brought me to the Grey’s Monument, a tall column with a statue on the top. This monument is for Early Grey, the Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834. In particular, it celebrates the passing of the Great Reform Act 1832 that increased the number of people that were eligible to vote. Earl Grey was so popular he even got a tea named after him. A woman was standing near to the base of the monument and she was shouting extracts from the Bible intermixed with some personal warnings. People walked around her like water and a rock in a stream bed.   

I followed Grainger Street southwards. It was a pleasant enough walk, but it was mostly occupied by shops. The street brought me back directly to the Central Railway Station. Before reaching the station’s front I was distracted by some shouting. Across the road, half a dozen young men were screaming at each other and swinging a few punches. It didn’t get worse than one of them losing his baseball cap. I was surprised at the number of people that paused and filmed the fracas on their phone. The dispute eventually came to an end and then 50 yards further on there was another high volume verbal confrontation between a man and a woman that could have easily tripped over into violence. Again, people stopped to film it. Social media must be full of this stuff.    

I reached the station and some sort of sanctuary from this insanity. I’d found Newcastle's city centre a very interesting place to walk around. Apart from the derelict precinct near Market Street and the potential violence near the station, I felt reasonably safe walking around its streets. I found the venues I visited (accessed through the above links) to be excellent. I'd recommend visiting all of them, but you really need 3 days to do them all justice.