True Lovers' Walk - Good Fences 48

The River Tees runs through the town of Yarm in North East England. It's about a three mile walk from where I live.

River Tees at Yarm

The Teesside Princess uses this quay for boat trips up and down the river between Yarm and Stockton-on-Tees.

The red fence extends part of the way along the river bank.

The footpath continues alongside the wall on the left leading to True Lover's Walk and Yarm Bridge (in the background above).

Yarm Bridge (in front) - Yarm Viaduct (behind)

There is a fence in that photo but you need exceptional eyesight to see it.

Hard to miss this one on the raised path.

If we take a closer look the fence on the viaduct is easy to see.

Yarm Bridge and Viaduct

The original stone bridge was built c1400 by Bishop Skirlaw of Durham and for 400 years was the only bridge across the Tees connecting Yorkshire and Durham. Parts of the original can still be seen in the wider modern day bridge which carries road traffic over the Tees

Yarm, the Viaduct and the Bridge

The viaduct was built in 1849; it has 43 arches, contains 7 million bricks and carries the railway over the town and the Tees. Our fence must skirt its entire length.

True Lovers' Walk continues upstream under the viaduct with the flood defence gates to properties on the left.

I shall have to continue along the path on another day to see what other 

I can find.

In the meantime I'm off to check out other fence posts at Teresa's Good-Fences-48.

Large Structures - Thematic Photography

When working at Rosenberg Verft in Stavanger. Norway in the 1980s I was involved with the construction of a large structure which was to become the Statfjord B platform in the North Sea. The topside structure was built on dummy concrete leg supports at the Rosenberg yard.

Statfjord B Deck

To give you an idea of scale, the white living quarters at the right is 7 stories high.

The height of the deck from the concrete legs to the top of the drilling derrick in the centre of the picture below was 171m, if my memory is correct.

Statfjord B Deck

The concrete storage cells and the four concrete legs were slip formed and subsequently outfitted at Gandsfjord also in Stavanger.

Statfjord B Gravity Base Structure

The storage cell (effectively below the water line in this shot) are 23m in diameter and 64m high; four of the 24 cells are extended by the  111m high legs.

The deck structure was mated with legs at a deep water site at Vats, before the completed platform seen below was towed out to its position in the Norwegian North Sea. The concrete cells sit on the sea bed with most of the four legs also submerged..

By comparison the barrage across the River Tees at Stockton is a much more modest affair, but impressive nevertheless.

Tees Barrage with the river in flood.

You have seen shots of the next structure before but as it's from my local town I'll show it again.

Yarm Viaduct

For more large structures you need to check out the links at Carmi's Thematic-photographic-262.

A Plague of Plaques - Sepia Saturday

My local town of  Yarm has a plethora of plaques, just right for the challenge Marilyn has set us for this week with this plaque of Pasteur treating a boy with a rabies.vaccine.

You may have seen a number of the photos in the post but not all at once.

Taking a tour of the town along West Street, travelling north, the first blue plaque you see is one on a building wall.

Blue Plaque - Hauxwell's

A modern photo but as you can surmise the building is much older, even though now it has been turned into flats.

Hauxwell's - in the morning sun.

Further down the street you come to an older site.

Hope House - 14th Century

And the house itself dwarfed by the arches.

Hope House - with viaduct above.

Across on the opposite is the church yard with this plaque on the wall.

Thomas Conyers Free Grammar School

When we moved to Yarm in the 1970s my elder son was to attend Yarm Grammar School in another part of the town which had replaced the one demolished. By the time my younger son reached the age to attend. The PC brigade had had the Yarm Grammar closed and replaced by a comprehensive school - named Conyers. Later Yarm Independent School took over the Old Grammar School and built new premises in the grounds of a former engineering firm's headquarters, which further back had once been a friarage. My daughter became one of the first six girls to attend Yarm School in the Sixth Form.

I've mentioned the viaduct already and you will have noticed it in both the Hauxwell and Hope House shots. The viaduct has a plaque of its own.

Leeds & Northern Railway Company's Viaduct

I won't ask you to count the bricks; it's easier to count the arches

Yarm Viaduct

At the left of the picture you can also see a bridge crossing the River Tees - it has a plaque of its own.

Yarm Bridge Plaque

And the bridge brickwork itself - 

Yarm Bridge (west side)

I could go on but it's time for a drink and where better to stop than at the: 

George & Dragon

It has some plaques, of course.

Stockton & Darlington Railway and Coaching House Plaques.

Unfortunately you cannot catch a train or a coach to take you to other venues on Sepia-Saturday-184.

Curvaceous - Thematic Photography

When I saw Carmi's theme of "Curvaceous" my first thoughts turned to topless beauties and a favourite goddess of mine.

Gaia - Tresco Abbey Gardens

Still on Tresco on the Isles of Scilly it was the curve of the beach that caught my eye, with the solitary figure of my son, totally unaware of the camera's presence.

Not quite deserted

Nearer home in North Yorkshire I found a harbour empty except for the sea, its curvaceous mouth waiting for ships to arrive.

Whitby Harbour

Even nearer home are the curves I see each week, just some of a total of 43.

Yarm Viaduct

To ogle over more curvaceous beauties don't forget to cross over to Carmi's thematic-photographic-248.

Multiples - Thematic Photography

One of the things I like about the weekly challenge set by Carmi is that it makes you look at your photos in a different way. This week it's "Multiples" and although I could take a shot of the multiple snowflakes falling as I write,  it's easier to raid my archives again.

Birds figure on Carmi's shot used as the prompt; I'm starting with birds as well.

Beechwood Rookery - 2011

The rooks were making quite a din when I walked by earlier today when there was many more birds to see and hear. Not as many though as in my next shots taken on the Isles of Scilly.

Gulls on Tresco - August 2008

If ten is not enough, look what happened when I move to a different vantage point.

Tresco Gulls (and multiple cattle too)

Back in Bristol you might need to take this shot with a pinch of salt.

Barrel Store on Quayside for SS Great Britain

Meanwhile in my local town you can find multiple arches in a half-mile stretch, far more than in this photo.

Yarm - Railway Viaduct

That completes my repertoire for this week. For multiple more multiples check out Thematic-photographic-230.

Banging My Head Against A Brick Wall - Thematic Photography

Every time I sit down at my computer and am stuck for what to write I know it's no use banging my head against the wall. I just look out of the window and this is what I see.

Brick Wall

The house next door used to a farm house and this wall is the one from which I cannot escape - beautiful on this sunny November day.

Farm House Wall

If there are not enough bricks and mortar in that for you, you could check out my earlier post  Yarm-viaduct - there's 43 million bricks in that.

January snow - and the butressed wall

Another wall with my 'office' window

I shown shots of Yarm Town hall before and possibly even this which besides a plaque contains more bricks and mortar.

South African War Memorial

Then let's take a look at the oldest brick building of any note still standing in England.

Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex

(By 6matl - CC-BY-SA-3.0)

 

If by now you are tired of bricks and mortar I suppose it's time for me to sign off with one last shot.

Sundial on cottage in Kirklevington

If you still want more bricks and mortar then I suggest you check other walls and bang your head against them at Carmi's Thematic Photographic 169

Yarm Viaduct

Whenever I look at this aerial photo of the town of Yarm in North Yorkshire it seems the wrong way round.

Yarm

That's because if you live south of the town, as I do, you come into the High Street from the right as you look at the picture. 

At the left you can see Yarm Bridge just beyond the viaduct. The bridge was built in 1400 way before the young whippersnapper that now dominates the town.

Blue Plaque

I've never attempted to count the arches but even these details do not prepare you for the size of the thing.

Yarm Bridge with the Viaduct behind

Crossing the River Tees

The Viaduct was built to extend the Leeds and Thirsk Railway from Northallerton to Stockton and Hartlepool; the line eventually being extended to Newcastle as part of the Leeds Northern Railway.

Engineers and Contractors who built the Viaduct

Cars look like toys beside the structure as it bestrides the town.

The red roof at the left of this picture is Hope House which I have shown before.

Hope House

 

 

 

 

 

Viaduct (At top of Bentley Wynd)

I've never succeeded in getting a shot of the viaduct in use so I've had to borrow one/

Freight Train on Viaduct

Photographer - Ian Britton (ex www.freefoto.com)

(Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works)