Summer Walk 7, Newbiggin to Sandy Bay - Wednesday 16th August 2023.

  

After recent outings to town and country locations, the Camera Clubs' Summer evening walks to places of
local interest continued with a trip to the coast on Wednesday 16th August. The aim of the evening was to
follow a route from Newbiggin by the Sea to Sandy Bay and explore an area not previously visited as a club.

                       

Leaving the Spital Point car park, the group headed up a small incline and then south past the area of the old
links quarry to join the coastal footpath. This section of the walk runs between the high sandstone cliffs that
overlook the sea to the east and open arable fields to the west.

     

With spectacular views out over the wave-cut platforms and the boulder-covered beach and bay, the clifftop
path offered many photographic opportunities as members recorded the wildflowers, seabirds, and geology
of the locality. At several different viewpoints, we were able to identify dark shales, mudstone, and exposed
coal seams in the sandstone cliffs, with evidence of recent rockfalls and collapses confirming their instability
due to erosion by the sea and weathering.

     

On reaching Sandy Bay several members made their way down onto the beach to photograph the patterned
rock formations before the group made the return walk in the warm sunshine to Spital Point. Here we rounded
off the evening by locating the 'Needles Eye', a local landmark where the sandstone rock has been eroded by
the actions of the sea to form a tunnel, giving views of Newbiggin Bay through the rocky outcrop.

                       

Davy Bolam.