River Escapes

Ahoy there!
Operating a range of different boat trips up and down the River Tyne, the River Escapes experience is a great way of seeing Newcastle and the surrounding area from an unusual perspective!
You can choose from a range of trips, from daytime tours from Newcastle to Newburn or to Tynemouth, or for the party animals, a range of evening party events. For those who suffer from seasickness, a boat trip plus alcohol and dancing may not be your first port of call (geddit?)
So a group of us went on the Quay to Sea sightseeing tour on Sunday lunchtime. Sadly the glorious weather that had been with us the previous week decided to not show over the weekend, so I can imagine this would be superb if the weather was favourable. That aside, the boat we were on had plenty of indoor room and we did manage to brave the bracing maritime conditions (go with me here) from time-​to-​time.
The trip started off with a run underneath the Millennium Bridge, which tilts specifically for this trip, that was a great sight to see. You then turn around, go back under the bridge and it takes around 90 minutes to pootle up the Tyne as far as Tynemouth piers. On the journey out, you are provided with a very knowledgeable commentator who highlights the different sights on each bank. One word of advice, if you’re wanting to keep up, make sure you’re sitting ahead of the commentator as the speed of the boat means us lot at the back were a couple of minutes behind and therefore had to play catch up all the time!
As you get to Tynemouth, you can feel the gentle swell of the sea tides, then the boat turns around and heads back towards Newcastle. For the return leg, the commentator is available to answer any questions.
You can bring your own food on board, on the boat we were on there is a bar serving hot and cold drinks, a range of alcoholic beverages (NB. see note above) and a limited hot food menu. The bacon roll was OK, little bit underwhelming given it was £2.90 and the brown sauce wasn’t HP. But I digress…
All in all, this is a great way to while away a few hours, especially if the weather is nice. Whilst not the most scenic of rivers in places, you learn so much about the heritage of the River Tyne and what made this region’s industrial heritage to give us the brilliant place it is today. They also do family tickets, but this is probably not best suited to the littlest of little ‘uns given you are spending 3 hours on a boat with no means of getting off.
So why not don your sou’ wester, get yourself down the Quayside and get your sea (river) legs on?!