Newcastle guided walk: Spital Tongues

A couple of years ago I bought a season ticket for the guided walks and did loads of them, but this is one that I'd missed out on.  I was interested to know the history of this area as a McDougall ancestor lived and worked here.  We set off in drizzle and returned two hours later in pouring rain, but the whole walk was fascinating!  We followed a tree-lined path (the course of the Pandon Burn) through modern university buildings and elegant terraces where the great and good of Newcastle lived in times gone by.  Then on to the fringes of the town moor and the streets where the less well-off (like my family) lived and worked.  We learnt about the old colliery, the Victoria Tunnel, the hospitals, saw the oldest inhabited building in Newcastle.  More than that, the whole area has always seemed attractive to me, but the walk just enhanced that.  What a lovely little area!  Handy for everything, and it even has a windmill.  Spital Tongues, rotten name, great place.