A Pleasant Surprise In Middlesbrough
I like nice cafes and it was only as I was leaving Middlesbrough, that I found the Traveller’s Rest in the station.
From a quick perusal of their menu, it would appear that there is something I could have eaten, which was a pity, as I didn’t get anything to eat until I got home about five hours later.
There’a positive review of the cafe here.
I did chat to the owner and he also indicated that Northern Rail had been very encouraging in his venture. Are they repeating the philosphy, which was obviously at play with the Overground at Crystal Palace station and South Eastern at Margate?
Let’s hope so, as all fair-sized stations need a distinctive and spacious cafe or restaurant for the passengers.
The Unwelcoming Thing About Teesside
It can’t be said that Teesside is not a breezy place and the wind on my visit was strong, cold and straight off the North Sea. Joking with the locals about this, they at least felt that this winter, they hadn’t had much rain.
I think the architect of the Riverside Stadium took this into account, as it was pleasant inside for the match. Even if the result was disappointing.
Teesside is certainly a place, where you should wrap up well. But saying that, one of the things I remember about living in Felixstowe is the wind off the North Sea.
Walking To The Riverside Stadium
My purpose in going to Middlesbrough was to see Ipswich play Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. On a pleasant day, it is one of the better walks from a station to the stadium, as there are things to look at.
I even popped into the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, where I went over their current exhibition called Art and Optimism in 1950s Britain. It was interesting, but it was an exhibition, that would have been excellent to visit with someone of my own age, as a lot of the things shown, would bring back memories for those like me, who can remember the 1950s. I can’t actually remember the Festival of Britain, but I have seen photographs of myself, there in my Cumfifolda pushchair, with my grandmother.
I was a bit disappointed to see that some of Middlesbrough’s liths had been vandalised, as had the statue outside the court. There’s a report here on the latter, but the other damage looked like thieves were after the metal.
Redcar And The Beacon
I deliberately went up early for the football at Middlesbrough, so that I could go and have a look at Redcar and its new attraction, the Redcar Beacon.
I first came across the Redcar Beacon, when it was nominated for the 2013 Carbuncle Cup.
I quite liked the idea of the Redcar Beacon, but some of the details had been rather poorly executed. The food seemed to be pretty good, with a good choice of cakes, including some gluten free ones, but many of the seats were set too low to see out.
Redcar scores highly for information with maps and liths everywhere.
To me though, the real problem it has for visitors like me is Redcar Central station and the Tees Valley line, that gets you to and from Darlington and Middlesbrough. Hopefully, it’ll get better trains in the future and someone will try to do something clever with some of the stations on the line.
The Anonymous Widower 