HMS Trincomalee, the oldest warship still afloat in Europe dominates the authentically recreated historic quayside that is the home of the Royal Navy Museum in Hartlepool.

Now  200 years old, HMS Trincomalee is one of the last survivors of the sailing Navy and a fine example of the classic British frigate.

She was built in 1817 at the end of a long period of conflict and after Admiral Nelson’s victory over the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar. Trincomalee never saw combat and the period of peace in which she worked saw great advances in the Royal Navy, both technical and organisational.  She travelled over 100,000 miles over the world, in extremes of climate, and undertook duties that included policing, protection and exploration.

Now restored to her 1817 appearance, HMS Trincomalee still retains the evidence of adaptations made during her years of service, first as a naval ship and in later years as a training and holiday ship for yound people. As such, she is a unique and beautiful survivor.*

*from the The National Museum Royal Navy Hartlepool guidebook

On our visit to the Heugh Battery I picked up a leaflet for a circular walk around the headland of Hartlepool. The trail is made up of a series of 17 information points located around the Ancient Borough of Hartlepool. After our museum visit we set off on the trail, starting and ending at point 5 on the map.

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Hartlepool Headland is formed on a peninsular of magnesium limestone that reaches into the North Sea. This geological make-up has created a coastline of mixed treasures from golden sandy beaches to teeming rockpools. Much of the areas history and appeal is retold through the Story Boards.*

*information from the walking trail leaflet

We arrived at breakfast to find that we had missed the rush and as a bonus we were seated in a quiet area well away from the buffet table.

Our destination for the day was Hartlepool, but before setting off we took a stroll along the river starting from a point next to our hotel. I found that the pathway is part of the Hidden Heritage Trail which passed by the Durham Cow Sculpture to represent the legend of a roaming cow leading monks to the final resting place of St Cuthbert, Durham Cathedral. Retracing my steps back towards Durham, I was treated to lovely views of Durham landmarks.

Our first port of call at Hartlepool was the Heugh Battery Museum, the site of the only First World War Battlefield in Britain. Before visiting the museum we took a stroll to the seafront and found a plaque marking the place where the first shell from a German Battle cruiser landed in December 1914 and also commemorating the first soldier killed on British soil by enemy action during the Great War 1914-18.

The museum (although currently not fully open)  tells the story of the Bombardment of the Hartlepools, which took place on Wednesday 16th December 1914, when the guns of the battery were engaged in ship-to-shore combat with the German navy.

After our visit to the museum, we followed the Hartlepool Headland Trail from a leaflet that I had picked up at the museum. The walk was interesting and engaging but some areas along the trail are a little grim. We had hoped to visit St Hilda’s Church but our morning adventures had taken up a lot of time so we missed it out and drove to our planned major destination for the day; The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool where HMS Trincomalee is showcased within a recreated Historic Dockyard.

We had lunch, in my case Apple Shortcake, and took a tour around the Historic Dockyard before embarking on HMS Trincomalee.

Back at the hotel, after a detour through the village of Hart, we chilled out before dining in the Marco Pierre White restaurant in the hotel across the road from the one we were staying in.