Lambton Arms to Pelton Fell Railway Walk Today your amended walk, being led by Moira Foster was to be along the C2C cycle track starting behind the Lambton Worm pub and heading towards Pelton Fell. It’s a walk we have done many times and Moira has taken a few photographs to remind us of the route. Today wouldn’t have been the first time it’s been very muddy getting on to the track. The course of the former Stanhope and Tyne Railway of 1834 through Pelton Fell, Stella Gill and South Pelaw which served local mines is now occupied by part of a long distance cycleway (the C2C cyclepath) and footpath noted for unusual sculptures that adorn the route. John Grimshaw , director and chief engineer of Sustrans had the vision and foresight to redevelop these redundant facilities as long distance cycle paths as future important resources, as recreational, social and green links , connecting communities rural and urban as well as facilitating access to our countryside again. Near Stella Gill is an appropriately named sculpture called King Coal that was unveiled in 1992 at about the time the last mines were closing in County Durham. This impressive sculpture, designed by an artist called David Kemp features the enormous face of a bearded man who gazes outward in the direction of the distant Penshaw Monument. He is made from recycled bricks, mining shovels and a colliery fan impeller and we get the overall impression that the remnants of some old colliery building have strangely transformed by their own design into a king who now keeps watch over his lost kingdom. It was built with the help of local volunteers and redundant miners and steelworkers. Towards the South Pelaw area of the cycle route close to the edge of Chester-le-Street is a 300 yard long twisting and winding sculpture known locally as the Lambton Worm. It was the work of an artist called Andy Goldsworthy who knew nothing of the worm legend when he constructed the sculpture, but its wriggly serpent-like nature left locals in no doubt about what they believed it should represent. An aerial view of the Lambton Earthwork, created in 1988 The serpent shape at South Pelaw was created using spoil from the local pit to represent the legend of the Lambton Worm, a monster which roamed the local countryside. Over the years, the earth has sunk to become part of the local landscape and self-sown trees have grown into the structure, while pools of water forming around the earthwork have begun to attract wetland wildlife. It is now so overgrown that few of the visitors who use the 140-mile cycle route know it is there. In 2017 it was reported that “volunteers will now work with Sustrans North East Land Management to begin careful restoration of the structure, making the artwork more accessible while maintaining existing habitats.” Margaret Pescod .