I thought the seven miles to the harbour at Amble were going to be tough, as it looked from my map as though NCN Route 1 followed the A1068 the whole way. What the map didn’t show, however, was the dedicated cycle superhighway, running parallel with the road and separated from the traffic by a thick hedge. These were some of the fastest and safest miles I had cycled.

Amble itself is quite spread out, and I am not sure I ever really found its centre. The harbour was built in 1838 for the export of coal, formed by a pair of stone breakwaters, one on each bank of the River Coquet. In 1848, a lighthouse was built on each breakwater. On the south side of the river (the Amble side) there is a cast-iron tower, painted in broad red and white bands. It is thirty-one feet tall, and stands on a concrete base enclosed by iron railings. Mounted on top is a modern, red lamp that flashes every six seconds. Solar powered, the light is visible for five miles.

Before 2008, the light on the north breakwater (closer to Warkworth than Amble) was a metal-framed lattice tower, on which a modern, green lamp was mounted. It, too, flashed every six seconds, and was visible for five miles. After considerable repair work to the breakwater, this north breakwater light was demolished and replaced with a modern green pole light. Its light pattern remains the same, however.

This is the Amble harbour light, with Coquet Island lighthouse in the background #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/gbirvxYvvq

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

I spent more time than I needed to review and photograph what, on the face of it, were fairly unremarkable lights. That’s because I needed to wait at the harbour for a one-hour boat trip out to Coquet Island. Dave Gray’s Puffin Cruises is a family business that has been operating boat trips out to Coquet Island, sailing from the dock steps at Amble harbour, for more than forty years. Puffins, rare terns and kittiwakes are the main draw for visitors, although as the school holidays had evidently started today, there were several young families for whom the lighthouse was also on the wish list.

Although the puffins had already left our shores for the season, the star attraction on this short crossing for marine lovers was the population of grey seals. In fact, of all the boat trips so far, I have never seen so many seals in one location. I reckon you could have crossed from boat to island using the seals as steps, in a low-budget remake of the crocodile scene in Live and Let Die.

Coquet Island

The lighthouse on Coquet Island is square, unusual for a British light. It was designed for Trinity House by James Walker, and has a white, square tower made of sandstone, seventy-two feet tall, with walls more than a metre thick, surrounded by a turreted parapet. There are also substantial castellated accommodation buildings attached.

At the top of the tower is a circular lantern room, with conical roof, which originally showed a fixed white light, powered by paraffin. In 1854, red sectors were added, to warn ships of Hauxley Point to the south and Boulmer Rocks to the north.

The light was electrified in 1976, automated in 1990, and converted to solar power in 2008. Today, a small revolving optic flashes a white light three times every thirty seconds, visible for nineteen miles. There is also a red sector, visible for sixteen miles.

The first keeper appointed to Coquet Lighthouse was William Darling, Grace’s elder brother, and the second of her brothers to become a Trinity House lighthouse keeper.

Zoom lens shot of Coquet Island lighthouse, off the coast of Amble #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/zFoUZ9AKTw

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

From Amble, NCN Route 1 retains its dedicated cycle lane along the main road. What it lacked in scenery it more than made up for in speed. I covered the twenty miles to my next lights in Blyth in just over an hour.

Blyth developed as a major port in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with coal exports and shipbuilding both playing a significant role. Both industries have largely vanished, but the port still continues to operate, importing paper and pulp from Scandinavia for the newspaper trade. The town has also seen substantial investment in renewables, with the development of a number of wind farms, both onshore and offshore.

Blyth

A lighthouse existed at Blyth as early as 1730, but the earliest remaining light here is the Blythe High Light, about a hundred yards inland in Bath Terrace. It was designed by Sir Matthew White Ridley, and before land was reclaimed to build the South Harbour, it was right on the seashore. It has a white-painted tapering tower, originally about forty feet tall. It was oil powered, but was converted to gas in 1857, and to electricity in 1932.

After the South Harbour was developed in 1854 the light was obscured, and so in 1858 the tower was raised by fourteen feet. It was raised by a final twelve feet in 1900.

Its light was displayed through a window below the top of the tower, which was visible for ten miles. For a while it served as the rear of a pair of leading lights, although the precise location of the corresponding low light or lights is unknown. Blyth High Light was eventually deactivated in 1985.

In the harbour itself there have been several lighthouses over the years, including a fifteen-foot-tall metal tower on the West Pier, as well as a number of small, hexagonal wooden towers, displaying fixed blue lights, which served as range lights. Most survived until the mid-1980s, when they were almost all replaced with simple pole lights. I found one remaining, on the industrial north bank of the harbour, close to the base of a giant wind turbine.

The main harbour light, on the East Pier, is a white conical concrete tower, forty-six feet tall, with gallery and lantern. First lit in 1906, it flashes a white light, four times every ten seconds, which is visible for twenty-one miles.

Harbour light at Blyth, last working in 1984. Long breakwater out of bounds, so this is a long lens shot #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/fZcronX5ra

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

If every cycle route was like this fifty-mile stretch of NCN Route 1, I would consider ditching my car. Heading south towards Whitley Bay, along a metalled path that weaved through the dunes, just metres from the sand, I must have averaged more than fifteen miles per hour for only the second time. It may not sound like much, but on a steel bike, carrying four panniers, with luggage weighing in excess of fifty kilos, I was pretty happy with it. I had been cycling for very nearly eighty days, and for the first time I was starting to feel fit, and as though I was unstoppable.

Just north of Whitley Bay is the tiny St Mary’s (or Bait) Island, a small, rocky tidal island linked to the mainland by a short causeway which is submerged at high tide. I had missed out on a tour of the lighthouse here the previous year, organised by my friends at the ALK (Association of Lighthouse Keepers). I was particularly keen to see it, although the rising tide meant I would miss out on a proper tour once again. In fact, a tractor was in the process of pulling a partially submerged vehicle from the causeway as I arrived.

St Mary’s

There was once a lighthouse on the headland above King Edward’s Bay, close to Tynemouth Castle and the old Priory ruins. It was discontinued in 1898, and demolished a year later, after the light on St Mary’s Island was built to replace it.

St Mary’s lighthouse was designed by Sir Thomas Matthews, then Engineer in Chief to Trinity House, and built in 1898 by the John Miller company of Tynemouth. Construction of the tower and adjacent keepers’ cottages apparently required 645 blocks of stone and 750,000 bricks.

It had a similar rotating optic to the one installed at Lundy North, which displayed a white light that flashed twice every twenty seconds, visible for seventeen miles. It was the last remaining Trinity House lighthouse to be lit by paraffin, only being electrified in 1977.

The lighthouse was automated in 1982, but was decommissioned just two years later, in 1984. Its revolving optic was transferred to the light platform at Inner Dowsing for a while, and when St Mary’s opened as a visitor attraction, Trinity House offered the optic from the decommissioned lighthouse at Withernsea in its place.

Following closure of the Penzance lighthouse museum, the original lens was returned to St Mary’s in 2011 to be put on display.

Lovely lighthouse at St Mary's, north of Whitley Bay. National Cycle Network Rt 1 goes right in front! #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/kWvnIwkHFi

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

Navigating was proving very easy. Not only was NCN Route 1 effortless to follow, but I had seen the lighthouse at St Mary’s ahead of me the moment I left Blyth, and now that St Mary’s was behind me I could see the pair of lights at Tynemouth on the far horizon.

During the Industrial Revolution, Newcastle became one of the country’s largest ports, due largely to the export of the region’s coal. The entrance to the port, at the mouth of the River Tyne, is protected by two substantial breakwaters: the North Pier, below the Tynemouth Priory ruins, is 900 metres long, and the South Pier, which was built from the seafront at South Shields, is longer at more than 1,500 metres. There is a lighthouse on each pier, and as I descended, gently circling the priory ruins, I arrived at the head of the North Pier first.

River Tyne

It took nearly fifty years to complete construction of the North Pier, after a number of breaches delayed its completion until 1910. The lighthouse was completed and first lit two years earlier, in 1908. It’s an elegant, circular stone tower, fifty-five feet tall, with gallery and white-painted lantern. It flashes a white light, three times every ten seconds, which is visible for twenty-six miles.

The lighthouse on the South Pier was first lit in 1895. It is similar in design and construction to the lighthouse on the North Pier, although considerably shorter, at thirty-nine feet tall. As a result, it doesn’t quite share its elegant proportions. The South Pier’s lantern is painted white on its seaward-facing side, and red on its landward side. It displays white, red and green sector lights, showing the safe channel into the harbour, which are visible for thirteen, nine and eight miles respectively.

South Pier light at Tynemouth #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/GDNDv6y2tg

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

Although I took a heap of long-range shots of the South Pier light from the opposite pier, I planned on getting close up to the light later in the day. Before crossing the river, however, I had several splendid former lights to see, starting with three on the bank of the river just a few hundred yards away in North Shields.

North Shields

A pair of leading lights were first built in North Shields by Trinity House, Newcastle, in 1536. The earliest light still standing, however, dates to 1727, and is now an elegant private house, high up on Beacon Street, with a majestic view across the harbour and beyond to South Shields. It has a tall, square tower, four storeys high, with a small lantern at the top.

This was once the high light of a pair of leading lights, with the corresponding low light built on the fish quay. They were initially candle powered, but were converted to oil lamps in 1773.

Over time the safe channel into the harbour changed, and by 1807 the leading lights also needed to be realigned. The High Light was decommissioned, and hereafter referred to as the Old High Light. At the same time, a new Low Light was built, just in front of the old Low Light. Designed by John Stokes, it is an even taller, six-storey square brick tower, eighty-five feet tall, with a small lantern at the top. It displayed a fixed white light which was visible for thirteen miles. Having been decommissioned, the former Low Light was converted to Alms houses in 1830, and is now a heritage centre and museum.

The following year, in 1808, a new High Light was added, which was also designed by John Stokes. It’s shorter, at fifty-eight feet tall, and has a white-painted brick tower with a small lantern room on its roof. It also showed a fixed white light which was visible for sixteen miles.

The 1727 Old High Light, the original Low Light, and the 1807 and 1808 leading lights are all still standing, although they no longer display lights. The nineteenth-century leading lights were in operation until the 1990s, when a sector light was installed at the lighthouse at Herd Groyne on the opposite bank of the Tyne, which in turn guided shipping into Tynemouth and along the river. Their towers, however, continue to serve as daymarks.

Elegant former light at North Shields. One of three #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/wArssMwVGO

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

In just over an hour I had chalked up seven lighthouses – the four at North Shields, the two at the mouth of the River Tyne and St Mary’s. But there were still two more close by that would make this the most profitable lighthouse-bagging day so far.

Eight miles upriver, in the heart of the city of Newcastle, lie three bridges close together. First is the High Level Bridge, a road and railway bridge designed by Robert Stephenson, and opened by Queen Victoria in 1849. It is considered to be the most notable historical engineering work in the city. Second, there is the Tyne Bridge, a through arch bridge over the River Tyne, that links Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead. It was opened in October 1928 by King George V and has since become a much-loved and defining symbol of Tyneside.

However, the bridge I had come to see lies between the two. Said to be one of the industrial wonders of the Victorian age, the Swing Bridge connecting Newcastle and Gateshead was designed by the visionary engineer Lord Armstrong to improve navigation and enable larger ships to access the upper reaches of the river. When it opened in 1876, it was the largest swinging bridge in the world. In the middle of the bridge, there is a white-painted octagonal control room with a circular lantern, painted blue, on its roof. Although the bridge is still in use, its light has been deactivated for many years.

I might have crossed the river on one of the bridges and weaved my way back to South Shields on the south bank of the Tyne. Instead, I chose to retrace my route along the north bank, and take the seven-minute crossing on the Shields Ferry. Once landed, I was only a few minutes’ ride from the Herd Groyne Lighthouse, the last of the lights on the Tyne.

South Shields Herd Groyne

Inland of the two long breakwaters at the mouth of the Tyne, the Herd Groyne was constructed on the south side of the river between 1861 and 1867, to protect sand from the Littlehaven beach from being swept upriver by the incoming tide.

A small, red-painted iron lighthouse was erected at the end of the groyne by Trinity House, Newcastle, in 1882. It has an unusual hexagonal design, and is supported on twelve iron legs. It’s also unusual in that it assists maritime traffic heading both into and out of the port. On its seaward-facing side, it displays an occulting white leading light, marking safe entry through the river entrance, which is visible for thirteen miles. There are also red and green sector lights. On its landward-facing side, it shows a single, fixed light to guide ships safely out of the harbour.

Quirky light at South Shields, opposite the three white lights at North Shields #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/UipWWGGYgC

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

By now it was late afternoon, but I took some pride in the realisation that since leaving Alnmouth early in the morning, I had made it to fourteen lighthouses, fifteen if you counted the little wooden hexagonal light I tracked down in Blyth. This was my biggest single-day haul, even counting the days collecting the beacons and questionable lights along the Rivers Avon and Severn. And I wasn’t done yet. There was still time to see the lighthouse at Souter, just four miles further south, and possibly even the pair of lights at Roker, in Sunderland.

Once again NCN Route 1 delivered, and I could see the lighthouse at Souter ahead of me for almost all of the four miles from South Shields. Arriving perilously close to 5pm, a lovely woman in the National Trust tearoom took pity on me and produced a pot of tea and scones. I was too late for the guided tour, which was a pity, but if I’d been forced to choose between tea or tour, I would have chosen tea every time.

Souter

Souter Lighthouse was built to guide ships away from the dangerous reefs of Whitburn Steel, between the Tyne and the Wear, which in 1860 alone were the cause of twenty shipwrecks.

Trinity House chose Lizard Point for the site of the new lighthouse, having rejected Souter Point about a mile further south. However, they named the lighthouse Souter to avoid confusion with the Lizard Lighthouse on the south Cornish coast.

Souter Lighthouse was designed by Trinity House Chief Engineer James Douglass, with construction supervised by civil engineer Henry Norris. First lit in 1871, it has a red and white painted circular tower, seventy-six feet tall, with a red lantern. There are also ancillary buildings laid out within a square courtyard on the landward side.

The lantern displayed a white light which flashed for five seconds at thirty second intervals, which was visible for twenty-six miles. It was the first lighthouse anywhere in the world to be powered by alternating current generators. It must be almost unique to have been converted from electricity to oil, rather than the other way around, when a larger lantern was installed in 1914.

It was modernised again in 1952, when it was converted to mains electricity. Decommissioned by Trinity House in 1989, the lighthouse was never automated. As a result, it retains much of its original machinery and working parts. Now managed by the National Trust, it is open to visitors throughout the season.

Wonderful, famous and accessible! This is Souter Lighthouse #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/JAlD84ohzK

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

Over my pot of tea at the National Trust cafe, I secured a bargain room at the Travelodge in Sunderland – a snip at £29. I just needed to gather some momentum for a final five-mile push south, allowing for a brief detour to see the lights on Roker Pier and in Roker Cliff Park. Feeling emboldened, I stuck to the main road after Souter, but quickly switched to the broad seafront promenade after Seaburn.

The old Sunderland pier light. Like Plymouth Hoe, it was moved to the promenade at Roker in 1983 #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/AQ06QxbwmE

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

Roker and Sunderland

The slim, elegant cast-iron lighthouse in Roker Cliff Park has only been here since 1983, although it is a much earlier construction. It was originally built in 1856, replacing an 1802 light, on the South Pier of Sunderland’s dock. Designed by Thomas Meik, it has a circular, white-painted tower, fifty feet tall, with lantern and gallery.

It served only until construction of new piers, with lights, between 1885 and 1907, rendered its light redundant. It was deactivated in 1903, and remained in place until the old South Pier was shortened in 1983, resulting in its move to Roker Cliff Park. Today, there is a rusting metal framework with a red flashing light on top, at the end of the shortened Old South Pier. There is also a simple pole light at the end of the Old North Pier displaying a green light.

The two new outer piers at Sunderland were built between 1885 and 1907. The New North Pier, simply known as Roker Pier, has an elegant conical lighthouse at the end, around eighty feet tall, built in alternating bands of natural white and reddish shades of granite. First lit in 1903, it was said to be the most powerful port light in the country. Following modernisation in 1976, and again in 2007, the lighthouse currently has an efficient rotating lamp installed, which flashes a white light, every five seconds, visible for twenty-three miles.

The original intention was to build a similar lighthouse at the end of the New South Pier. However, the plan was shelved after the First World War, and instead a cylindrical, white-painted metal tower was built, thirty-three feet tall, and displaying a white flashing light, at ten second intervals, which is visible for ten miles.

Roker Pier light, Sunderland. Delighted to report that it's currently undergoing restoration! #beaconbike pic.twitter.com/BReN2MwkqH

— Edward Peppitt (@thebeaconbike) July 20, 2015

I feared that the scaffolding around the lighthouse on Roker Pier was an indication of neglect and deterioration. But I was heartened to discover that it was one strand of a major project, begun in 2013, to restore both pier and lighthouse to their former glory.

I crossed the Wearmouth Bridge into Sunderland’s city centre, and was ready to drop. This had been comfortably my longest day in terms of hours in the saddle, miles covered and lighthouses seen. I thought I’d take a quick rest before heading out for food, but when I woke, it was past two o’clock in the morning.