C2C And W2W Cycle Routes - Pluto - Sunderland, UK - Solar System Models on Waymarking.com

C2C and W2W Cycle Routes

The C2C was developed by Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, and is one of the UK's most popular cycling routes. Each year approximately 15,000 people cycle the 140-miles, coast to coast, from the North West across to the North East. The route still leads the way for long distance cycleways in the UK. It has become world famous, bringing new visitors to Sunderland and introducing many new cyclists to the sheer exhilaration of cycling coast to coast. The W2W, Wainey to Wearmouth is a new addition and again a coast to coast route. it passes through some wonderful countryside making it an ideal cycle touring break or longer holiday.

Sculptures celebrating the C2C and W2W

Sunderland City Council commissions art to generate interest, encourage people to use public spaces and create interesting and visually appealing focal points. With support from One North East and Sustrans, Sunderland City Council has commissioned a series of sculptures to greet cyclists as they reach the final leg of the cycle routes. As cyclists and any walkers at this point reach the last stretch towards Roker seafront, a perfect picture opportunity awaits to prove that they did it. The first artwork Second Sun is located next to Wearmouth Railway Bridge. Created by artist Andrew Small.

From Wearrmouth Railway Bridge cyclists and walkers encounter a series of waymarkers which have been placed along the final stretch of the C2C and W2W. Each waymarker features images of planets in the solar system, sited at relative distances from Second Sun with a countdown in metres to the end of the route.

All the markers show the orbits of the planet in question in a holographic form, so that as you change position the planet appears in a different part of its orbit. The distance to the end of the route is shown at the bottom of the marker. As you move around the marker the last digit of the distance also changes by 1 meter.

The Pluto Marker

At this point Sunderland's sea front has been reached. The marker stands opposite a lighthouse at the end of Roker Pier, one of two piers built to create a sheltered harbour.

Pluto was once our solar system's ninth planet, but has been reclassified as a dwarf planet. It's located in the Kuiper Belt.

It is located in a distant region of our solar system beyond Neptune known as the Kuiper Belt. Pluto was long considered our ninth planet, but the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006.

NASA's New Horizons was the first spacecraft to explore Pluto up close, flying by the dwarf planet and its moons in 2015. It found that Pluto is a complex world with mountains, valleys, plains, craters, and apparently even glaciers.

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was named by 11-year-old Venetia Burney of Oxford, England.

Its marker along the route shows that there are 0 metres left to reach the end of the routes, in other words the end has been reached..

Address: Sea Front Marine Walk near Pier View Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom To-Scale by distance: yes To-Scale by Size: no Is the model an Orrery?: no Hours: 24 hours a day Admission Fee: 0.00 (listed in local currency) Web Page: Not listed

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