Once we walked a railroad (Durham) August 12th
An odd day out.
Reduced to a team of three again, Dave< John and I are walking the old railway line from the town of Consett to Tyneside.
Consett once produced iron and steel for the industries of Tyneside and Wearside. The works were closed in the 1980s and there is little evidence left of them.
The walk is easy to follow as it follows what is now a footpath/cycle track from close to the centre of the town. No map needed but the walk is covered by OS Explorer 307, Consett and Derwent Water.
The UK has been suffering a heat wave and drought, both events giving the TV news programmes much to talk about and several hints on how to avoid problems: use sun cream, have a shorter shower, don't run water as you clean your teeth. How do we manage without them.
At least it means we have a hot sunny day for our walk, and it is gently downhill all the way.
To get to the start we caught a bus from Newcastle.
No car park today so here are two bus stations: Eldon Square and Consett
Once off the bus in Consett we needed to find the start of the Derwent Valley. We walked west up Victoria Street, as far as we could, turned right at the end and walked over open ground, crossed the B6322 and walked through Consett Park.
This civic amenity, possibly financed by the Consett Iron Company has a collection of steel plates set into the path:
Mementoes from the days of steel making.
Once outside the park we walked north up a road to the Cricketers' Pub, turned left, crossed the road and started the walk down the old railway line.
Since the closure of the railway the sides of the track have been overgrown by trees and shrubs, a dappled sunlit day with some protection most of the way, walking in shadows cast by the trees.
I think this used to be the station at Shotley Bridge.
The line was built quite high on the valley side giving views looking north over each village we passed. the first after Shotley Bridge being Ebchester which boasts a Roman fort and a convent established by Ebba of Coldingham who also had a convent or abbey at St. Abbs in Scotland. St Abbs Head is a walk well worth doing too!
Looking North from the railway walk.
After about four miles we called a Herbie (Titans, cookies and carrot cake) enjoying the view and sharing one of the many benches on the route.
We were now in Red Kite territory. Dave, who knows more about birds than your average member of the RSPB said, understandably, that it was probably too hot for most birds to be out hunting. But in the distance I spotted what I thought was a kite. My suspicion was proved to be correct by the man with binoculars. (Note to self, carry yours too).
View from one of the several viaducts crossed on the walk.
Lunch over we continued slowly downhill. still protected from the sun by trees, until we reached the village of Rowlands Gill. We waited at the bus stop for about five minutes before climbing aboard for the ride back to Newcastle.
For a gentle walk this is ideal but today it was most unusual. We were passed by a number of cyclists, most with bells, but we saw nobody with a dog. And this on a route that is usually very popular with canine lovers. The first dog we saw was on the metro at Newcastle Central Station.
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