another time

Apart from the bucket-swing-rides operated by pulling on ropes the funfairs of yore must have been quite oily and smelly, with the exciting risk of explosions and escaping steam to heighten the experience. The steam-propelled train was also running, along with a silver band in the bandstand and the old-fashioned steam-fired chip fryer in the chippy. As there were four adults and two children to transport I selflessly came prepared to cycle from the hotel just outside Consett to wherever we were wanting to go, in order to require only one car. The way over was quite pleasant - apart from a few obvious we-hate-cyclists-really interchanges there were extensive off-road old-railway paths of NEPN standard, with a few scrap-metal sculptures here and there, a very close approach to a wind turbine and only a couple of daft wee twisty bits, on one of which I encountered a pair of mountain-cyclists going far too fast, one of whom almost butted me when he failed to stop in time after whizzing around a corner.