The Black Path. Teesside Industrial Trail

Let's get one thing clear from the outset. This walk is not pretty. Its not in hills, no waterfalls or village pubs. But it is steeped in the industrial and even pre-industrial heritage of Teesside.

We begin by meeting at Redcar Central Station by 11am for a train to Middlesbrough. (11.30 meet time at Middlesbrough if coming by train for the walk.) Then we set off on a 9 mile walk from Middlesbrough to Redcar, the first or last leg of the Teesdale Way or what is known locally as the Black Path. Passing cranes and new developments in Middlesbrough, then passing a combination of industrial dereliction and renewal in equal measure all the way to the coast at Redcar. 

Some of the iconic features we will see or get close to are listed here. The Transporter Bridge connecting Middlesbrough and Port Clarence on the North Bank of the Tees is 111 years old and one of very few bridges of its type in Europe. Alas, the bridge is undergoing major renovation and remains closed to traffic until 2023.

At Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium is Temenos, a huge art work by Anish Kapur.

The industrial sites we pass are endless, including steel processing (British Steel) at Lazenby, PD Teesport (one of the largest container ports on the East Coast) and Teesworks, the biggest regeneration site in Europe which is currently being decontaminated and cleared of its heavily polluting past to become a haven for green energy from wind turbine manufacture, to electric car production to carbon capture and storage under the North Sea, creating 25000 new jobs over 20 years. We effectively walk through the heart of this site which stretches five miles on the south bank of the Tees. Then, of course, the dominant feature of the skyline, Redcar's now redundant blast furnace. 

Amongst all the industry, old and new, is nature. Nutrient rich iron and steel slag which covers so much of the land produces an abundance of wild flowers which in turn support pollenating insects, birds and many small mammals. Towards the coast we walk through Coatham Marsh, a nature reserve, and the coast itself has protected dune landscapes in the form on SSSIs and even a Ramsar conservation area.

As we approach the coast, we will see the steel blast furnace which has dominated the skyline for decades. It closed down in 2015 and is due to be demolished in the coming months. This walk will be an almost last chance to see it, juxtaposed between the industrial and natural landscapes of the Tees Estuary.

No trip to the seaside will be complete without fish and chips. This we will do on Redcar Seafront.

All photos taken by Rob Mitchell and used with permission. 

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