The 4.5 mile Consett Heritage Trail was set up by The Genesis Project, an organisation formed after the closure of the steelworks to help regenerate Consett by encouraging new businesses and creating employment opportunities, enabling the building of new housing and retail stores, and greatly improving the natural environment and providing opportunities for recreation on land not suitable for building. The Trail has mostly good quality gravel paths and fairly easy gradients and is a great way to explore how the natural environment has recovered from the devastation caused by 116 years of steelworks’ operation.

12 of us set off from Lydgetts car park on 31st October, one of the few dry days in October. The autumn colours were spectacular, at their mid-autumn best, with much of the walk being in mixed woodland, or birch woodland that has grown since the closure of the steelworks. We walked on top of the Howngill Viaduct, with spectacular views of the Howngill valley, formed at the end of the ice age by the rapid release of meltwater from the ice blocking the lower Derwent valley and flowing into the Browney valley. The viaduct is an amazing construction, which we later also saw from the bottom of the Howngill Valley. It is also visible on the skyline from the A68 when travelling south from Corbridge.

The walk goes down to, and continues by, the River Derwent to a picnic area beside the old pumping station, once used to bring water from the River Derwent to the steelworks’ cooling towers. The path then heads back up through land reclaimed by birch woodland and open green pastures, and so back to the car park.

The walk was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

Richard