Oak & Iron

Mrs Basil wanted to go on another ride the chip away at her virtual pilgrimage. So we headed out at around 9am on a loop that took us out to the Derwent Valley.

The land of oak and iron

The name Derwent comes from the old Brittonic meaning Oak Walk. This means that there are rather quite a few Derwents scattered across the country.

This Derwent was one of the iron epicentres of the country, as high quality imported ore from Scandinavia had easy passage up the Tyne, and coal was obviously abundant. This advantage was lost after the development of the bessemer process for removing impurities from ore.

The Derwent Iron Company built a railway to connect the Tyne to the north with the Bishop Auckland (of covid eye test fame) and the Darlington railway to the South.

Thank deity for old railways

This railway line is long gone and, like most old railway lines, is now a shared path that is part of the national cycle network. To the point where it seems like if not for the old railways, there would be no paths at all.

Mrs Basil just about made the distance, suffering with fatigue and cramps in the last 7 or so kilometres, but she did well.