April 2023 Union Chain Bridge

 

On Monday 17th April, after two and a half years the Union Chain Bridge finally re-opened. We had sorely missed cycling across the bridge and on to some of our favourite Northumberland haunts, such as Loan End, Ancroft and Etal, and after watching the various stages of dismantling and reconstruction were excitedly awaiting the reopening.   

The following afternoon with the sun on our backs we rode our bikes down the hill and joined the throng of pedestrians and motorists eager to travel across the bridge once again. The long anticipated opening lived up to expectation and with wide pavements and solid ironwork the bridge felt sturdy and secure. However the road is somewhat narrow and a bit of a tight squeeze for larger vehicles. On the Scottish side is a bronze statue of a modern day female engineer complete with ipad/tablet and on the English side sitting admiring his achievement is another bronze statue of Samuel Brown, the Victorian engineer who created the original structure. 

Two days later we were back again, but this time the bridge was much quieter with only a handful of pedestrians and a few cars. We were able to slowly cycle across admiring the glorious views that we had missed so much. We are now looking forward to a summer once again cycling in the North Northumberland countryside.