ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE ........... PONTOP PIKE

Not much happening today - apart from The Olympics of course. I have watched bits and pieces of cycling, shooting, women's football, men's tennis, rowing,badminton, gymnastics - oh and some of the Formula One qualifying. Shame there were no medals for team GB in the cycling.

Hung some washing out and took my camera - looked around for inspiration but got none. So decided to zoom in on Pontop Pike. It is a 489 feet high transmitter mast and is located near Dipton - about 8 miles away from here.

The mast was built in 1953 and its construction was brought forward by the BBC so that people in North East of England could watch the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II live on TV. The transmitter provides UHF analogue and digital television transmissions to Tyne and Wear, County Durham, Tees Valley, most of Northumberland and parts of North Yorkshire.

Analogue TV transmissions from this mast are due to cease on 12 and 26 September 2012, making Pontop Pike the very last transmitter in Great Britain to complete digital switchover.