I had hoped to join Walking With Giants Wellington Town Tour that was part of last weekend’s Wellington festival but a family birthday gathering prevented me from doing so.

Today I went search of the booklet of the walking trail, firstly in Morrison’s then later I walked to Wellington, via the station to see if I could get a copy in Wellington Civic and Leisure Centre. I failed in my mission (I suspect the booklet hasn’t been printed yet), but enjoyed my afternoon ‘there and back again’ walk.

My next mission is to try and print the online PDF of the walking with giants heritage trail so that it comes out in booklet form. Then I will be able to walk the route (which takes in many familiar places too me), armed with additional information on the places I know and the places I have missed as I walk past them.

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

I would have loved to walk further down this side of the river with its hidden heritage. Time was not in my favour, I had to turn back when I reached the Durham bandstand with its unique weathervane.

Mr C was patiently waiting for me, we had a date with Hartlepool…

After a few last minute preparations for our New Years Eve guests there was just enough time for a quick walk before preparing the evening meal.

I left the route to Mr C, he chose ‘Wellington’ as a walk… After a while I realised he meant a walk ‘around Wellington’ not in the town, taking in familiar places from his younger days. The walk included the presentation of my #walk1000miles achievement medal in the Bowring Park.

Photographing my achievement was problematic, firstly waiting for people to walk by so that we didn’t get in their way. Then a cute little dog came to say hello, he seemed to think there might be something interesting in my handbag. After extracting my medal from my bag I put my bag back on my shoulder. The dog got even more friendly, hopping up with waggy tale and little paws on my leg to say ‘Hello’.
Photo opportunity complete, Mr C proceeded with his chosen route home (a long way round). Two hours and 5.5 miles later we were back home and a little behind schedule for guest preparations…

The walk was fab and so was our family get together in the evening

With just half a mile to go I made sure I went for a quick walk before an emergency food shopping trip to pick up a missing ingredient for our evening meal with a friend. Before dining we enjoyed playing Wingspan, a board game that I purchased at the beginning of our first lockdown to keep us entertained.

I walked a local route that gave me the opportunity to take a December photograph for my bridleway project, completing two challenges in one walk.

My first walk into Wellington, on Saturday afternoon was a mission to see a recently painted Christmas Tree window that I had noticed on a local website.  The town was buzzing as I walked through it, with people taking part in the activities leading up to ‘the turning on’ of the Christmas lights later that afternoon. The jolly atmosphere gave  me a warm glow and a lump in my throat as it brought back childhood memories of Wellington at Christmas time.

I skirted away from the busy area, making my way to the window. It is wonderful and well worth a visit. Then I, made my way to the church to see the remembrance poppies and also check out the trees in the churchyard for a 2022 photographic project I have in mind. As I was leaving the town square the Wellington Brass Band were just starting to play. I lingered a while to hear them play Christmas Carols before making my way to the nearby church lych-gate where I found a small memorial. Just beyond the lych-gate the church grounds were buzzing with people, elves and children. They were generally having fun whilst queuing to see Father Christmas, taking part in a lantern making workshop or having their faces painted. I left the festivities behind, continuing my walk, detouring via Little Apley Pool before returning home.

The following day Mr C suggested that after, we had prepared our evening meal and put it in the oven to slowly cook, we walk to Wellington to see the Christmas lights in full glow. We had a few technical hitches as we left the building; the (dratted) coat stand decided to fall over as Mr C reached for his coat, Mr C’s mobile rang (twice) leading him to set the alarm before I had unlocked the front door! We thought we had made it out of the door in time but the alarm went off anyway. We went back inside to turn it off but it set itself to walk test mode. Eventually we left the building for our walk in the crisp coolness of the evening.

We arrived in Wellington to find that neither the tree in the churchyard was lit up nor the lights in the town square. I suspect ‘The Goblins’ had tampered with them. This part of our walk was disrupted by a loud mouthed youth, incoherently shouting to his mate across the road before aggressively banging on a sandwich bar door because he wanted something to eat but the place was closed. The sandwich bar opened shortly after his outburst but by this time was in the nearby bookies.

Calm restored, we enjoyed the rest of our walk. We chose a tree lined college route back home which was lovely and relaxing. Back home, Mr C was greeted with the aromas (I have no sense of smell) of spicy lamb shanks as they slowly cooked to perfection.