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On the outskirts of Hartlepool heading north through the new Tees Forest and older woodlands before linking with the Castle Eden Country Park section near Peterlee. This is the start of the Hart to Haswell Walkway, a 10 mile off-road cycle track.
In 1835 the Hart to Haswell railway line was carved through these woods and countryside as it carried coal from the Durham mines to the newly opened Hartlepool docks - the line was designed by George Stephenson, builder of The Rocket. Navvies created the embankments and cuttings at Crimdon with their usual array of picks, spades and wheelbarrows shifting 20 tons of soil a day each (see also the Pennine Cycle Route photo gallery).
The railway came to be heavily used and carried all the coal and passengers travelling between Hartlepool and Sunderland until a new coastal route opened in 1905. The need for the track then declined in the 1920's as the collieries closed and use of the car grew. Half empty trains continued to run until 1980 when the last coal traffic on the line ceased and the railway was dismantled after 145 years of use. The legacy of so many railways though has allowed cyclists and walkers to pick up where the trains once ran.
