Little Bridges # 2582 The Blue Bridge
The Blue Bridge in Newton Aycliffe used to serve as a railway bridge. Nowadays, the bridge serves as a footbridge, and its railway history seems distant, as the bridge is overgrown with weeds and only a footpath remains. The bridge is around 70 years old, having finally been constructed in 1955. The bridge is actually represented by a chevron on the town's coat of arms, due to the crucial road link it provides from the industrial estate into the residential and town centre areas of the town. You may wonder how the bridge got its distinct colour. In fact, up until the late 1960s, many residents of Aycliffe remember the bridge being a more greyish blue colour, though it was still referred to as 'The Blue Bridge'. It was not until 1968, when UMM (Underground Mining Machinery), a local factory, donated blue paint - their trademark colour - and got their workers to paint the bridge on ladders. Ever since then, the bridge has retained this distinct blue hue and stands out as you pass from the industrial estate into the residential area of the town.
Now about the cache. The cache is a micro film canister and is not located on the bridge, though it is just down the steps to one side. It should be a relatively easy find in a not-so-busy area - as the bridge usually sees little foot traffic, besides the odd dog walker. Other than that, happy caching!
The Little Bridges series was started by Stanthews in 2009 to highlight small footbridges in remote parts of Wiltshire. Since then, the series has been expanded by others all over the country and starting to spread fast. There is a stats listing, so you can see how many Little Bridges you have found, you can find it here: - Little Bridges Geocaching Series (littlebridgesseries.co.uk). If you would like to add to the series, please go to this site, on the tab Get Involved click number request and fill in the form. To qualify, the bridge must be a foot bridge too small for vehicles, please make sure your title exactly matches “Little Bridges # xxxx then the name” including spaces so it will get picked up and added to stats list.