Tyne Tees Ranger - planning advice

A friend and me are looking to do the Tyne Tees Ranger on Saturday, with two main objectives:

1) A break for lunch, ideally with time for a hot meal and a pint at somewhere like a Wetherspoons (needs to be at, or fairly close to a station [i.e. a 5 minute walk] )
2) To cover as many stations as possible. I appreciate that Teesside Airport won't get covered as that's only visited on a Sunday.
3) To be on the train that departs Northallerton at 08:00 (got pre-booked advance tickets)
4) To be on the train that departs Middlesbrough at 20:50 (got pre-booked advance tickets)

At press, this is the best route I've come up with:
NTR 08:00 08:00 (Northallerton)
TBY 08:24 08:37 (Thornaby)
HEX 10:38 10:43 (Hexham)
NCL 11:26 12:15 (Newcastle) - POSSIBLE PINT BREAK!
MPT 12:35 12:49 (Morpeth)
NCL 13:13 14:18 (Newcastle) - LUNCH
DAR 14:46 14:54 (Darlington)
BIA 15:20 15:25 (Bishop Auckland)
SLB 16:49 16:58 (Saltburn)
MBR 17:23 17:40 (Middlesbrough)
WTB 19:07 19:15 (Whitby)
MBR 20:41 20:50 (Middlesbrough)

I think the only three stations this misses out are Chester-le-Street, Blaydon and British Steel Redcar.

Can anyone do any better than this?

There are two Wetherspoons near to Central Station in Newcastle, the Mile Castle and The Union Rooms, both are on Westgate Road and a minute's walk from the station.

Think you'll be hard pushed to get any better than that, although I guess that one of the MetroCentre - Newcastle services stops also at Dunston?

142094 said:

There are two Wetherspoons near to Central Station in Newcastle, the Mile Castle and The Union Rooms, both are on Westgate Road and a minute's walk from the station.

Think you'll be hard pushed to get any better than that, although I guess that one of the MetroCentre - Newcastle services stops also at Dunston?

Click to expand...

Cheers - yeah, got the two Wetherspoons. Thanks for the look at the routeplan. Yeah, we hit Dunston.

Blaydon is hard to get at the best of times, only stopping during the morning and evening peaks (can't remember about weekends), and Redcar British Steel is even worse.

British Steel Redcar:

This older thread may be of some use:

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28194

If you have your lunch at Darlington instead of Newcastle- and you can walk briskly- you can get the 1315 Newcastle-Manchester Airport, which stops at Chester le Street.

If you don't rush, and your budget stretches a bit further than a 'spoons, then the food at the Town Wall on Pink Lane in Newcastle is pretty good.

142094 said:

There are two Wetherspoons near to Central Station in Newcastle, the Mile Castle and The Union Rooms, both are on Westgate Road and a minute's walk from the station.

Think you'll be hard pushed to get any better than that, although I guess that one of the MetroCentre - Newcastle services stops also at Dunston?

Click to expand...

I would go with Union Rooms for Lunch very nice from previous visits

Aye, if you are prepared to spend a bit more, Town Wall or The Forth opposite do good food and real ale, although compared to Spoons, are on the dear side.