Today combined my love off all things industrial and all things sea, as we explored the bit of the East coast between Middlesborough and Hartlepool - a first for me.
But first the lovely Darlington with it's grand buildings from the great age of the train. The once terminus of the world's first pubic railway - Stockton and Darlington Railway
and a trip to the covered market
Then a winding tour up and down the many little gennels
Then back in the car and onward to Middlesborough and a bridge lover's heaven. Not sure which one this is (the Tees Newport bridge maybe - repainted?)- but loved it
and had to venture across
But finally to the gem of them all - the beautiful Tees Transporter Bridge. There really can't be many of these left in the world
and lucky for us it was open
so we waited for the cradle to swing across and load us onboard
bought our ticket
and swung across the River Tees in style
SO exciting!! The next bit of the day was inspired by this great Guardian article written in 2014, celebrating the opening of new bits of the NE coastal path - read here for more Soon we were at the Tees estuary where it meets with the North Sea
An incredible juxtaposition of nuclear power stations and oil processing plants, alongside beautiful sandhills and beaches - very Daliesque. Wonderfully surreal.
and after that lovely blast of sea air, onward to Hartlepool, the old Quay area and a quick peek into the Maritime Museum
Next we drove on to 'Headland' in Hartlepool which is an amazing peninsula of Georgian houses and tales of shipfaring and coal.
with a highly recommended and as fresh as you could get, fish and chips at Mary Rowntree's en route round the Headland
But time was cheating us, the light began to dim and it soon became too dark to venture onwards north up the coast to Sunderland - next time ........
So it was sort of sad to leave the adventure when we'd only just found the disused pier on the front of the Guardian coastal walk article - but we'll definitely return to this spot and continue north some day. To see what we did on Sunday - last day of this fab holiday and another lovely walk - just click here. If you missed the start of this birthday weekend then just click here.
Today was bitterly freezing but spectacular. The grey skies never really lifted, although we could see bits of sun on distant hills.
Our walk started near the Charles Bathurst in Arkengarthdale. We were wrapped up in thermals that we'd taken up beyond the Arctic Circle in December! I had on 3 pairs of gloves . . .
Found a great walk and followed it (more or less ..... OK we did get a bit lost on the top of the fell)
skellies littered the tops of the fell - just around the area we were lost in . . .
but lost or not, the views were worth it
that lovely 'on top of the world' feeling and our picnic spot for a chunk of bara brith
not another soul in sight
and thankfully we regain the path and find our way down to Booze
and as for this monster sheep - we still don't know if it was gigantic hybrid or just standing on a bale of straw!! Didn't want to venture close to find out either!
Ahhh one of those lovely Dales' fords
reminded me of the start of All Creatures Great and Small intro when James Herriot's little car splashes through the ford! And the actual one they filmed it in isn't far from Arkengarthdale. Take a listen:
however there were bridges too
and murky tunnels to navigate
scary or what
but a lovely pub down in Langthwaite ....... sadly closed til the evening - so no warm up here
Just LOVED This almost perfectly symmetrical tree they seem to have designed their garden around at Scar House
and here endeth our amazing 6 mile adventure and safe and sound and back to Winston for the best ever stone baked pizza from the Stable Hearth in the nearby Gainford and a cosy log fire. And as we were so near to Swaledale on our hike, I'll leave you with a Sheffield 'local carols' rendition of the song I was singing to myself from the top of that wild empty fell. This is from the Royal Hotel at Dungworth where I sing once a year. A lovely rendition and much loved as is ours at the Black Bull in Ecclesfield sung by the wonderful Eric on November and December thursday nights.
SWALEDALE
I will sing of a place that is dear to my heart,
A place where I always would dwell,
And if you will kindly lend me an ear
A few of its beauties I’ll tell
Chorus:- In that beautiful dale, home of the Swale,
How well do I love thee, how well do I love thee?
Beautiful dale, home of the Swale,
Beautiful, beautiful dale.
Oh, it’s far far away from the noise and the din
Of colliery an’ factory an’ mill,
From the bustle and stir of town life, shut in
By verdant and radiant hills.
And how often as boys have we wandered along
Beside of the river so clear;
The birds never failing to sing their sweet song
And lend a charm to your ear.
And if fate ee’er compels me to leave this dear spot
