January 2024. Seaton Carew. Hartlepool.
Not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed that my birthday (22 December, pre-marked on all good calendars) wasn’t spent in Seaton Carew on the Durham coast, due to what we call “plumbing issues” because they involved a plumber coming out.
Last Thursday, after watching the first few episodes of “The Thief, His Wife And The Canoe” on ITV before the internet went down, we finally headed north-east to meet our destinies.
For me, it would mean a final tick in the lovely Durham section of the Guide; for Mrs RM, it involved sticking to her regimental diet by avoiding the culinary pleasures of Greater Hartlepool.
Mrs RM has made a triumphant launch of her own travel blog, and I suggested that Seaton Carew (pop. 6,018) would make an ideal blog, with its artisanal charms and exciting recent history.
We conducted a brief search for the house from which John Darwin set forth on his fateful (if not actually fatal) canoe trip,
gave up, and checked in to the Durham Hotel.
More on that later.
We seemed to be the only visitors, the appeal of the Hartlepool coast on a freezing Thursday in January somehow lost on the UK’s less adventurous tourists.
I’d been hoping for a clearer view of Middlesbrough’s industrial sites at night.
We’d been here the once before, parking near the front and walking the 2 miles into the Pool, but today felt like rediscovering Seaton anew, which sounds like a great slogan.
If I’m honest, Seaton lacks the rugged beauty of places like Seaham further up the coast,
but it’s a pleasant enough seaside resort with a few modern touches.
80% of the pubs in Seaton sell cask, astonishing for a Durham town,
but we resist the charms of all but our GBG debutant,
and what looks like a pre-emptive,
and the lone keg pub (“Still yet to be persuaded to sell real ale” says What Pub).
I made a note to return to the slot machines later that night,
admired the late Victorian beauty of the Marine,
and headed to complete Durham.
retiredmartin 