Hurrah! I’m so happy!

I’m also happy that this Valentine’s day, I am practically guaranteed some crumpet. In fact, I have a packet of them in the fridge which have to be eaten by tomorrow. Bonus!

Right, that’s the last I shall mention of *that* day. Tomorrow, I will even refuse to post.

Anyway, you may remember a couple of days ago, I talked about my walk to Hart Village and back. Yesterday, I decided to continue the tradition of actually “going out” and taking photos, and decided to take a walk up to Crimdon. The last time I was up there was back in May 2003 when I started the very short running regime, along with Chris R and Owen. The weather was very different yesterday, however.

The day started early. I was up and about before 10AM. The weather looked just as good as it did before. The sun was blasting in through the window. It was hard to believe this was February. Again, this wasn’t a day I fancied wasting. I donned the usual equipment, and headed off out. Originally, my first port of call was the cashpoint, but I looked up to coast road, and found that they were removing more of the streetlights.

My camera was still in my pocket from the previous day, so I took a walk up with the hope of getting some good photos of their removal. I switched the camera on, and then realised that I’d totally forgotten to put the memory card back in. Bollocks.

So, off I trudged back to Mercuryvapour Towers, in order to get my card. While I was there, I emailed Andrew D to let him know they were being removed.

A little later, I decided that it was indeed too nice of a day to waste. I donned my coat, camera, phone, headset, and headed off out the door. Needless to say I took m… oh, wait. I’ve already said I took it. Ahem.

The first stop was a return visit to the chip shop up King Oswy. I once again purchaed a bag of chips. The guy even knew what I wanted, despite it being only my 2nd visit there in as many decades.

I munched my fried potatoes and continued walking. It’s not a very long walk to Crimdon, but it’s one filled with steep inclines and declines. Before I knew it, I was heading out of Hartlepool…

Next was the steep bank which leads down from the road to the dene…

The photo doesn’t really show how steep it is. It’s difficult to walk down without looking like a penguin. Through the trees, you can see the viaduct which carries the main train track out of Hartlepool, towards Sunderland and beyond.

I followed the path into the Dene itself. I’ve never been there in the winter before…. I’ve never been to such a desolate place in all of my life. I must admit to feeling a bit uncomfortable there. I was on my own. Nobody knew where I was.

The only sound was the distant sound of a motorbike. It was all very eerie.

I continued to walk around, taking many, many photos. I was particularly happy with how this one turned out…

At this point, I started heading back. I had seen everything Crimdon had to offer in the winter, and so followed the path which leads to the Hart Station bridge. This path would have dated from when there was a train platform there (hence the name), but this was removed many years ago. Now, it forms the beginning portion of the afore-mentioned Hart to Haswell walkway, and “cylcle” way. Well, at least that’s what someone at the council thinks its spelt…

Ironically, I didn’t even notice the glaring error when I was taking the photos. I didn’t notice it when I got home, and looked the photos. I didn’t even notice it when I uploaded them to flickr. I only noticed it when I was adding the titles and descriptions. I wonder how many other poeple noticed it.

I continued my journey along the pathway. In front of me was some guy and his dog. Despite the blistering temperatures (for February, anyway), there was still ice on the ground, and the small pond to the side of it was frozen over.

I kept waking up until the road bridge. I took a few photies of the bridge. For some reason, the guy with the dog turned round, and shouted something in my direction. I didn’t know whether it was addressed to me, or his labrador, as I had my tunes blasting in my ear. Either way, I decided to play it safe, and headed up the steps which led to the main road. I walked down Hartville road, back to the starting point, and who do I see the other side of the fence? The labrador guy. Turns out I was just being paranoid, as usual, as he didn’t give me a second glance.

I was thirsty at this point, so I headed back to the King Oswy shops, and got some cherry coke. I must admit, I think I’m getting some sort of addiction to it. Well, OK that’s a bit of a fib. It was on special offer in Gillen’s.

I headed back along Easington Road to see if any work had been done on the streetlights. Just as I got there, the “truck with the remote controlled arm” pulled up. This could only mean one thing. They were about to cut down another post. This was an opportunity I wasn’t going to miss. I just *had* to watch how they did this.

I caught the whole thing, from the “grabbing” of the column, through the circular saw, until the eventual conclusion of the post being lowered carefully to the ground. I was happy, my 15 minutes standing in the middle of the footpath looking like a prick, taking photos as traffic whizzed by, were justified. I headed off home, happy in the knowledge that I’d documented the streetlight removal.

Suddenly, things got a lot more interesting. Andrew D, who you may remember I emailed several paragraphs ago, came sprinting along the path, camera in hand. He crossed over to the central reservation, and began taking photos. The workmen didn’t seem to mind at all. I thought, “Well, if he’s doing it… *I’M* doing it”. I crossed over, and also began taking photos. I won’t post them on here, as I think I’ve added enough photos today, but I did come home with a 4-foot long, 135-watt souvenir of the day.

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