Middlesbrough to Guisborough: E2 Day 65

Another long day but an interesting one with industrial sights, cafes and ridge top views.

Returning to the Teesdale Way through the terraced streets of Middlesbrough I stopped at a cafe for a breakfast coffee. No menu was visible so I just had a latte. Other men came in and greeted the man serving with the Arabic  "Salam". They had something served with flatbread. Although it looked attractive I was still full from the pizza and cookie dough dessert I had yesterday so I did not investigate. 

There were two large roundabouts to negotiate today, with long waits for the "green man" at each of the several lanes of traffic I had to cross. I had imagined the north east to be less prosperous than it once was in Britain's industrial heyday, but the volume of traffic suggested plenty of activity. On the opposite side of the river from the Teesdale Way I could see the large Billingham chemical works, still in operation although no longer as part of ICI, a great British company that has ceased to exist. I was curious about the purpose of some of the huge structures, but could find nothing to educate me from a brief internet search. One of the great monuments to engineering on this section of river was the Tees Transporter bridge. Similar to one in Newport, Wales, vehicles are carried over the river on a gondola suspended by cables from a trolley than ran along a structure of girders bridging the river high above the water. Unfortunately it was closed for due to structural issues, hopefully it will one day return to operation. Other riverside sights included a seal sculpture and a much larger work of art consisting of two huge metal rings joined by a network of wires. Less abstract were the representations of large dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles in Teessaurus Park. The Port of Middlesbrough looked busy enough. I was curious about a vessel with a helideck, it was so high up at the bow that I wondered how stable it would be even in moderate seas.

Tees Transporter Bridge, not showing the gondola that hangs below the main span as the bridge was sadly closed when I walked by.

Stegosarous in undergrowth of Middlesbrough.

Leaving the Teesdale Way several miles before it ended at Redcar, I turned onto the Tees Link. This links to the Cleveland Way National Trail which I reached at the end of the afternoon. At first the Tees Link ran by car showrooms (and the Tees café where I enjoyed an egg and sausage roll) but soon it followed a green corridor of land between housing. Progressively I eased from an urban landscape to a rural one with birds twittering in nearby hawthorn bushes. Initially the route was strewn with litter, dog poo and bags of dog poo hung on branches but in time I reached a wooded hillside by my third café of the day (Coke and Magnum ice cream). There were plenty of dogs about, not always attentive to their owners repeated commands. I would have liked to have petted them but thought this would only encourage their errant behaviour. 

As I climbed large areas of Middlesbrough and surrounding towns came into view. I was transfixed by the emerging vistas reaching a summit with a splendid panorama, spread out in front of me under regions of sunlight and shade made by clouds drifting across the sky. Unfortunately the summit was not on my route. Returning to the path added an extra kilometre or so to my day.

View down to Redcar.

Dropping down to the valley beyond I joined a trail running along a railway line shut down by the infamous Beeching cuts of the 1960's. My fourth café (coffee and scone) was in a nature reserve visitor centre by an old station. Nearby there were several large animals carved out of wood. A few kilometres beyond that I had a dilemma. My digital resources showed two different routes for the Tees Link. I vacillated between the two and a third option of taking the shortest route to my accommodation for the night. Rather arbitrarily I picked one of the Link routes that took me steeply up to a ridge. A sign later showed me it was the wrong choice. I consoled myself that it was not any shorter than the correct route, although probably less muddy. Both options took me to an outcrop of rock, high on the hillside, where I joined the Cleveland Way and entered the North York Moors National Park. For the next hour or two I followed the ridgeline with splendid views down to Guisborough, Redcar with its industry and the sea with its wind turbines. As I did not want to climb up the ridge again in the morning I followed it to where it lost height, well to the east of the Inn where I had booked to stay. This meant I ended the day with a trudge back to Guisborough making my day another rather long and tiring one.