The Humber Bridge

Heading east on the A63, the road between the M62 and Hull, it's impossible to miss the bridge. The bridge itself is part of the A15, which connects Hull to the M180 and Lincolnshire, but as the next photo shows there is no way to travel directly between the A15 and the A63.

The road eventually passes underneath it, where it looks completely out of place, as if this is actually two photos which have been stitched together.

The top of the north towers can't be disguised by the foliage in the viewing point car park. These are the towers seen in the previous photo, but we're actually further away from them than we were before.

At the estuary itself is this much-photographed cottage, dwarfed by the bridge which is still some distance behind it.

Standing beneath the bridge provides this odd perspective. It's nearly one and a half miles long and runs to Barton-upon-Humber on the other side. The bottom of the north towers can be seen to the left.

Looking up at the viewing platform where the north towers join the road deck, showing the structure of the bridge. Only from here do you really realise how big it is - impossible to get in one photo. It was built in 1981 having been planned in some sense since the '30s. Work started in 1972.

Looking across to the south side of the Humber shows the full extent of the bridge. From here the estuary looks shallow (there is a shoreline at either end) which it definitely isn't!

One of the access roads passes under the bridge, showing the anchorage and the design of the approach road.

On the south side now, and the bridge can be clearly seen from the houses in Barton. To the right is a sign for tourists, which this road is full of.

Looking north now from the first local road the bridge crosses on this side. To the right are more tourist information signs to try to stop people parking here - I was surprised by how much interest there was in what is, at the end of the day, a bridge.

The signs on the south side point to this public footpath, which runs along the shoreline and provides a clear view of the bridge.

From here the towers appear to be offset, as only the southern ones (nearest the camera) are in the water. This is to allow for the fact that the bridge crosses the A63 at the northern end.

What makes the Humber Bridge better than all the bigger bridges is that there are two footpaths for pedestrians and cyclists, some of which use it as part of their commute. At all the vehicle and pedestrian entrances to the bridge are signs like these, which can say 'DANGER HIGH WINDS'.

Following the path up to the bridge gives us this view from the approach road. When I visited they were working on the northbound side to prevent it from rusting - such work is very rare.

The footpath at the northern end of the bridge starts off like this. "Humber Bridge" is treated as a major destination along both the A15 and the A63, and you can see why.

The roadway is at a higher level than the footpath, which (whether inadvertently or not) means that people in cars can't see any railings. There is a 50mph speed limit, 40mph during roadworks.

Looking up towards the top of the north towers - to get the whole thing in one photo requires you to stand well back. All four towers are 155.5 metres tall, and are further apart at the top than the bottom to allow for the curvature of the earth.

Looking back towards the top end of the bridge, taken from the pier. There is enough wire in the suspension cables to circle the earth twice.

Standing above the A63, where we were earlier, and looking out towards Hull. Again it's easy to lose perspective here - this photo was taken with zoom.

A more general view of Hull. There is nothing bad to say about Hull.

It would be wrong to walk across the bridge and not show a photo of the estuary, so here's one, with the docks at Hull in the background.

Looking down on the cottage we saw earlier, with the shore and a car park visible.

Heading south across the bridge now, but before we can get there we need to part with £2.70.

At the toll booth, with a seemingly random selection of available booths. There aren't any barriers here, which is trusting of them. The bridge and main viewpoint are run by the Humber Bridge Board, whose head office are here.

Joining the southbound bridge, with the anchorage visible to the left. The road is often reduced to a single lane during maintenance, but as you can see this doesn't really affect the traffic flow at all.

The bridge is just like any other major road, with emergency phones and matrix signs, albeit narrower ones to match the narrower central reservation. What could they be for, given that the road has a 50mph speed limit anyway?

At the southern end of the bridge. You can see what I meant about not being able to see the railings.

Once the A15 returns to two lanes you can see just how quiet it is - in fact I'd suggest that most of the people who are using the bridge are only making a one-off visit. The bridge still hasn't recovered its initial construction costs.

Finally, just for the novelty this one, it's not often your sat nav shows you surrounded entirely be water!