by The large northern Koalfield once made the raw fuel available, which Great Britain started through the industrial revolution. For over two centuries, coal from the mines of Durham and Northumberland was driven down a labyrinth of cars and railway lines to the coast in order to be shipped to London.
The mines are long gone, but eight miles north of Durham City, relics of the industrial heritage of the northeast are hidden in the middle of the old forest and a steep gorge.
I trust parts of this area from childhood walks and teenagers, but my eight miles of circular route combines important historical sites and ends in a pub with links to the Napoleonic wars.
My journey into the past begins on Eden Place, a picnic area near the village of Beamish on the spot of an old terrace of the miners’ houses. I went along a disused railway path that was a busy line until 1985 that the Consett Steelworks connected with Sunderland. It is also part of the C2C cycle path to the Irish lake to the North Sea C2C cycle. In search of some loneliness, I transfer on a parallel route through the malicious hell hole forests. In fact, they are a pleasure when I was blinded by the stain after a strong wild garlic in full flower.
After the route has led over fields and a few streets, she arrives on the Tanfield Railway – who claims to be the oldest railway in the world. It was built in 1725 by the Grand Allies, an union of Colliery ownership families, as a horse-wagon road to carry coal from inland pits to the Tyne, and later became a railway line. Since the closure in 1964, enthusiasts have brought a three-mile department back to life, and vintage steam trains have now brought visitors between East Tanfield station, where I am, and Marley Hill.
The train station houses a tea room while a motor scales show old cards that show how the rail lines adopted the area. It is tempting to cancel my route and take the six-mile back and return trip to Marley Hill, but I want to see the most dramatic part of the walk.
A path from the parking lot that is signposted to the Causey Bogen leads to Woods and soon walk along a steep gorge. Woodland has covered this area for centuries, and when I look down at the stream in the dark, it feels ridiculously distracted – until the spell is interrupted by the roll of a locomotive that chug along the other side along the other side.
About half an hour after leaving Tanfield, a huge bridge over the Dene (valley) comes in sight. This is Causey Arch, which proudly announces a note of note, the oldest surviving single-arch-Reisenbahnbrücke in the world. In 1725, the Grand Allies commissioned the local stonemason Ralph Wood to span the gorge. He turned to his design of Roman technology and when the original wooden bridge fell apart, it was carved in stone. But the local legend says that Wood, because he feared a second breakdown, committed suicide by threw himself from the top of his construction. After the restoration in the 1980s, the bridge is still almost 300 years later.
A hint proudly attacks that Causey Arch is the oldest surviving one-Arch span of the world’s railway bridge
I walk over the top to join a few other hikers who exhibit an old car before I went down a steep path to the bottom of the gorge. Here, a pedestrian bridge offers the best view of the perfect arch, which is framed by the trees when it rises majestically 24 meters above the burn.
As I go on, I start hearing screaming; Then there is a wall of rain stainy, yellow sandstone in sight. This is Causey Quarry, a popular rock and place where I learned the basics of rope work many years ago. I make a short traverse over the muddy ground for the old days and easily shudder when I remember the rocks of my youth.
A huge artificial stailler leads to an urgently needed stop in the Poppy Coffee Pot Cafe in the Causey car park. With cake I attach to a Bradleway, part of the 80-mile tyne and wear Heritage Way before I drive a distance called Coppy Lane into the open landscape. This finally turns downhill, and briefly the roof tiles of the Beamish Hall appear to the local land owners for centuries.
Related: “The railway that brought the world on the right track”: a walk through 200 years of history in County Durham
The current hall started in the 19th century in the 13th century as a fortified farmhouse, and former residents belong to the family of the former Prime Minister Anthony Eden. It is now a hotel, and when I walk after a closer look, his well -kept lawns offer a welcome break from the rough traces in the forest (twice from £ 92). The old stables now house both a restaurant and the Coach House Cafe, which offers afternoon tea, but I feel a bit too tasty to sit down with delicious cakes and sandwiches, and so on on my route.
With only occasional dog hikers for society, it is hard to imagine that this area was a beehive of industrial activity in the early 19th century
This is now clinging to the ray (stream), and when I turn to a hill, I start to hear a voice plates, then the rattling and the thing of a bell when a tram moves over the skyline. I hadn’t noticed that I had the Beamish Open-Air Museum, a huge 140 hectare location (350 hectares), which had devoted itself to the preservation of life in the northeast, which was crowned last week that was dedicated to the museum of the art fund of the year.
With only occasional dog hikers for society, it is hard to imagine that this area was a beehive of industrial activity at the beginning of the 19th century and had a paper mill and iron forging, one of which had the call to “occupy the finest cannon in England”. Shortly after the transition from Flint Mühle, I enter Ousbrough Wood, a place of nature conservation, the old trees and a needle tree plantation that provided PIT frequency for the mines at a time.
There are countless paths through the oak and the silver birch, and I occasionally take a wrong curve and look back my steps to return to the route of the heir. There are some steep people, but finally the path puts me on a country road. I turned left and after I built a number of poor houses in 1863, I arrived in the pub.
The Shepherd & Shepherdess dates from the 18th century and gets its name from two life -size painted lead figures above the original door. The story states that this date from the Napoleonic wars when a French blockade in the lead meant that these metal figures were smuggled as “works of art” in Great Britain in order to melt for weapons. These two were saved by one in the Beamish Hall and finally ended up in the pub.
Whatever the story may be, they make a beautiful historical note for this fine hostel, completely with an open fire in winter and a menu with a stable pub. This includes lasagna, seaside bass and fish and chips as well as good vegetarian and gluten -free options. However, my eye is attracted to the local delicacy of Corned Beef and potato cake served with greens, fries and sauce. Accompanied by a pint of your own barrel-Ale of the pub, this is the perfect after-walk food in the strict country.
