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Bellevue Botanical Gardens

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bossgard:


Take a Walk on the Wild Side...
An exciting new project lies in the heart of the forest at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. A 1/3 mile nature trail will cross a deep ravine into the most pristine of our wild spaces. A 150’ suspension bridge spanning the ravine will allow visitors to observe unique topography, native understory, wildlife, and soaring conifers without disturbing the forest floor

Eric Hardy:
The shot is inviting you in. Is the bridge completed, Toby?

bossgard:

Yes, Eric, the bridge is completed. This shot will show the actual bridge better.
We walked acrossed it from the other end the first time.
This shot is not the entrance to the actual Garden, but is closer to it.
It sways when you walk across, but perfectly safe!
HB (my Hiking Buddy) is bigger and heavier than I am, he went first.
When his foot was going up, my foot was going down.
What a feeling when the bottom falls out of where you thought your foot was going to be!
The children there were amazed by it!

Eric Hardy:

--- Quote from: bossgard on June 19, 2012, 03:19:27 PM ---HB (my Hiking Buddy) is bigger and heavier than I am, he went first.
When his foot was going up, my foot was going down.
What a feeling when the bottom falls out of where you thought your foot was going to be!

--- End quote ---
Thank you Toby for posting that. I know exactly what you mean about the sensation of crossing it. I was born in Teesdale; The River Tees divides Co. Durham from Yorkshire. There is a suspension bridge just a few miles upstream called Wynch Bridge. Here are a couple of shots taken in 1980. The second one shows Anthea, our (Canadian) middle son Mark, and his wife Rosie crossing it.





Once crossed, a track takes you up-river for about a mile where you get a view of this magnificent waterfall, High Force. This shot was taken much later in 2004.



An earlier 1980 shot shows it from below



As a matter of interest I found this in my father's photo album showing it completely frozen. I love the diminutive figure of a lady, standing on the frozen river, apparently taking a photo. It was taken in 1929, when I was 3, so I don't remember it.



If anyone is interested there is a notice beside Wynch Bridge is transcribed below: -

"A HISTORY
About the year 1741 the first chain bridge, constructed in the country, is believed to have been that over the River Tees called Wynch Bridge, originally built by subscription for the passage of lead miners who lived at Holwick to the mines at Middleton.
It was of wooden construction suspended on iron chains, reputedly made by local blacksmiths, stretched from rock to rock over a chasm nearly 60 ft deep; it was 70 ft in length, and little more than 2 ft broad, with a handrail on one side only and planked in such a manner that the traveller experiences all the tremulous motion of the chains and sees himself suspended over a roaring gulf, on an agitated, restless gangway to which few strangers dare trust themselves. (Hutchinson 1785).
In 1802 it is known to have collapsed when one of the chains snapped under the weight of nine harvesters, two of whom were precipitated onto the rocks below, one being drowned. Following this incident the bridge was strengthened and used until the present bridge was built in 1830.
Once described as “a trap for human life” (Sopwith 1833) the bridge, whose name is derived from a bridge formed of ropes stretched by means of a winch, could if suffered to remain have served as a curiosity
THE EXISTING WYNCH BRIDGE
Circa 1830 the existing bridge was erected for the Duke of Cleveland, slightly upstream from the site of the original.
The Grade II listed structure is an iron suspension bridge: timber deck on wrought iron hangers for foot passengers, located about three miles up the River Tees from Middleton it crosses the river at a deep gorge, spanning some 21 metres."

I love that description of the "tremulous motion of the chains"

I hope this has been of interest

Eric

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