Ahh, Greggs, it seems like I see you everywhere.
Every other street in Newcastle city centre appeared to have the iconic bakery lurking, watching me, ready to pounce with its delightful pastries and caffeinated goods.
I had to wonder, how many Greggs are actually in Newcastle? We sit upon the birthplace of the legendary bakery chain, which had its humble beginnings on Gosforth High Street.
It was no surprise to find out that Newcastle also has the most Greggs of any city, even being crowned the Greggs capital of the UK. There are over 30 Greggs within Newcastle. More than 30 Greggs!
So then it came to me, an opportunity, an ambition, a rather silly idea indeed. Would it be possible to visit every Greggs in Newcastle in a single day, on foot?
There seemed like no better place to start than where Greggs itself started, and no better place to finish than with an iconic view of the Tyne Bridge. With the assistance of Google Maps, I plotted the optimal route from Gosforth High Street to Newcastle Quayside, hitting every Greggs I could find in between.
Everything seemed very doable, the first Greggs opens at 6.30 am and the last Greggs closes at 5.30 pm. Maps estimated about 10 and a half hours to complete the route, so I'd even have extra time - or so I thought.
I arrived bright and early for my breakfast at Gosforth High Street with not another soul in sight, except the Greggs staff eyeing me up as I loitered outside the shutters. They opened right on schedule and the Greggs marathon began, at 6.32 am I was away with a sausage roll in hand.
The morning went rather smoothly, I reached each bakery at a nice pace and kept myself fuelled up with sausage rolls, a cheese and onion bake, some coffee, it was good. But somewhere around Greggs number nine in the journey, I started flagging.
Full of food that is delightful in reasonable quantities, suddenly the challenge of reaching every Greggs seemed insurmountable. The peak began to hide away in the clouds, out of sight, obstructed by pastry.
I made the executive decision to stop eating for a little while, for the Greggs, for the ones I otherwise wouldn't see that day. The mission became the journey, the Greggs became sustenance and not another obstacle to overcome.
Marching onwards, I cleared through the next few Greggs with relative ease as I walked from Walker to Jesmond. Little did I know, the biggest challenge was yet to come. Jesmond to Kenton.
Walking across the Town Moor nearly destroyed me. The wind was brutally cold, while the occasional mild torrents of rain did the opposite of keeping my morale high. I was too far in to give up though, and after an hour of trekking, I finally made it to the next Greggs.
I truly started to feel the sheer scale of the journey when I reached Kingston Park, with that and every Greggs following until I hit the 20 mark feeling like an unreal accomplishment. Once I hit 20 however, I knew I was in the final sprint and the worst was behind me. Only 11 Greggs to go.
Enter Newcastle city centre, a place so dense with Greggs that it made up a third of the entire Greggs-athon challenge. I started checking off sites like nobody's business. Greggs after Greggs after Greggs, check, check, check.
The end was in sight, I was approaching the final few and only needed to hope that my legs wouldn't give out from under me. Hang in there guys, you can rest when we're done!
At 5.27 pm, nearly a full 11 hours since the beginning and with only a couple of minutes to spare from failure, I reached the coveted final Greggs on Newcastle Quayside. My elation matched relief as I staggered inside like a wayward traveller and gasped for a sausage roll, please.
I held my victory pastry high in the air, imagining a high five with the Tyne Bridge. I knew it was happy for me.
And with that, I vowed to never do this again.
