Tyne Bridges - how many?

What a change of scene we had today. We met city friends Marion and Ken at their front door and they took us on a guided 5 mile city walk.

We walked to the start of one of the Waggonways leading down to the Tyne, passing the Byker Wall before reaching St Peters Basin now a marina with swanky flats, shops, coffee shops etc. From there we walked up the Tyne as far as the Millennium bridge where we turned back. It was wonderfully sunny and there was no cold wind.

We walked up the Ouseburn past the device erected to stop the tidal surge. It has never worked and there was severe flooding all the way upstream to the underground culvert some years ago. We saw Seven Srories (a children’s book resource) and the Byker Farm with a sow about to farrow then went under three tall bridges high above - a modern metro one, an old rail one and a road one. When we reached the culvert we climbed up steps to reach “the stadium”, an open bit of ground under which who knows what is buried. Then we were almost back at their house so we walked to Heaton Park where we had our picnic lunch. It was a great walk and not at all busy - it’s the first day out of lockdown so all the shops were open. I expect everyone was in Eldon Square.

We learned a lot about the city and the buildings, in particular Frank West Rich, the architect who designed many of the late 19th century buildings, including Ouseburn School, Jesmond Dene House and the Turnbull Building where #2 daughter used to live. He was consultant to William
Armstrong the inventor and armaments manufacturer as well as ship and bridge builder. He had Cragside, the NT property near our house.