Newcastle

We emerged out of the station and began to understand just how badly we had got the date wrong for this city walk: it was the final of the European Rugby Champions Cup. There were basically 50, 000 extra people in the city drinking beer while they waited for the 5pm kick off. But at least being rugby people they were in good spirits and posed no threat.

Directly opposite was the 19th century St Mary's Catholic Cathedral. It was the work of six different architects including one of my heroes, AWN Pugin. The inside is a riot of beautiful colour, with some lovely stained glass to boot.

We headed along Clayton St West and passed this rather extravagant clock on the corner.

A left and a right led us to the quiet and unexpected Blackfriars, once a Dominican Monastery, suppressed of course at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. For a long period after that it housed various craft activities.

The central building is now a restaurant but you can walk through the central passageway to see various traces of the monastic buildings, including the nave of the monastery church. I was quiet taken by this modern housing development directly behind Blackfriars, in a sympathetic modern interpretation of Gothic architecture.

Turning right out of Blackfriars we were immediately presented by a section of the former town walls - another surprise. You wall through the gateway by this bastion ...

... to follow the line of the walls, which date from 1280-83.

At the end of the walls you are confronted by St James Park, the ground of Newcastle United FC, but today the venue for the Champions Cup. Happily for us, we were so early that no-one much had yet arrived. It is known to be a great ground to enjoy a game in, but externally it looks a bit messy.

We followed the right hand side of the ground to reach Leazes Terrace. This is a massive and imposing early 19th century housing development, with an attractive park adjoining.

We heading away from the Terrace and passed the Royal Victoria Infirmary on our left to head into Newcastle University. The first few buildings had rather an industrial air - we wondered if they were in fact converted factories - but at the end of the street was an area of more substantial and classic university buildings. I haven't been able to establish what this one is, although the tower is magnificent - it seems it may house the Student Union.

The wonderful Double Arch nearby lead to an area called The Quadrangle, which houses several museums.

We walked away from the Quadrangle and down some steps to reach a main road with the church of St Thimas the Martyr ahead and the splendid Civic Centre ahead. Unusually, it was designed by the City Architect, George Kenyon, rather than a celebrity architect. The walls are made of Norwegian Otta slate and the King of Norway formally opened the building.

We headed along the pedestrianised Northumberland St, rather a low point of the walk, turned right at the end, passing another gold woman outside a jeweler's, to reach Grey's Monument. This commemorates Charles, Earl Grey, who as Prime Minister in 1832 was responsible for ensuring the passage of the Great Reform Act. He was also MP for Northumberland.

He is possibly better known now for Earl Grey Tea. According to Twinings, the tea originated as a replica of a tea given to the Prime Minister by a Chinese Mandarin. According to legend, it was a gift after one of the Lord’s men saved the Mandarin's son from drowning.

We headed down Grey Street, regarded as England's most beautiful street. The Theatre Royal is on the left. It is certainly a grand street with a pleasing uniformity of style, scale and materials in the buildings which line both sides.

Grey St heads steadily down hill until you reach the riverside - with an increasing presence of people in rugby shirts and various forms of fancy dress tucking into their beer.  I was surprised and delighted to see this black and white timber-framed building. A certain Bessie Surtees, the daughter of a banker eloped from here in the 18th century with her unsuitable lover, John Scott. She had the last laugh though when he later became Lord Chancellor.

We walked along the quayside, noticing the wonderful Sage Gateshead building (basically a concert house) on the opposite bank.

Further along, ignoring the every increasing crowds, we had a fine view of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, opened in 2001. The brief was to create a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists that: allowed ships to pass underneath (achieved by allowing it to tilt), did not overshadow the view of the existing bridges and didn't obstruct the Quayside. The winning design was by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Gifford and Partners. It really is very lovely.

However, it is very like Santiago Calatrava's wonderful Zubizuri (Basque for White bridge) in Bilbao, which opened in 1997. Read all about it here.

The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (once a flour mill) can be seen in the background. Interestingly, the mill was only completed in 1950.

As we crossed the bridge there was one of those views of the Newcastle bridges. The 1928 Tyne Bridge is in the foreground. It was desiogned by Mott, Hay and Anderson in a similar style to their contemporary Sydney Harbour Bridge. Behind it is the red and white Swing Bridge (1876) and behind that is Stephenson's High Level rail bridge of 1849.

This is the view of the Quayside from the Gateshead side. The large screen for those who lack tickets can be readily seen.

We walked through the impressive Sage Gateshead and crossed the river by the Swing Bridge to climb some steps to reach the final surprise of this wonderful walk: Newcastle Castle (1080). It is of course the new castle which gave the city its name. The railway now separates the two remaining components: the Black Tower and the Keep. Interestingly, the Castle was the original starting point for Hadrian's wall.

It was well worth a visit, with a massive central hall and a maze of passageways and steps which made it seem surprisingly big inside. There was also a fine doorway, though not as good as the one we saw in Durham yesterday.

Perhaps the best bit was the views from the top of the keep, which included the Cathedral of St Nicholas with its lovely Lantern Spire.

It was founded in 1091 during the same period as the castle but the Norman church was destroyed by fire in 1216 and the current building was completed in 1350. It was heavily restored in 1777 and became a cathedral in 1882 in recognition of Newcastle becoming a city.

Conditions: a nice sunny day.

Distance: about 4 miles.

From: Walk magazine (The Ramblers house magazine) Summer 2007.

Rating: five stars. A really interesting and varied walk. I had been to Newcastle on business a few times back in the day and I was well aware that I had seen next to nothing of the city, so it was wonderful to gain a much deeper insight into it.