The Black Path

Sunday South Bank Stroll 18th October 2020

/ James / 5 Comments

Regularly on a Sunday I’ll have a wonder along the Black Path, alone or with a companion.

This time I was testing out a camera I’d rescued from a shop, a little compact point and shoot style (see the camera and gear page for more info on that if you’d like). I first went to Saltburn then on the way back stopped off at South Bank and took a little walk, using up the last of the film on the way…

South Bank Coke Ovens (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

The South Bank coke ovens site was the first point of call for the camera, I clambered up the steps of the railway footbridge, with their gaps and rusty handrails.
Heading down the steps again I joined the Black Path, and made progress along.

The Birds
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

I had my mask still on, pulled down past my chin to get some fresh air having just got off the train. I put it back up whilst walking past the recycling plant. My passing disturbed a colony of gulls.

Barbed
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

As I made my way along, the gulls settled back down again, a deer was startled from the scrubland, running away deeper into the industrial areas.

Desire line
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

The path snakes toward the railway line, you walk between this and the pipes and the now steadily disappearing and changing land of gone industry.

See how far we’ve come?
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

Bowed rusted fences contrast with the palisade by the railway line, and the obstructive shielding fences added along the way. You look back to see how far we have come…

Apple of my eye
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

I turned back before reaching Grangetown Station, passing again my favourite bit of pipe…

Batteries
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

I looked over to the numbered coke oven batteries, as I walked back toward the railway station, I was slowly running out of film in the camera.

Shoot from the hip
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

The Black Path is intriguing for so many different reasons, little things, things barely noticed. I’ve always found this gap in the pipeline interesting. I took the image above with the camera held overhead, hoping for the best.

Stairway to…
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

I was on borrowed time, film wise…

End of the roll
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

All good things come to an end, the roll of film did at this point and produced this image… I like the end product here, though it wasn’t how I hoped, but I don’t see the need to crop…

Losing the race…

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The vantage point afforded by the train, leaving the conurbations, is higher than walking the path. But the scenes are more short lived, your view constantly changing. Your vision darts from one feature to another, with some tall and overpowering features becoming like lumbering beasts. Setting out along the landscape, seeming to keep up with the train for a while, before slowly losing the race…

The Lumbering Beast
The Black Path (18/10/2020)
Minolta AF-DL
Fuji Fujicolor C200

The Black Path

/ James / 1 Comment

The area which the Black Path forges through has been in the news a lot of late, with talk of dilapidation, demolition and redevelopment.

Long Disused, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Ilford XP2

One of the main points is the iconic but dormant tower of the South Bank Coke Ovens. The Dorman Long tower as it’s known is a brutalist icon.

A Long Shot, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Ilford XP2

Disused since the late 1970’s this prominent feature of the landscape was a bunker, used to store coal to be turned into Coke. Coke is produced by heating coal in large airless coke oven batteries to remove hazardous composites; the resulting coke is a tough, but absorbent carbon that is used for reducing the iron in a blast furnace. By-products of the process are coke oven gas, tars, and oils. Which in this case was transported from the ovens to nearby locations for processing.

The Danger You’re In, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Ilford XP2

Many people have walked this path, going to and from work.

Berry Me, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Ilford XP2

I wonder how many stopped to pick some berry’s on the way home…

Hand in Glove, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Ilford XP2

The pipes which lead you along this landscape form a maze, some joining, some ending abruptly, there must be miles and miles of pipework here.

Intersection, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Ilford XP2

I have a certain small amount of sympathy for those that want all of this gone, that want to move on. I can’t ever put myself in that camp. Something needs to remain of our industrial heritage to remind us of those who made Teesside what it was…

For Sight, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Ilford XP2

The Black Path and it’s environs are a feast for the senses.

The Black Path

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The images in this post from a wander along The Black Path were taken on the unusually rated Washi D film (ISO 500), this film’s origins are that of Russian surveillance film.

To find the film for sale click here.

Unwelcome, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Washi D ISO 500

The high contrast and grain of the film lends itself perfectly to the feeling you get wandering along The Black Path.

You’re walking, most of the time, with pipes accompanying you…

From nowhere, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Washi D ISO 500

Some of the darkest places are the tunnels by the railway line, with heavy goods vehicles clattering overhead. The sense of many footfalls before yours heading to work in one of the many industries which line the hinterland of the Tees.

Frenzied apprehension.
The dark envelops me.
Inky shadows.
Eery stillness.
The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Washi D ISO 500

You’re walking, most of the time, with pipes accompanying you. Covering ground with you, from wherever to wherever.

Broken, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Washi D ISO 500

Decay is something that follows you around. Be it walls graffiti adorned or barricaded passageways and buildings. It is sometimes the crunch of stone underfoot, and avoiding muddy spots of the path keeps you going.

Valve, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Washi D ISO 500

You’re kept away from some areas by fencing and stern warnings of dangers.

Fenced in, The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Washi D ISO 500

Beauty is here though.

You don’t even have to look that hard for it.

Nature in the summer months proceeds your stride. With moths and butterflies heralding your influx into their habitat, fluttering a few paces ahead, only to do the same again as you progress along the path.

Rosebay Willowherb, grasses and other wildflowers line the pathway. Butterfly bush and thorny plants brush and graze your extremities as you try to make the pass.

The Black Path
Minolta X-300, Minolta 45mm lens
Washi D ISO 500

to be continued…

My favourite bit of pipe…

/ James / Leave a comment

Daft as it may seem, on the railway line between South Bank and Grangetown I have a favourite bit of pipe.

Weirdly shaped and standing quite tall and isolated, it sticks in my mind for some reason. Almost like some long backed lumbering creature, making its way through the industrial land.

So I did a quick doodle one day when I was walking along the Black Path.

It was on the back of an old style “duplicate book” receipt…

My favourite bit of pipe…