Across the river on The Transporter.

Cyclocross bike ride.

On The Transporter to Hartlepool Marina.

Alone

Friday 13th March route.

The warm weather off late has reverted to cold, grey and drizzly but not having had a leg over a crossbar three days something had to be done. A BNQ (before nights quicky) which generally involves the just me and the cross bike, today was no different other deciding to ride to Hartlepool via The Transporter bridge. For those who are not aware The Transporter, generally abbreviated to The Tranny, is basically a small car park hung beneath a bridge structure, with side compartments for foot passengers and cyclists, at set intervals it crosses the Tees from Middlesbrough on the south bank to Port Clarence on the north side and back. Recently reopened following a lengthy overhaul, it's a popular route to and from Middlesbrough, omitting several miles of driving. The sides of the gondola have been replaced with clear glass, giving foot passengers and cyclists an uninterrupted view of the river. The structure is often utilised for zip lines, abseiling and bungee jumps for those of an adventurous nature. More information regarding this most iconic of Teesside structures may be found here.

My route began with another local landmark, Newport Bridge and followed the south bank off the river, predominantly on a riverside track, to The Transporter. After a brief wait, we were loaded up and crossing the river at a stately four miles per hour, taking in the view, the modernist Temenos sculpture contrasting with the rotting hulk of an old floating nightclub, both set against the backdrop of Middlesbrough's Riverside stadium. In other directions, industry still lines the banks, slowly returning jobs to the area, although nothing like the glory days of the shipyard.  When I left school there were three choices for most people, ICI, British Steel or the shipyard, promising jobs for life, all now nothing but memories.

The road through the marshes at Saltholme is busy and exposed to the wind, utilised by a lot of heavy goods vehicles and riding is not a pleasant experience, especially into an uncharacteristic north easterly. A brief stop at Greatham Creek to check out the seals, laid on the mudflats or leaping through the water like dolphins, another of Teesside's success stories. A breeding area for over 80 seals, numbers which have increased steadily since the late eighties when the first seals arrived after an absence of over a century. The Teesmouth nature reserve, of which Greatham Creek is a part, is amazingly popular, predominantly with bird watchers despite being a most unlikely nature reserve, surrounded by chemical works and the remnants of heavy industry.

Thankfully leaving the main road just after Graythorpe, I took the bridleway crossing the golf links, a solid but rough and bumpy track made, like a lot of this area, from slag - a stony waste product from the steel industry. I can still remember seeing lorries loaded with slag, still hot and steaming, tipping into the estuary at low tide to form paths and dykes between the sand dunes. The much more amenable riding on the promenade from Seaton Canoe to Hartlepool Marina was against a headwind but returning the same way would give me the benefit of a tailwind. A quick breather at the marina and I was on the return leg, up Seaton Lane into Hartlepool, then Greatham and the bridleway past the sewage works into the outskirts of Billingham on a mixture of cycle tracks and quiet roads. A couple more miles on the road, passing the chemical factory which gives me the money and the time off to be able to idle days away riding bikes around the countryside, and I was home.