ARCHITECTURAL historian John Grundy has performed the official opening of the newly completed Tyne Wear Heritage.

A steam engine transported him to to the ceremony at the world’s oldest single-span bridge, Causey Arch, near Stanley.

The walkway, celebrating the rich industrial heritage of the region and the varied surrounding countryside, covers an 80-mile circuit in County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

Mr Grundy said: “It’s difficult to think of a more original, unexpected, varied and interesting walk than this one.

“It finds the most fascinating ways through and round and even under streets and roads we use every day.

“It is a beautiful landscape, surprisingly rich in historic architecture, oozing with industrial and social history and it will make anybody who sets off to explore it appreciate our little corner of the world even more than they do at the moment.”

Members of the Northumbria Ramblers group, which has been instrumental in restoring the walkway, are celebrating the event by staging a series of walks along stretches of the route throughout the week.

Further information is available via tynewearheritageway.org.uk.