Gateshead Millennium Bridge

Along with Antony Gormley's giant Angel of the North sculpture, nothing symbolises the regeneration and vibrant rebirth of the North-East as a major cultural centre so much as this new bridge.

This £22m bridge for cyclists and walkers is the first opening bridge to be built across the River Tyne for more than 100 years. As well as being an extremely graceful structure, it has also attracted worldwide attention as the first 'rotating' bridge. Its method of pivoting at its ends to raise up its curved central section has earned it the nickname of the 'blinking eye'.

Warterside attractions

The bridge links Newcastle to Gateshead and provides access between the significant arts and leisure attractions on both sides of the Tyne, at Gateshead Quays and in Grainger Town. These include the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (the biggest temporary art space in Europe), the Sage Gateshead (a musical discovery centre), the International Centre for Life and the Discovery Museum - as well as other local attractions including the Laing Art Gallery, the Hancock Museum, the People's Museum of Memorabilia, the Shefton Museum of Greek Art and Archaeology and the Military Vehicle Museum.

If all this is just way too much culture, then the area also contains a wide selection of fashionable bars and eateries. And after you have feasted, you can work it off with a brisk stroll along the Hadrian's Wall Path National Trail which opened in 2003 and which passes right by.

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