Intro to Newcastle

For us, this was around halfway between where we live and to the capital of the Highlands, Inverness, which we were driving to in order to start the NC500 tour. Check out our other blogs on this for more information! Newcastle was a great place to stopover and take in the local sights. With Newcastle having an industrial heritage, what will be there for us to do and see?

Getting there

It’s about 280 miles from London which is about a 5 hour drive. This would be via the A1 and A1M
You can also get the train from King’s Cross Station which takes just over 3 hours.

What to do

Angel of the North – one of the most famous structures and Britain’s largest sculpture. You cannot visit Newcastle without dropping by the Anthony Gormley piece. There is a car park and a large green area in front for getting good shots, sitting, picnics which ever you fancy with the 20 metre high looking over you. It was made in 3 parts the body (weighing 100 tons) and the two wings (weighing 50 tons each). This is free to visit.
Hadrians Wall – roughly 9 miles west from Newcastle centre, a little town called Heddon on the wall which is where we found our section of Hadrians Wall. There are other parts which are bigger that you can see, however due to our time constraints, this was a really nice stop. Immersing your self in the history and the making of the wall. It’s free to go into the field and read the info boards. Cute friendly town.
Newcastle City centre – great places to socialise and architecture to go with it old and new. Including the bridges across the River Tyne and the Quayside walk, lovely in the summertime.
St James Park football stadium – just wandered round the outside as the stadium tours were closed due to covid. Which are usually around £15 per adult. Statues of Alan Shearer and Bobby Robson endorn the outside which were cool to see, can imagine the passion from the toon army (nufc supporters) on match day.

Lots to see and do, sunny afternoons sitting on the Quayside people watching

Other Things to Know

Currency – Pounds
There are places to stay here from £64 a night
Cost – adult ticket to the football stadium starting at £15
Weather – May 2021 was 20 degrees
We stayed just outside of Newcastle so we had parking inclusive. For parking in the city they have an app called pay by phone for the fees.