Captain's Log

Northumberlandia

I’d just explored the Northumberlandia Sculpture, the Lady of the North (see Captain’s Log, Northumberland Northumberlandia). It had been an interesting 2 mile walk up and around the great Lady’s features. I’d had a great view from the viewing point on the top of her head. At 100 feet high, it offered an extensive panorama of the surrounding area. On my visit in 2019, I’d looked north and about half a mile away, I saw a massive opencast mine with huge dumper trucks rumbling along full of coal. In fact, the Northumberlandia sculpture was created by some of the spoil from the mine. Today looking north, I could see only fields. The mine had finished production and they’d returned the area to fields. It was hard to believe; the mine had seemed so permanent. I wondered if there was any part of the mine that still existed. Looking at the map, I formulated a plan to walk a fairly short circuit that would take me to the north so that I could take a closer look. The day was very grey, but at least it wasn’t raining. Yet. I set off on the circuit. 

The Circuit

I walked along a wide track that headed westwards towards the noisy A1. I’d guess that a lot of the surrounding area had previously been subject to opencast mining and had now been returned to fields. The fields that I passed looked more scrubland than agricultural. I reached a couple of small lakes. I wasn’t totally sure whether these were temporary, due to the recent rain, or intentional features. The track was muddy and I wished I’d put my gaiters on. There were quite a few birds about, but it was gloomy and they were too far away for me to identify them. I recognised some Oystercatchers though that were feeding at one of the flooded areas. The track approached the A1 and then diverted away in the direction of where I’d seen the mine works in 2019. It seemed weird  to see that scene of opencast devastation converted to fields. I couldn’t see any evidence of any part of the mine being there. The map indicated that the buildings I could see were chemical industrial units. Nothing to see here. I headed back southwards towards Northumberlandia along a stone track. 

I saw a small murmuration of birds, but they were too far away to see what they were. During my approach to Northumberlandia, I saw a couple of passenger jets travelling east to west to land at Newcastle airport. The jets were low and appeared to fly along Northumberlandia’s human features. It seemed rather surreal.  I reached a tarmac road that ran parallel to Northumbalandia’s body. It looked like it must have been a public road at some time, since there were 20mph speed signs painted on the tarmac. Maybe it had just been used by  the mining company. Cramlington airfield used to be in the area between here and the industrial units to the north. I followed the tarmac road to its eastern end and then made my way back to the Northumberlandia sculpture area. 

It had taken me about 90 minutes  to do the full circuit and I popped back into the café for a caffeine top-up. Northumbalandia sculpture park was definitely worth a visit. Given the number of people I met walking around the place, it is popular too. It’s certainly a curiosity. To be honest, apart from the exercise, my route around the surrounding area didn’t offer that much extra. Admittedly I had caught it on a grey, dull day. At least it didn’t rain…will I be so lucky over the next 5 days on my Northumbrian campaign?