Tyne Cyclist and Pedestrian Tunnel
The Tyne Cyclist and Pedestrian Tunnel was Britain's first purpose-built cycling tunnel.
It runs under the River Tyne between Howdon and Jarrow, and was opened in 1951.
The original cost was £833,000 and the tunnel was used by 20,000 people a day.
It actually consists of two tunnels running in parallel, one for pedestrian use with a 10 feet 6 inches (3.2 m) diameter, and a larger 12 feet (3.7 m) diameter tunnel for pedal cyclists. Both tunnels are 900 feet (270 m) in length, and lie 40 feet (12.2 m) below the river bed.
The tunnels are over 60 years old and are Grade II listed buildings.
At each end, the tunnels are connected to surface buildings by two escalators and a lift. The Waygood-Otis escalators have 306 wooden steps each, and are the original models from 1951. At the time of construction, they were the highest single-rise escalators in the UK, with a vertical rise of 85 feet (26 m) and a length of 197 feet (60 m). In 1992, escalators with a higher vertical rise of 90 feet (27.4 m) and 200 feet (61 m) in length were constructed at Angel station on the London Underground. The Tyne Tunnel escalators remain the longest wooden escalators in the world.
This is a multi cache which can be started from either side.
Information needs to be collected from either end of tunnel and the middle, so you will need to walk through the tunnel.
The tunnel is currently open 6am - 8pm.
Cache can be found at N54 59. ABC W001 29.DEF
On the Jarrow side of the tunnel there is a notice board by the car park where you will find the answers to A. Look at the section titled, 'Over and Under the River'.
A = If not for the war, when would the tunneling of started? Third digit of year = A.
B = When you get exactly halfway through the tunnel you will come across a blue band of tiles, marking the middle of the river above you. There is a sign naming the North and South areas. Number of letters in the first two words of EITHER sign =B.
C = Again at the centre marker, looking at the North and South signs, number of letters in last word on South sign =C
D = Again at the centre marker, looking around you will see some grey, metal vents on the walls. How many is there? Last digit of this number = D
E = At the top of the esculator on the Howden side you will see a coat of arms. Number of gold lions = E
F = Outside the tunnel at the Howden end you can see some large fish sculptures. Number of fish heads MINUS number of fish tails = F
CHECKSUM = 22