Neptune Road to Pottery Bank
| Mile | Guide Notes |
| 167.0 | Continue on the wide railway path crossing Wellbeck Road - passing the Blue Millennium Milepost 262W at Mary's Place and over White St. bridge - pass the "Chimney Stumps" (L) and several other "artworks" along this section and continue ahead to Malaya Drive. |
| The area to your right before Malaya Drive, was once the site of Walker Station, contains many "alien" plants from the south of England, the seeds were brought here when the stone ballast from the old sailing coal ships was discharged prior to loading their cargoes of coal. Several seats have been placed along here, made from pieces of the girders from the old rail bridges. The rivet heads make for uncomfortable seating !!. | |
| 166.7 | At Malaya Drive cross straight over and join new cycle path with new housing (R) and ahead to triangular path junction. |
| The cranes in the shipyards now come into view - the first you see is also the largest on the Tyne, a static electric hammerhead crane capable of lifting 250 tons, built in the 1920's to lift heavy ships boilers, engines and gun turrets, it is still in use today lifting oil field equipment onto oil supply vessels.
The huge reels that can be seen nearby, contain coils of high pressure pipe for use in underwater oilfields, the piping is manufactured in the adjacent factory which occupies the site of the former Neptune Naval yard, where many famous battleships were built. |
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| Mary's Place - the sunken lane that Hadrian's Cycleway crosses was once the route of an old Waggonway from the Walker Colliery to the coal drops on the riverbank. Here coal wagons, locally called chaldrons, were run onto a cradle at the end of a counterbalanced arm. Under control of a brake, the cradle and wagon were lowered to the deck of the ship and the coal discharged, this was to avoid breaking the coal into small pieces. Large coal lumps fetched more money. When empty the brake was released and the arm swung the wagon back up again, to start another journey. | |
 Wallsend Staithes - similar to that at Walker. |
Up river to Newcastle
Down river to South Shields and Tynemouth
Artworks
Walker
Riverside
Landmarks
Shipyard
Cranes
