no chance of a mud berth on the tyne I'm afraid... there's not much mud!
It may be a blessing in disguise though. there's another marina further up the Tyne that has welcomed us with open arms, and would welcome us even more if we wanted to liveaboard, as in their words "we love liveaboards here"
the 'other' marina has plenty of available pontoons, and I hope with that attitude they stay permanently empty.
Other issues that were raised were that the plastic people don't like any commercial boats ie fishing charters, as it means the car park gets full and they have to walk an extra 25 yards to the pontoons
As annoyed as I was, I think they may have done us a favour despite us being an extra 7 miles from the sea now, as the pub up river has much better beer, and is a fair bit cheaper to boot
If anyone is interested this is our new pride and joy: http://BF494.co.uk