Marsden Quarry Nature Reserve and Cleadon Hills

For this walk, we parked at the Marsden Grotto car park on South Shields sea front, which has a small charge. Parking here meant we could take in the views of Marsden Rock, and have a wander down on to the beach to see the famous rock in all of it's glory. There are also some caves here to marvel at (and contemplate how they have not collapsed yet).

After wandering back up to the car park, we crossed over the main road (A183) and walked through a small cut into a housing estate. If you turn left at the top of the cut, and wander along Grotto Road, you'll see the start of Marsden Quarry Nature Reserve up ahead. On entering the reserve, we kept to the flat paths on the right rather than heading up a hill and walked for a couple of minutes. After that, the path leads on to a huge open area and you're treated to some spectacular views. I was surprised at how stunning this area was with it's huge magnesian limestone cliffs and wide variety of trees and plants. Absolutely beautiful.

We followed the paths round the cliffs until we reached a wall and walked through to the edge of a field, with trees and shrubs on our right. Amongst the shrubs, you'll find the Cleadon White Horse which is worth a short detour if you're passing. W3W: zeal.shave.sector.

We kept heading along the path until we reached some woodland where there are always lots of small birds. We've spotted Long Tailed Tits, Blue Tits and Coal Tits bombing around in the trees here. Head out of the woods until you reach a stone wall and head right until you come across the golf course.

Now, you've guessed it - you need to walk straight through the middle of the golf course to get to the next part of the route. This is one of the less relaxing parts of the walk but we've done it a couple of times and have never been hit by a golf ball yet. There are some large 'beware of balls' signs to keep you on the right track.

Once you've completed the 'Indiana Jones' section of the walk, head through a small bit of woodland, go through a gate and you'll spy Cleadon Water Tower on your right. We've spotted a Kestrel hunting from here on one of our walks.

Head towards the stone wall on the left of the field, follow signs for Linnet Way and go through a kissing gate. You'll spot the picturesque Cleadon Windmill on the horizon.

The beautiful Cleadon Mill. I think I have several thousand pictures of it from every angle.

You'll need to retrace your steps when you head back: go back through the gate, past the water tower and through the golf course. After the golf course, we usually head back along the top of the cliff. This gives you fantastic views over the nature reserve and out to sea. Again, there's loads of wildlife here. We've seen Buzzards, Sparrowhawks, Whitethroats and there are occasionally some rare birds to see too including Whinchats. When you've finished marvelling at the landscape, there is a clear path to follow back down the hill, into the housing estate and back to the car park.

You can end your walk here, however, if you want to extend your walk, you can turn right when you are back on the A183. You'll spot Souter Lighthouse and Marsden Lime Kilns in the distance which are both worth a visit and will score you some points on the Fabulous North leader board..