It must be high tide at Tynemouth, 19 miles away, where the Tyne flows into the North Sea. Here, the river has responded by rising to its full height. Grey seals, born on the Farnes, sometimes swim upriver into these brackish waters, and in late summer, beyond the bend in the river at Newburn, the muddy banks are enlivened with blue and yellow sea asters. The Tidestone, a mile downstream, marks the 1783 boundary of tidal ebb and flow, but since then, dredging has pushed its limit further upstream, to the weir at Wylam.
