To Stockton-on-Tees

July 18, 2024

After the drama of the last two weeks today’s ride was a welcome change of pace - a relaxed, easy, pleasant cruise, one of the most enjoyable we had recently. A time to take it easy, enjoy the ride, be glad for the weather, wave back at skipping children and riders on horseback, and thank the good people at Sustrans for showing us an acceptable course through sprawling, gritty Middlesbrough and across the surprisingly wide Tees. We’ll try to remember this the next time we’re tempted to curse them out for steering us onto some muddy, rutted, rocky mess (thinking of the Cinder Track here).

Is there anything else to say here, or shall we just cut it short and look at the video and the few pics we stopped for? Well, I guess we should say a few things about today’s destination, which counts as something of a disappointment. We arrived in Stockton-on-Tees in time for a reasonable Italian meal by the riverside and then moved on to the comfortable room we booked at the Hampden Inn. That was all fine enough, but I can’t say that either of us was too inspired by the place. The Infinity Bridge has its appeal, and it was nice to see that there were dragon boat races on the river today; but I was fine with enjoying the action at a distance through peek in that direction from the window of our room. Rachael, more energetic or driven than me, did make it out for a walk along the river and down to the bridge after we were settled in but came back unimpressed. She was especially frustrated by how torn up from construction work much of the way was, and said she even felt uncomfortable and insecure by some of the street scenes she walked through.

Which is fine. Not everyplace can be like Whitby or Saltburn or Scarborough or the other stunners we’ve stayed at or passed through recently, and Stockton is well placed for us as a stopover. No complaints, but no rave recommendation either. In retrospect I wish we had stuck with our original plan of bending around the mouth of the Tees and back to the coast at Hartlepoole. It definitely looks like a more attractive place to stay, but we shied away from it and rebooked ourselves when weather forecasts were looking poor and we wanted to stay closer to a train line.

I’m surprised that I didn’t stop for a single photograph until late into the ride. It’s a good thing Rachael had her GoPro working.

Nice, but if I stopped myself here and there we could be looking at something else than me from time to time.

Finally here’s something completely different: the Tees Newport Bridge, a lift bridge from 1934. It’s too bad we’re too close up to it for a good shot.

The view down to the mouth of the Tees. After crossing so many small waterways that call themselves rivers, it’s startling to see a real one.

The Infinity Bridge, or at least half an infinity. We’ll get a better idea of the concept in the morning.

Dragon boat racing on the Tees, enjoyed from the comfort of our room.

Video sound track: Dragonfly, by Yasmin Williams

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Today's ride: 19 miles (31 km)
Total: 2,771 miles (4,459 km)

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Annette SchneiderLoved the skipping mother/daughter captured early in Rachael's video.
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3 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Annette SchneiderYou saw that! That was the highlight of the ride for us. It was lucky too, because we had just missed our turn. We wouldn’t have passed them otherwise.
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3 months ago