Cycling Underwater

This week I have been cycling underwater. This is something I have wanted to do for a year or so and it was on my bucket list of things to achieve before I pop my clogs or...kick the bucket. Anyway, I have done it now, so that is one less thing I need to do before I die.

This particular desire arose after I heard of a purpose built cycle tunnel under the River Clyde. I then found one existed under the River Tyne too. Well, as I am a regular visitor to the Newcastle area I decided to make cycling the Tyne a priority and this week I got to do it.

I cycled the 25 miles or so down from Morpeth, joining National Cycle Route One just south of Blyth and followed the coast along through Whitley Bay and onto Tynemouth. I found the tunnel entrance off a non descript road and made a trip from the north side at Howden to Jarrow on the south before retracing my route. Of course I have made a video.

Please note. Will not play on mobile devices. Sorry

The cycle tunnel is actually one of two parallel tunnels, the other being for pedestrians. The Tunnels are grade 2 listed buildings and were opened in 1951 in time for the Festival of Britain. These are two of three which form the Tyne Tunnel Project which includes the original road tunnel completed in 1967. The whole project was actually concieved in 1937 but WW2 kind of delayed things a bit. 

At each end of the cycle and pedestrian tunnels are two escalators and a lift. The escalators have 306 wooden steps each and are the original models from 1951. These escalators remain the longest wooden escalators in the World but when I visited only one was working, as was only one of the much more modern lifts. There are plans to update the escalators, making one at each end into a kind of funicular lift while overhauling the remaining ones and keeping them for reasons of heritage.

It is obvious the vision behind these tunnels stems from a time when the car was not supreme and there was serious infrastructure provison for cyclists and pedestrians. The tunnels are certainly dated but are charming none the less. I think they are great slice of England - visionary but a little past thier glory days.

I can't be the only one who likes them because, despite the loss of much of the shipbuilding workforce who originally used the tunnels, 20,000 trips are still made through them each month. This number is split pretty equally between pedestrians and cyclists and is slowly increasing. 

Now, when can I arrange a trip to Glasgow to cycle under the Clyde?