January 1^st 2016

St.Mary’s Island, Tyne and Wear

 

We left at 8 am with very little traffic on the roads. The island, St Mary’s and lighthouse would be open from 10.30 till 3.30 to coincide with the tides. It is situated a little off the coast just past Whitley Bay. We followed the road down to the 2^nd car park which normally requires a ticket. Despite it being a bank holiday some cars displayed tickets but the machine appeared to be out of paper when we got to it and displaying out of order. It would have been 80p an hour.

Despite the cold wind it was fairly busy with people taking air on the beach or walking to the lighthouse. The car thermometer hadn’t registered much above freezing all the way here and it was the coldest day so far this winter. The short concrete causeway suddenly disappears when the tide comes in, signs warn.

The 1898 white lighthouse is an impressive monument but a redundant one except as a tourist attraction. The keeper’s cottages have been turned into a visitors centre by the local council and around the island is nature reserve- wetland, grassland and rock-pools. It is all rather low key.

We were fascinated, on the walk over, by a group of middle-aged men in snorkelling gear, playing like seals in the shallow water just beyond the rocks. Maybe a New Year cold dip! They were still there when we came out of the museum though.

We watched a squadron of cormorants fly past in formation like ducks. The island has a bird hide but this is more for observing seals who use the rocks below as a haul out area. This is where they rest, moult or breed and it is vital to their well- being. Everywhere you go on this island there are signs telling the public how to behave around them as seals easily stress and become ill. One sign said if you were bitten by a seal no matter how small a wound it should get attention quickly as it could become infected. Volunteers regularly seal watch. There aren’t any colonies during winter. There was a gap on the wall of the hide where once there were binoculars. A sad indictment of the times!

 

 

Inside the lighthouse ( it cost us £1.50 each as pensioners) we were shocked by the state of disrepair. Plaster had fallen from under the steps and the platform just before the final push to the light. A picture I had seen looked so different. The spiral staircase of 137 steps has a handrail against the wall while there are railings with glass or plastic at the “drop”. I have a fear of heights so I thought Bob would go up and take photographs. As it turned out, I went up, determined one of us should do it and Bob gave in to the quite understandable misgivings. Logic was saying that plenty of people had gone up before us- some quite small children. It was the areas of peeling plaster that made you think twice but once I got started the stairs weren’t steep and there were flat areas where you could pause to let someone pass. It was best not to look down too much.

 

I manged some watery pictures through the windows and had the weather been better there would have been glorious views. At the almost top there were very enclosed narrow stairs to get to the light and you were advised to walk backwards down them to get out. I seemed to be alone at this point so I drew the line at that but still pleased with myself walked quickly back down hugging the wall all the way.

There is a small museum with a model boat, shell collection and various things for kids to do to teach them about the environment. A little gift shop sold drinks and snacks and because of the visitor numbers they opened up the upstairs function room to accommodate people.

The geology is interesting here and you can see the coal seams in the strata under the car park from the island. There are plenty of information boards though it was too windy to stand reading them for long.

We found a really friendly pub called the Melton Constable ( seemingly a train not a policeman) with a folk music session though we had to sit away from it in order to eat. It was warm but we didn’t stay overly long. We found our Premier Inn stop over and went for an invigorating walk around the lake that is part of the country park here. We had earnt a free bottle of wine with our points accrued and we shared a huge piece of fish and a steak which were both delicious.