“People are always asking, why an angel? The only response I can give is that no-one has ever seen one and we need to keep imagining them. The angel has three functions – firstly a historic one to remind us that below this site coal miners worked in the dark for two hundred years, secondly to grasp hold of the future, expressing our transition from the industrial to the information age, and lastly to be a focus for our hopes and fears – a sculpture is an evolving thing.” – sculptor, Antony Gormley
Who says you cannot have bucketlist items from the country you live in. Well, visiting Newcastle meant I was able to do just that. Tick an item off my bucket list that is. I have been wanting to see the Angel of the North for such a long time now, but always thought the journey over there was just too long. You This coming from the person that drove 5 hours straight to go climb the Walsh cliffs in Three Peaks(check Facebook page for pictures) or drive through the night to bunk at Portland Bill for the sole purpose of feeling the adrenaline rush of climbing the cliffs of Portland and feel that fresh breeze whilst hanging meters above sea level. So you can just imagine my excitement, pointing like a little school girl looking at her chosen toy at Hamleys. I spotted it meters before approaching our stop, I knew this thing was huge but it was bigger than my imagination. It was blistering with wind but this angel didn’t even flinch. All 20 metres of her stands tall over looking Tyneside A-roads and come rain or shine she watches over Gateshead. Made with enough steel to make 16 double-decker buses and apparently the largest angel sculpture in the world, so no wonder it is seen by 33 million people a year, seen by one person every second. That’s 90,000 people every day! If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen a very excited Bee came face to face with an Angel. Can you blame me? This thing is Big, Bold and Beautiful. There, my seal of approval. So whether you believe in angels or not, this is certainly something you have to see if you are in Newcastle. Getting to the Angel of the North couldn’t be easier as transportation in Gateshead is frequent and easy to find. We got on what I now refer to as the ‘Geordie bus’ from Gateshead Interchange which runs buses fairly frequent to the Angel and only takes about 20 minutes if not less. In my excitement I was not timing the journey. The angel is in Gateshead(although I keep referencing Newcastle) which is accessed via Newcastle Station. From London you can easily get to the north via East Coast trainlines at Kings Cross.
No doubt Newcastle has seen a lot of regeneration in the last few years as it hit hard times in the 1980s when many of the factories and coal mines shut down which meant the loss of jobs and the standards of living that were were once enjoyed when the going was good were hit upon. Visiting the city now you can still tell that a lot of the infrastructure is new from the newly built Sage Gateshead venue where we had the bloggers conference to the Baltic Museum of contempory Art that I wrote about recently and the beautiful Millennium Bridge and many other buildings, bridges on the River Tyne that are just simply beautiful to look at.
Below is a visual diary of the of the sights in Newcastle when I wasnt too busy drooling over all the intricacies of the engineering. I am taking a digital detox this weekend and will only have my Nikon if I am allow to take it to Norfolk this weekend. So no Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Blogger. Have an awesome weekend! x
OMG! The first photo showed a small angel from far but it is really huge. My jaws simply dropped!
The night scenes with reflections looked pretty! The mood is so happy!
Happy Weekend!
Thanks for dropping by.
thanks for sharing your trip
great photos
Wow – that thing is impressive! It's beautiful, but I imagine it could also be a little creepy when it's looming over you.
Not creepy at all. Its just an amazing sight. You will find yourself walking all around it trying to get it at every angle.
As always great photo's and writing! That angel is HUGE :)!
Thank you. I am glad you are enjoying both the writing and photos 😀
fabulous photos , I live in durham so have past this very often but never actually gone and stood next to it. I am pretty dissapointed in the fact they have no facilities for visitors near the angel , it is such a wonder to alot of people x
Yeah that is a shame. I guess they assume you will look around for a bit and head into town. The site itself is very small I assume if it was big enough to picnic around then they would consider facilities.
I've never seen it up close. I had no idea it is soooo huge!
Great post and great pics! I remember visiting Newcastle a few years ago, loved it! Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks Margherita. It really is a lovely place.
Great photos! Never been to the north of UK but its on the list (in the summer probably though :))
Definitely. Still working my way around it. I was in Norfolk this weekend. Another beautiful spot. Will be sharing more pictures of that soon.
Simply stunning photos, I actually said Wow out loud when I saw the photo of you and the angel. It is quite impressive!
Thanks Sammi. Glad you like them.
great pics, still haven't been up there to see this great monument!!
Thanks Clay. You really have to stand next to it to really appreciate just how big it is. The foundations also go as deep as 10 or 15 meters from what I remember.
I like the idea of a bucket list for your own country. All the backpackers I meet in Australia have done so much more than i have haha. We forget the beauties in our own backyard. Great pictures!
This angel statue is really impressive and I really liked the colorful photo montage in your post!
Thank you. I am glad you like them.
This is the second Newcastle post I've read today and now it's definitely on my list. Great post and your photos are always fantastic 🙂
Thanks Ashley.
wow!! Great photos 🙂 http://outsidefashioncatwalk.blogspot.com.es/
so beautiful and majestic! love your photos. thanks for bringing us with your journey in seeing the angel of the north 🙂
Glad you are enjoying the pictures Angel.
That second photo of the angel is awesome! My mum was born around that area (I'm from New Zealand) so I'll definitely be checking it out sometime.
It's just beautiful and as you have ties to the city you definitely need to touch base with the Angel 🙂
That Angel is HUGE! Wasn't expecting it at all!
Neither was I! Just a stunning piece of installing.
The angel is just so beautiful. I know it took a long time for people to get used to it, but I don't think they would be without it now… 😉
I will bet it did, because there are a few homes right across the road from the Angel so I sure it must have taken them some time to get used to the attention drawn so close to home.
It looks like an awesome place! Great pictures!
Diana
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Yay! My lovely hometown and you've captured it in a beautiful light 🙂 thank you for being so positive and I hope we meet at another conference
Awe thanks! Yes definitely will look out for you at the next conf.
Newcastle is a really awesome city and the drive up there, especially from Manchester is particularly appealing. I remember the first time I headed to the North East, we were going for a football match and when I approached the Angel of the North I was astounded by the actual physical size of this monument.
You really have captured the beauty of this structure with all of your great pictures.
Thanks Chris. Well I hope the Angel wasn't too distracting when driving. It certainly got me in child-like excitement when I spotted it while still on the bus.
LOVE that you love the Angel, I do too 🙂 When I first started coming up to Newcastle one of the first things I had to do was see the Angel .. she gave me goosebumps and still does 🙂 I could spend hours and hours just looking at her.
Thanks for sharing such beautiful photos of Newcastle 🙂
You know, I had seen pictures of this angel so many times and wondered where it was – and now I know! In terms of attractions and icons, most of northern England is a bit of a blank for me, so thanks for sharing!
England has some great spots! I am aiming to showcase a few this year. So stay tuned as I have a special one coming up this coming weekend. Granted its South England but still worth it!