Were those basking shark fins cutting through the water? How marvellous that a shoal had made it all the way up-river to Hexham! I’d never seen basking sharks in fresh water before, and what a thrill to find them in the Tyne.

I was mistaken. These were not basking sharks, but dolphins. From the river bank I watched their cheery faces popping out of the water and wondered how close they would let me come. By the time I reached them, however, I realised that I had been taken in completely. These weren’t sea mammals at all, but children from the local primary school out for a late-summer splash in the river.