Middleborough like most of its surrounding towns, it is a very industrial area. Down the southern part of England, we have nothing like the grand scale of industrial buildings they have up here; the landscape is full of buildings with the most enormous warehouses we had ever seen.
There is such a mixture of old and new throughout Middleborough; we came across buildings from 18th hundreds to the oddly unique, modern building of what appears to be a set of cottages on top of a block of flats. It’s a jumble but one you can appreciate with the war history and the poverty of this part of the country, you can understand they have had to adapt.
After speaking to our lovely host Joanna, she suggested a trip on the transporter bridge, although it is a small bridge it was an experience. The transporter bridge was built to aid the people to cross the river with ease and without taking the long route around. It works by having a low hanging suspended section that goes back and forth across the length of the beautiful blue industrial bridge. As we drove up we waited in line, about five minutes the suspended section come silently towards us, I don’t know what I was expecting, but I thought we would hear it moving, but it was so quiet. When the gates were opened by the workers, we were waved on (we were fortunate and got a space at the front).
As we were driving around were also came across Middlesbrough football club and just outside the stadium is what I can only describe as a contemporary piece of modern art. It consisted of two large hoops with what looked like netting connecting them, odd but intriguing especially when it’s next to the Riverside stadium and a huge industrial boat. Middlesbrough has its quirks and is worth a day visit buy car.
