Port Clarence to Hartlepool and back to Seaton Carew

The England Coast Path officially crosses the River Tees at Newport Bridge in Middlesbrough, and we had already walked to the southern end of the mouth of the Tees Estuary at South Gare Breakwater, and then as close as possible to the southern bank of the river through Teesside to Newport Bridge, which we'd crossed to continue on the Teesside Way. In doing this, we'd passed the southern end of Middlesbrough's iconic Transporter Bridge. If this had been open (which it wasn't when we visited in July 2015 - though it reopened after a closure period just 10 days later! - and it isn't now) it would form a much better crossing point for a coast path, so we decided to start our walk from Tees to Wear at the northern end of the Transporter Bridge.

We parked at what we had planned to be the endpoint of today's walk, the sea front car park (NZ527294) next to the Art Deco bus station. We caught the No. 1 Stagecaoch bus towards Middlesbrough at 10.06 (it was a Sunday, so this was the first bus of the day). Parking cost £4 for the day, but now that Richard has a bus pass and with the current maximum fare of £2 for a single bus journey for those of us who have to pay, we can't complain about the coast of the bus trip. Our walk back would be essentially along the A178 from Port Clarence  (which is where the Transporter Bridge is) to Seaton Carew, which passes through an area which is known for its industry, historically largely petrochemicals. Our motivation for doing the walk was very much for completeness; we weren't much looking forward to it. However, it turned out to be a much more interesting and enjoyable leg than we'd expected. 

We missed the bus stop that we'd been aiming for, just before the bus turned right through Port Clarence. However, the next stop wasn't far and we started by walking down towards the Transporter Bridge to get some close-up photos (though there were good views back towards it for the first few miles of the walk). The Tees Transporter Bridge, apparently one of only a small number of bridges of this type in the world, and the one with the longest span, was completed in 1911, with the unusual design used to ensure that the bridge's operation did not affect river navigation. When operational, vehicles and pedestrians are carried across the river in a travelling "gondola", suspended below the fixed structure. The bridge was "temporarily" closed in 2019 as a result of safety concerns, and its future is uncertain. I really do hope it will reopen and - one day - we'll be able to cross the Tees this way. Our route didn't immediately head back along the main road, but rather took an unpromising track between a railway line and a "works". However, it was signposted (and the signposting remained good all day) and the track soon brought us out onto an area of scrubland which was not unattractive. In front of us was a modern power station, where once there would have been heavy industry. We looped around back towards the road and then tracked parallel to it, but the path was usually a distance from the road (albeit a shortish distance) and screened from it by bushes etc. 

There were petrochemicals works, complete with flares, off to the right, and I'm sure that the land across which we were walking has been heavily polluted, but it felt as if nature might be regaining the upper hand. We saw egrets and greylag geese, and sheep were grazing on the scrubland. We passed the Saltholme RSPB reserve. About a mile further on, we started seeing signs talking about the seals which had disappeared at the height of the industrialisation, but which were now returning. We reached a little car park, but at this time we were more concerned about the weather than the wildlife; despite the generally poor weather forecast for the week, we'd been sufficiently confident that it would stay dry today that we'd worn our warmer (but not waterproof) coats and now it had started to hail. We weren't sure that our waterproof coats (which I don't think we'd ever walk in the UK without having with us) would fit over the warmer ones, or whether the warmer ones would fit in the rucksack. Oops! Fortunately, the hail stopped again before we'd done battle with the issues. We had a discussion about the vagaries of the British weather with a dog-walker who was just returning to his car.

Panic about the weather over, we continued along to Greatham Creek. We'd glanced through the holes in the hide at the car park, noting that it would provide very little shelter, and we could only see mud, but at Greatham Creek I noticed first one seal then another, then another, then another...Our path left the road here and shortly after doing so there was a conveniently placed bench. We ate our lunch, noticing seals swimming downstream in addition to the three lying on the mud. Delightful! Our diversion away from the road continued for half a mile or so, then there was a section past works on the right and an oil storage depot then the Graythorpe Industrial Estate on the left, where we were essentially walking on a pavement by the A178. However, near another (older) power station, we turned right along a dead straight (and rather boring) access road. There's not a formal car park at the end, but lots of people were parking here and heading onto the dunes. The route of the England Coast Path turned left along another track, but before going that way we continued stratight ahead, not at all confident that we'd get the view we were hoping for. For once, our pessimism was unjustified; we were soon on North Gare Sands, with good views across the Tees to its mouth. To the left was South Gare Point, where we'd reached in 2015, with the wind turbines of Teesside Wind Farm beyond, and further to the right was the disused Redcar Steel Works. Further in the distance was the higher ground of the North York Moors. 

There were several paths heading north through the dunes, but for safety and ease of walking, we returned to the track. This led close to a car park, but again we turned right onto the dunes before continuing. This time we emerged above North Gare Breakwater. Here we sat on a bench that looked a bit precarious but was actually fine. As we returned to the car park and then continued behind the golf course to Seaton Carew, the weather turned threatening again, but we had no more than a few spots of rain. By the time we got to Seaton Carew, we'd decided to walk a little further, provided the weather stayed reasonable, but first we wanted a cup of tea. That proved more challenging than expected; they were queuing out the door for fish and chips, they were queuing out the door for ice creams, but cups of tea? Fortunately, Google Maps came to our rescue and directed us to Glady's Vintage Team Room, which we'd actually walked past previously and we'd thought was closed. Perfect! 

We walked from Seaton Carew to Hartlepool on the Promenade, though for most of the way, we could alternatively have walked along the beach. There were good views to Hartlepool Headland. At Newburn Bridge, the coast road turned inland over the railway, but the promenade continued straight ahead. What is marked on the map as "Old Town" is now mostly modern blocks of flats and eventually we reached the South Pier, one of the outer markers of Hartlepool's Marina. The path continued around by the harbour in somewhat random fashion, passing the Tees and Hartlepool Yacht Club. Eventually, just before the inner marina, we decided we'd gone far enough for one day. I was tired and not sure about walking back to Seaton Carew and Richard offered to pick me up at one of the car parks along our route, but in the end I walked the whole way and was pleased that I'd done so. I was also pleased that we had walked on to Hartlepool. 

Following leg