Steam and the Angel
Jul. 24th, 2011 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustToday's walk was more of an excursion: we went to the Bowes Railway to see the engines in steam. The Bowes Railway is one of the earliest of the many mineral lines in the north east, and "the only operational preserved standard gauge rope-hauled railway in the world" - which I think means that for much of the original route of the line, the incline was so great that the waggons had to be hauled uphill. The enthusiasts who now run the railway have workshops, exhibition space and a stretch of line, so that they can run steam trains to and fro without impeding anyone else's schedule.
We spent a happy morning taking a steam-hauled ride along the track, and admiring all the engines (I have already started to upload photos, but I took many more). I was particularly taken with my namesake:
A steamroller called "Ayesha", the original She-who-must-be-obeyed - it makes perfect sense - and she was a lovely machine, all smooth action and apparently effortless power.
We walked from here to the Angel of the North, a mixture of footpaths and suburban streets and downhill all the way, and then further down into the valley, mostly on pleasant wooded paths but always too close to the main road for comfort - and knowing, as the afternoon grew sunnier, that it would be a long hot haul back uphill to our starting point. I don't think we walked very far, and it had its moments of interest, but all in all a bit of a slog, and we were glad that the beer tent was still open when we reached the railway, and there was time for a cool Beamish summer ale before we returned home.
We spent a happy morning taking a steam-hauled ride along the track, and admiring all the engines (I have already started to upload photos, but I took many more). I was particularly taken with my namesake:
A steamroller called "Ayesha", the original She-who-must-be-obeyed - it makes perfect sense - and she was a lovely machine, all smooth action and apparently effortless power.
We walked from here to the Angel of the North, a mixture of footpaths and suburban streets and downhill all the way, and then further down into the valley, mostly on pleasant wooded paths but always too close to the main road for comfort - and knowing, as the afternoon grew sunnier, that it would be a long hot haul back uphill to our starting point. I don't think we walked very far, and it had its moments of interest, but all in all a bit of a slog, and we were glad that the beer tent was still open when we reached the railway, and there was time for a cool Beamish summer ale before we returned home.
