The best thing about the short days is that I can, just about, drag myself out of bed in time to catch the sunrise. With the cold snap in full force last weekend, we decided to avoid driving down windy lanes (which wouldn’t be gritted) and to head somewhere we could get to using main roads. We settled on Nose’s Point near Seaham, and agreed that this would be the perfect place to watch the sun come up – an unobstructed view east with the forecast predicting clear skies.
I’ve wanted to visit Nose’s Point for a long time, but between lots of trips away and traipsing over to the Lakes to bag Wainwrights, it somehow slipped down the list. I am so pleased we rectified that as the experience of watching the sun come up from this special place was absolutely breath taking.
We parked at the Nose’s Point car park in Seaham (free but popular) and picked up the Durham Heritage Coast path. This eleven mile trail stretches from Seaham to Crimdon and takes you through surprisingly quiet and peaceful countryside, especially given its proximity to huge conglomerations like Sunderland and Hartlepool. That being said, the car park was fairly busy even at sunrise, but once we set off along the coast the number of people dwindled rapidly until we had the place entirely to ourselves.
There is a clear track which runs along the coast and a slightly wilder, narrower alternative (obviously we took the wild track so that I could rip the poo bags on the brambles). We didn’t drop down to Blast Beach (so called after the blast furnaces which used to live nearby) as we could see a few other dog walkers down here. The sand here used to be nearly black due to the amount of industrial waste dumped on the beach, but after this was banned in the early nineties the beach here has made a phenomenal recovery.
Shortly after crossing a bridge over the railway we dropped into Hawthorn Dene, a steep sided ravine cloaked in ancient woodland and also a Durham Wildlife Trust reserve. Given that it was December, it was a bit brown and dead but wonderfully quiet, and at other times of year you could expect to find snowdrops or bluebells. Wandering through the trees, it was a bit of a shock to take a left hand turn and suddenly find ourselves walking onto a beach.
The beach here is called Hawthorn Hive and is a mix of sand and pebbles. We had this beach completely to ourselves, apart from one lone fisherman in the distance. We strolled for half a mile or so along the beach until we got to some dramatic rocks, where we sat for a few moments and just enjoyed listening to the sea. This didn’t last long as I caught a splash of colour in the corner of my eye and low and behold, I am now the proud owner of a lovely piece of pale green sea glass!
Seaham is renowned as one of the best places in the UK to find sea glass – glass which has (somehow) ended up in the ocean, and which becomes rounded and smoothed by many years of ocean currents. In the Victorian and Edwardian periods, Seaham was home to the largest glassworks factory in Britain, and waste glass was often dumped straight into the North Sea. Fast forward a hundred years or so and the beaches in this area are the best in the country for sea glass hunters.
Happy with our finds, we retraced our steps back along the beach and took a further on flight of steps back up to the coast path, which runs along side the railway until you are almost back to the car park.
Dog friendly rating – 4/5. Our dogs loved having sniffs in the woods and playing on the beach. There’s plenty to love about this dog walk, and you could extend it with a walk into Seaham for a hot drink or snack at a dog friendly cafe. I’ve just knocked off a point as it was getting fairly busy with other dog walkers around Nose’s Point when we got back to the car. It’s also worth noting that dogs need to be kept on leads in the nature reserve at Hawthorn Dene. Overall though this was a great walk with no stiles or other obstacles, and also no road walking.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog today, make sure you subscribe below:
