Consett is not a destination in itself, but the surrounding countryside — the Derwent Valley and the North Pennine fringes — offers good walking and cycling. The Hownsgill Viaduct, just west of town, is the most striking structure in the area and a landmark on the C2C cycle route. The town's steel heritage is now largely invisible, though a few markers and the shape of the landscape — stripped of the industrial clutter that was removed after 1980 — remain.