This is a two hour paddle suitable for a lazy summer evening, or even breaking the journey from the deep south to the access heaven north of the border. This part of the river is tidal so look at the tide tables for the Tyne: you may choose to paddle up on the rising tide even if this description is based on a high tide that has turned. This tidal stretch has no troubles about access as it is below the high water mark, and none of the risks of estuaries as the end is still some miles inland.
Maps: OS 1:50,000 Tyneside and Durham 88, OS 1:25.000 Durham and Sunderland 306, or better still the Newcastle, Sunderland, and Durham A-Z which is cheaper and easier to use for access points.
Start at Mount Pleasant Lake car park 314575. This is best approached from the Shiney Row junction of A182 and A183: take Station Road off this roundabout and follow down the valley, take a right turn into Beatrice Terrace and the car park is on your right. The river is best accessed at the large sign on the river end of the lake.
The Wear is an amazing river and subject of access studies. We would like an agreement to paddle the whole 110km from Wearhead to the sea. It is full of changes, from the excitement of a Pennine contender, to a French gorge pretender. This section is more like a west country wooded ria: full of birch, oak, and hawthorn. The quiet of the river in the middle of an urban area is achieved by hiding at the bottom of a broad gorge. For about 200 years this river was dirty and full of activity: wagon ways brought coal to the river and they even processed asbestos on the north bank. Back to Roman times lead and silver were taken by river to the sea, but all that is long gone. On my last paddle there I saw three other craft on the river, a buzzard and flights of swifts and swallows. The Washington development corporation and the City of Sunderland have recreated a natural wilderness.
When you get on you see the first of the massive stone block staithes that form parts of the bank. Here at Fatfield, later at Cox Green and finally at Stony Heugh they dwarf the roman wall a few miles north. You are soon away from the houses and into the wilderness. Fans of Apocalypse Now will look out for something moving in the forest.
Moving beside Reach Wood your eyes are captured by the Victoria viaduct: high elegant stone arches spanning the gorge. Built in 1836-8 it was based on a roman bridge at Alcantara in Spain and this design has a lightness that becomes more impressive as you approach: the river span is 162 feet wide, and the stone as clean cut as if it were new. This is a hidden wonder, less obvious than Penshaw monument on the hill above. Is there any other place where one can paddle beneath a ‘Roman’ viaduct and see a ‘Greek’ temple nearby? (Pevsner 1983:371)
The river bends slightly around James Steel Park and you may see walkers or cyclists. The next bridge is a functional green metal footbridge at Cox Green (good pub on the right bank) and there is the first clutch of boats. Like the top of a Cornish creek half a dozen at most: North Sea coble, and battered fishing vessels. Five minutes beyond is a nice get off for a cup of tea on the edge of a wood in a meadow.
Next on your left is the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust. A black barbed wire fence keeps you out but the birds observe no such niceties and it’s a place of heron, wildfowl on the river as much as in the sanctuary. High Wood beyond is a fine example of natural woodland, and the river does another characteristic U-bend as it does higher in Durham.
The turn brings the river in view of a second dramatic viaduct: this concrete and box girder wonder 50 metres up takes the A19 across the narrow gorge. The contrast with the Victoria viaduct is striking. The Golden Lion pub on the right bank is tempting, but the Shipwrights is a bit further on the other side. Down river from the Shipwrights is an amazing pile of decaying iron ship and vessel parts, clearly the Poseidon of the north. You may have the curiosity to paddle past them and get out where the bank comes down. You may get off nearer the A19 viaduct.
Finish at the Shipwrights Arms at North Hylton 355575. This is on the north river bank on Ferryboat Lane. Ferryboat lane is the first right turn on the A1231 east of the A19. Very easy access back onto the A19 or to the A1 to continue your journey north. Very nice pub: good beer and food if you are in no hurry.