Thursday 13th September 2001
Weather:
Pleasant with sunny spells
The Durham Coastal Footpath
Seaham Harbour to Crimdon Dene
( 10 miles )
Another
walk outside North Yorkshire . . .
Today's
walk along the Durham Coastal
Footpath
begins at the public car park near Seaham Harbour
- as it's not a circular walk we left one car at Crimdon Dene
Caravan Park to where we would be heading
This
old pit-top winding wheel from Seaham Colliery is an early indication of
what lies ahead
- a coastal walk passing many remnants of a once thriving
coal-mining industry
About a mile further on we look back - the tall buildings in the distance are at Sunderland
Liddle Stack is an example of how sea erosion is continually altering the shape of this particular coastline
. 
From
Nose's Point we look ahead and down to Blast Beach - a nearby
information board informs us that the beach
is so called either because of the 19th Century iron works which
were situated near where I took the photographs from
or, possibly, from ballast dumped by passing merchant ships
Throughout
the lifetime of nearby Dawdon Colliery, thousands of tons of mine
waste were tipped onto this beach
- people have gathered sea-coal on this coastline for many years,
carrying sacks full of the fine coal up the steep banks
before perching them across their bicycles ready for the journey
home
Ironically, although the waste destroyed much marine life, it did help protect the coastline from erosion
. 
About
a mile further on, take care crossing the railway line, then
follow the steps down to Hawthorn Hive
- 'hive' comes from the old English word 'hythe' meaning 'landing
place'
Again
we witness obvious signs of the coal waste - the sand is almost
black. However, no waste was actually
tipped here - it has all been washed here by the natural action
of the sea from other nearby beaches
From the beach we climb back up the bankside near the railway viaduct which spans Hawthorn Dene
Although most of
today's walk is along flat and easy cliff-top paths
there are a few steep-sided denes (valleys) to descend and then
climb up the other side
About another mile
further on we get a good view of the memorial to Easington
Colliery
- all that remains on the hillside is the pit cage, a landmark
reminder of an industry
which long used to dominate the lives of local people
If you go to the
link, you'll be amazed at the number of brave miners who were
killed down this
and the many other pits in the surrounding area
The view across
reclaimed land to Easington village - the location for much of
the filming
in the British hit movie 'Billy Elliott'
Here we look back up the coast - the dark pit memorial can just be seen (centre left) . . .
. . . and from a bit further on we look back to Easington village
Shortly afterwards
we descend to yet another valley and see the viaduct crossing Castle Eden Dene
- a National Nature Reserve which extends 4
miles inland from the shore
The next piece of
history is about a mile further on at the former site of Blackhall
Colliery
- I found these information boards, which are positioned by the
path side, very interesting and informative
Most of the land where Blackhall Colliery stood has now been reclaimed, but there still remain signs of coal waste
It was on Blackhall
Rocks beach that the final scenes from the 1971 movie 'Get Carter' were filmed
- it was here where gangster Jack Carter, played by Michael
Caine, met his end with a sniper's bullet in the head
The location was
chosen because the beach was black with colliery waste
and was 'framed' by the cable-carried tubs of Blackhall
Collliery's waste-tipper
Blue House Gill - now a scene of peace and quiet where once there would be much surrounding mining activity
. 
Just a little further on along Blackhall Rocks beach are some fascinating limestone stacks and caves
. 
I was a bit wary climbing inside to take the photograph (above right) as there'd obviously been a recent roof-fall
Millions
of pounds have been spent to clean up this area in the 'Turning the Tide' project
- as you can see from the above photograph, it's been money well
spent
Looking back to the caves on Blackhall Rocks beach
Just a mile or so
further on and we were near the end of our walk at Crimdon Dene
Caravan Park
- here we look south towards Hartlepool and Teesmouth with the
bulk of Boulby Cliffs in the far distance
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