C2C And W2W Cycle Routes - Uranus - 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 Uranus Marker

At this point the docks are visibile on the south bank of the river, not far from the mouth of the river Wear.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, and the third largest planet in our solar system. It appears to spin sideways.

It is about four times wider than Earth with the diameter at its equator of 31,763 miles (51,120 kilometers).

Uranus is a very cold and windy planet. It is surrounded by faint rings, and more than two dozen small moons as it rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin on its side.

Uranus is blue-green in color due to large amounts of methane, which absorbs red light but allows blues to be reflected back into space. The atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, but also includes large amounts of water, ammonia and methane.

Astronomer William Herschel tried unsuccessfully to name his discovery Georgium Sidus (George's star in Latin) after his patron, England's King George III. Instead, the planet was eventually named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, who was also the father of Kronos (or Saturn in Roman mythology).

Only one spacecraft has explored the ice giant up close, NASA's Voyager 2. In January 1986, Voyager 2 made a close approach to Uranus, snapping images of the planet and some its moons. A new mission to Uranus was one of the highest priority objectives outlined in the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. The possibility of a flagship mission to Uranus will be a focus of planetary science at NASA in the years to come.

Its marker along the route shows that there are 1359 metres left to reach the end of the routes.

Address: North Bank of River Wear Near Mulgrave Drive 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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