Looking for something to do for the rest of the day after my visit to Locomotion I decided to stay on the train from Shildon back to Darlington and go to the seaside at Saltburn-by-the-Sea. Being able to buy a ticket from Darlington to Saltburn and back while on the train from Shildon to Darlington using the Trainsplit app helped the decision no end.
The journey took about 55 minutes and was through new territory for me so I had an aha! moment passing through Middlesborough when I spotted the famous Tees Transporter Bridge in the distance, confirming that it never did get moved to a Native American Casino resort in Arizona 😀
Saltburn was very breezy. Also very hot so the breeze was quite welcome. The town sits on top of the cliffs and the beach, prom, and pier are some 120 feet below. The good news is that Saltburn has the oldest operating water-balance cliff funicular in the United Kingdom. The bad news is it isn’t currently operating since suffering a fire in January 2024 and as yet there’s no firm date for its repair and reopening 🙁
So it was down the steps instead, 175 of them (I counted on the way back up) which as everyone knows is the equivalent of a 15 storey building 😉 I went out to the end of the pier, as you always should, the views are good but the wind out there was blow-your-hat-off strength.
Then I walked along to Old Saltburn, the original settlement at Saltburn Gill. It’s much smaller than the Victorian town up on the cliffs but importantly right on the front is the Ship Inn so I took the opportunity to get a pint and find a relatively sheltered spot on the terrace to enjoy it.
A walk along the length of the prom and back followed by obligatory seaside chips (untroubled by seagulls thankfully) and then it was time to climb back up those steps and back to the station to get a train back to Darlington. I liked Saltburn-by-the-Sea, I’ll have to visit again, preferably when the funicular is back in operation because I do like riding those.
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