13 September 2006. I'm in Newcastle for the night and take the camera for a walk along the Tyne bank.
It's one of those warm, sunny evenings that you get in September when Summer seems to want to hold on to the year and not let go. This is the Millenium Bridge.
The Tyne Bridge is the most famous and is an icon for the city. Behind it low down is the Swing Bridge and further on again the High Level Bridge.
The Tyne is at a considerably lower level than the city and the approach road to the bridge from the Newcastle side is an elevated roadway above rooftop height.
From the approach road, before you get to the actual bridge there are some unique views of the quayside slopes and buildings.
Designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson engineers, it replaced a series of wooden and stone bridges the earliest of which was Roman and on the site of the current Swing Bridge and last a stone bridge of 1779. Tyne Bridge was opened by King George V and Queen Mary on 10 October 1928. The King's opening speech was recorded by Movietone News and released on a single-sided 78rpm record whilst the reverse blank side carried an engraved image of the bridge.
The Swing Bridge of 1876. 171 metres long (561 ft), it has a central pivot allowing the central length of 85.6 metres (281 ft) to swing at right angles to allow tall ships and yachts to pass up or down river. Behind it, the High Level Bridge of 1849 was having some renovation work done, hence the drapery along the sides. It was designed by Robert Stephenson as a dual level bridge allowing trains from the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway and later the Great North of England Railway (GNER) to pass along the lower level whilst road and pedestrian traffic used the upper level carriageway.
Having crossed the road and returned back to stand over the northern bank of the Quayside, we are looking once again at the Millenium Bridge with the modernistic Sage Centre on the Gateshead side of the river over to the right.
On the Millenium Bridge. This is a curved pedestrian-only bridge, the curve being the same radius as the arch which acts as a balance for when the bridge is opened to allow ships to pass underneath. The walkway tilts upwards as the arch swings downwards to form a dual archway and the effect for onlookers on the quayside is a little like a winking eye.
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