bridge | northumbrian : light

The rains came …

Posted on February 13, 2022 by northumbrianlight

It has been a quiet week at Beaufront Woodhead. A mixed weather pattern, but regardless of sunshine or rain there was always a bitter wind. The good news is that the rain was sufficiently heavy that by the time I took the Scrambler out on Friday, the roads were so mud free the bike didn’t really need a clean – regardless, I did – it’s an affliction.

For much of the last seven days I have been reminded of the downside of self-publishing books – the seemingly endless PR tasks and the distribution. Fortunately or otherwise, order volumes have never become overwhelming. Currently the dining room tables hides a multitude of boxes now containing slightly less than the original 1000 books. I look forward to the day when the stored books can be counted in tens rather than hundreds, by which time I may have dreamt up another book. It’s another affliction.

The highlight of the week was attending the Liberal Golf Society AGM and dinner and collecting the magnificent 1902 Rowe Trophy and Silver Salver. Much of last year’s golfing success must be attributed to the new World Handicap System and the generous rating applied to Allendale golfers. I will not bore non-golfers with the explanation but golfers will understand. Somebody in England Golf thought Allendale is easy – a relatively short, 9-hole course, what can be hard about that. Just try it and you will find out.

Straight on to Plashetts, right to Bavington.
Another Monday ride out where the roads were mostly dry, but icy where they were not.

Near the entrance to The Shield – Kirkwhelpington

To Allenheads on a dreich day – spot the owl, then spot the duck.

At Baddox between Warden and Fourstones on the south side of the Tyne

Mud and a bitter wind – sufficient to keep me off the bikes.

At Wark (rhymes with dark) – a short ride to the Post Office on the Scrambler – easier to park than in Hexham – and the roads were bone-dry and clean!

Hexham, on another cold and blustery February Saturday.

The Rowe Trophy dating from 1902, it stands 21 inches on its plinth. Presented by the Liberal Golf Society at the dinner and AGM on Friday, I am mighty pleased it now bears my name.

A last ride out …

Posted on March 24, 2020 by northumbrianlight

… probably for some time, unless I start shopping for essentials on two wheels. These were taken yesterday, on a trip into Northumberland designed to avoid almost everyone and everything. Hexham to Cambo can be done via B roads and from there it was a circular trip around Harwood Forest.

From door to door it was exactly seventy miles and I hardly saw a soul – these roads are empty, virus or no virus.

Wallington Bridge

Harwood Forest

Harwood Forest – somewhere near the ‘U’ in Rothbury

This final image shows the railway bridge to the left at Scots’ Gap and the converted station buildings to the right. Sited about midway between Redesmouth and Morpeth on the Wansbeck Railway, the line closed in 1952. According to Disused Stations: The station opened as Scots Gap on 23rd July 1862 being renamed Scotsgap in October 1903. The station was poorly equipped as a junction with no branch bays and a single platform on the down side. The station building was solidly built of local stone with a stone signal box at the east end. The station had two parallel loops with two sidings on the north side. There were three short spurs, one serving a locomotive turntable. The outermost siding served a goods platform and cattle dock and a goods warehouse.

Scots’ Gap

Just some places …

Posted on August 5, 2019 by northumbrianlight

… the bikes have taken me in the last few days in search of images. The old rolling stock being put to an agricultural use sits in a field above Allendale. Thorneyburn is way over yonder in the minor key – between Bellingham and Kielder. Linnels Bridge and the Mill are on the road between Hexham and Slaley. The transport for most of this can be seen in the last. What an unpredictable summer it has been.

Old rolling stock

The gates at Thorneyburn

A cross at Thorneyburn

The Mill at Linnels Bridge

Linnels Bridge

Above Allendale and Catton

Corbridge and snow …

Posted on February 6, 2018 by northumbrianlight

Winter has returned, or maybe it never went away. Certainly the conditions in far north Wick were milder but I doubt that still holds true. This is just a small collection of images taken in and around Corbridge earlier today – I have processed them differently but they all come out the same – cold:

St Andrew’s Church graveyard, Corbridge

Umbrella time – Corbridge Post Office

Who cares about the weather, as long as we’re together.

The from the bridge looking east down the Tyne.

Mike Anton Estate Agents, Corbridge

Northumberland, Personal, Photography, Railways, Writing

Out and about …

Gallery | Posted on July 11, 2016 by northumbrianlight

… in Hexham. It will be September before we start travelling again so the summer months will be based at home: playing golf, putting miles on the motorbikes and keeping up with the endless maintenance tasks that are part and parcel of owning a converted cow byre. This year we are experimenting with changing the colour of the external woodwork, something I may live to regret.

Although we live in the country, almost everything you need is within a few miles drive, in the local towns of Hexham and Corbridge. Everything else is available on the Internet. The problem is that these last few weeks, Hexham has moved several miles further away. The main access from north of the Tyne has been severed while essential repairs have been carried out to the railway bridge. It can be quite pleasant wandering the much less crowded streets but it has done local businesses no favours. In no particular order, these are some of the images captured around the town over the last week: