Our fake Banksy

It was an early start in pouring rain for the 7.45 bus to town with Suzie, Vivienne, Susie and Alison. The others in the group went by shared cars.

We walked the half hour from the bus station down Grey Street and along the Quayside to the Cycle Hub where the others were already having a coffee. Vivienne said we should do her “orientation Walk” so that those in the group (now 19 of us) who didn’t know the area could see where things were. It was a quick tramp up the Ouseburn going past 7 Stories (near where I spotted the Blip) then over the bridge and a short way to the place our Victorian Tunnel Tour, the purpose of our visit, started at 10.30.

We had a safety briefing, got our hard hats - it was only 6’ in the middle - and a torch. We waled just less than a mile through the tunnel. It was an interesting tour with explanations of why it was built (a quick way to get coal from the colliery on rails to the Tyne from where it was transported south by boat) and how it was built in under 3 years by navvies digging out the clay which was used to make bricks to line the tunnel. They needed more clay as it took 2.2 million bricks.

It fell into disuse when the mine was no longer viable, till WWII when up to 9000 people used it as an air raid shelter. There were some bunks for key workers, and seats along the sides but most had to stand. Conditions were so bad - it was apparently the worse shelter in UK - someone came from London to assess it. They were told by the users it was “better damp than dead”. The authorities decided the locals were used to “being down mines” so had to put up with it.

The tour lasted 1.5 hours after which we walked up to Ernest’s cafe where we had a room to ourselves. The food was delicious. I had a roast veg and hummus plate with a poached egg. (Well it was a long time since breakfast!).

After that some went back to have a look round Seven Stories while I went with some others for a quick look around the Biscuit Factory, which sells beautiful art, ceramics and jewellery.

I dashed for the bus home which turned out to be unnecessary as it was 20 minutes late. (Some were coming on a later bus but a 10 hour day was long enough for me!)

FaceTime with Chloe and Graham tonight.