Exploring the Toon … and Only getting a little lost

So after over two weeks in isolation I wanted to get out and explore the city a bit. I had been out once or twice to get some things from the shops but hadn’t just wandered around. First, my flatmate and I went to the main campus so we could pick up our student ID cards. Since I live close to the medical school I hadn’t actually had a chance to even see the main campus since I arrived. The old buildings are gorgeous and everything looked so pretty with the leaves changing colour. After we got our ID cards my flatmate headed back but I decided to stay in the city and do more exploring by myself.

I started off by wandering up and down streets in the city centre so I could start to get my bearings. One of my favourite things about the city centre is all the pedestrian streets, so you can wander among the shops without worrying about cars (I am still getting used to making sure I am looking the right direction for cars when I cross the street, haha).

Because of covid lots of things were closed but I stopped in front of the theatre to take some pictures, hopefully I’ll get the chance to attend something there in the future!

I think one of my favourite places is the Waterstones by Grey’s monument, it just looks so pretty (and who doesn’t love over four stories of books).

I also wandered through Grainger Market but forgot to get any pictures. Grainger Market is a a market hall that dates from the 1800’s. You can find butchers, and produce stalls as well as cute little stationary and card places. There was also a cute zero waste shop that sells stuff in bulk and you bring your own reusable containers.

After that I headed towards St. Nicholas Cathedral and Newcastle castle. I didn’t go into either but you can read more about both in my visiting Newcastle upon tyne post.

When I was wandering around the castle keep I saw this cute old stone staircase that disappeared through an arch. I didn’t know if it went anywhere or if I was allowed to go down the steps but I saw someone else come up from wherever they led so I decided I would be brave and go see were they went. (the consensus from my family and friends is that I am actually crazy and could have been murdered wandering down random little passage ways by myself, but I didn’t die and they were quite cute). There was also a little well that I kind of want to go back and get better pictures of because I didn’t stop to take any.

The steps ended up coming out on a street by the quayside, which was actually quite nice because I hadn’t been near the river yet. I got some really nice photos of some of the bridges that cross the river. (Newcastle actually has a total of seven bridges that cross over the river tyne.)

At this point I had been out walking for a little over an hour and a half and decided to head back to my accommodation. Now I definitely should’ve just backtracked the way I came but I wanted to see if I could find my way back going a different way …. turns out not my best idea.

What I didn’t realize was that I had walked far enough along the river that I had actually put myself on the wrong side of the highway (or motor way if we’re gonna be specific) from where I needed to be.

At this point I did pull out google maps to try and help me find my way, but I still ended up doing some back tracking. I also ended up having to walk under a somewhat sketch underpass and then I kinda just ran across the road once I spotted a footbridge that went over the motorway 😬.

Thankfully once I was over the footbridge I knew where I was and was able to find my way back easily.