Alan Pollard, an 82 year old pensioner from Whitley Bay, has completed a walk covering the entire Tyne and Wear Metro network. He recently completed the 75 mile walk by charting the same route as the network over a period of nine months, with the route broken down into a series of manageable five mile hikes over 16 days.<\/p>\n
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Alan came up with the idea after moving to the area with his wife from Tring in Hertfordshire to live closed to their daughter and two grandchildren. He thought it would be a good way of getting to know the geography of the region.<\/p>\n
He started out from his home in Whitley Bay and tracking the Yellow line all the way down to South Shields and then the Green line from Newcastle Airport to South Hylton.<\/p>\n
Alan said: \u201cI wanted a fresh walking challenge ever since I moved to the region and I thought it would be a good idea to try and cover the entire Metro route. I really enjoyed it. It was a great way to get to know more about the local area. I covered 75 miles in total, which is just a bit more than the Metro\u2019s actual route length.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve not lived in the North East that long, having recently moved here from Hertfordshire, so it was a wonderful way to see more places of interest and meet new people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw so many historic locations along the way which are near Metro stops, Newcastle city centre in particular, and it was great to research those places and then find out more about them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking is a real labour of love for me. I love it. I\u2019ve done many long-distance walks in the past, one being a 50-mile route around London, and twenty years ago I did Land\u2019s End to John O\u2019Groats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Metro is a great system, and the paths and roads near to those lines make for great local walking routes, with plenty of points of interest along the way. I\u2019d recommend it to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wrote a blog documenting his progress (\u201cWalking the Tyne and Wear Metro\u201d) including photos and words about the sights, sounds and landmarks that he saw.<\/p>\n
Lynne Dickinson, Head of Station Delivery at Nexus, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic challenge and Alan has done brilliantly. We congratulate him on completing his walk. We were delighted to hear that he has managed to walk the whole length of our Metro system along all those nearby paths and roads. It\u2019s a long way and a lot further than people think.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvents like this underline how much Metro means to our region. It shows just how many places of interest you can get to on Metro and what a vital role it plays in the communities that it serves.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Alan Pollard, an 82 year old pensioner from Whitley Bay, has completed a walk covering the entire Tyne and Wear Metro network. He recently completed the 75 mile walk by charting the same route as the network over a period … Continue reading