Crosby Beach - September 2020

After completing my 14 days of quarantine in my mum’s old house I was finally released in early September to visit a few places in the UK.  My first destination was Crosby, on the Irish Sea coast just above Liverpool.   Crosby beach is the location of a sculpture installation by Anthony Gormley, Sir Anthony’s Gormley, called Another Place.  It consists of 100 life size bronze statues of Mr Gormley, naked, all looking out to sea. 

The statues are mounted on the sands, each one a hundred or so yards from the other.  As the tide goes out their bases are exposed but as the tide comes in the statues get submerged, some all the way.  It makes for an interesting site.  Some of the statues further out and subject to more sea water immersion are quite corroded whereas others nearer the shore are more intact.

It was a windy and blustery day but it was an invigorating walk on the beach.  You have to be careful as the sands are very flat and the tide moves in quite quickly.  In the 30 or 40 seconds it took me to take a picture of one statue I found water lapping around my feet and the statue’s base was quickly submerged.

Apparently the statues being relatively fixed in place are being used to monitor sand movement on the beach area.  There were quite a few signs of beach sand being moved around both by tides and by the wind. 

Other than the statues I didn’t see much of note in Crosby.  There was, at one time, supposed to be a lot of debris from the WWII bombing of Liverpool on the beach.  Supposedly bricks and architectural ornaments and the like.  All I saw was a few bricks and rubble in one location.  I think the sand has swept over and covered the rest of the debris.

Liverpool blitz debris perhaps

Yorkshire Sculpture Park - September 2020

On Monday 21 September I paid a visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Breton near Wakefield.  I had noticed the signs for this park from the M1 many times but had never paid a visit.  In these times of Coronovirus, it seemed an appropriate place to visit.  Social distancing shouldn’t be a problem in an outdoor park.  Obviously other people felt the same way and there was a little surprising number of cars in the parking lot. The park, however, is over 500 acres in size so there was more than enough space for everyone to be comfortably spaced.

There is a small internal space containing an exhibit by Joana Vasconcelos which I entered first before setting out over the vast estate.  The afternoon involved a lot of walking as the exhibits are quite well spaced.  By the end of the afternoon my iPhone told me I had walked 7.5 miles.

There are so many pieces in the grounds that I could never possibly remember all of them.   The ones that stuck out in my memory were….

Barbara Hepworth’s - Family of Man

Family of Man - Barbara Hepworth

Ai Weiwei - Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads - this piece was in the Crocker in Sacramento a couple of years ago.

  

Circle of Animals Heads - Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei - Iron Tree - a beautiful huge metal sculpture of a tree situated in a small churchyard.

Iron Tree - Ai WeiWei

Sophie Ryder - Sitting - a large sitting woman with a rabbits head formed out of galvanized wire.

Sitting - Sophie Ryder

Andy Goldsworthy - Hanging Trees - three beautiful stone wall sunken enclosures with fallen dead trees appearing to grow out of the walls.  Perhaps my favorite of all the pieces but then I also liked Andy's Outclosure - a circular dry stone wall in a small wood called Round Wood and his Shadow Stone Fold - a beautiful stone walled sheep pen with a square section in the middle with a huge rock in the middle of it.  I doubt there is any finer dry stone walling anywhere. 

Hanging Trees - Andy Goldsworthy

Sean Henry - Seated Figure - a wonderful large statue of a man seated and looking out over the valley below. The location is perfect and the larger than life sculpture is just perfect.

Seated Man - Sean Henry

Damien Hirst - The Virgin Mother - a very large figure of a pregnant woman one side normal, the other side with the skin peeled back to reveal the muscles, intestines and foetus.   

The Virgin Mother - Damien Hirst

The Virgin Mother - Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst - Charity - a large model of a spastic child clutching a teddy bear and a donation box.  On the back side a crowbar and an opened donation box with coins scattered around on the ground.

Charity - Damien Hirst

Henry More - various pieces of his.  Always interesting.

Henry More

Joana Vasconcelos - Pop Rooster - a beautiful large colorful rooster sitting on top of a hill.

Pop Rooster - Joana Vasconcelos

The Leeds to Liverpool Canal and Saltaire - September 2020

The Leeds to Liverpool Canal at Saltaire

One weekend in September, whilst I was back in England I took a day trip over towards Barnsley for a walk along the Leeds - Liverpool Canal.  The town of Shipley was my starting point and I walked from there up to Bingley.  The canal was built in the late 1700’s under the direction of James Brindley, the master canal engineer of the day, and it is truly a wonderful piece of canal building.  The route of the canal over this section roughly parallels the River Aire.  In fact it crosses over the River Aire at one point so you have the two waterways intersecting and one passing over the other.  There is also quite a rise in the land on this route towards Liverpool and there is one flight of 3 locks in Bingley and shortly after another very impressive flight of 5 locks.  This latter flight takes the water level up some 59 feet.  Working through that many locks has to be a slow process and a lot of work.  The canal is in use for recreational traffic and while most locks are worked by the boat owners themselves, the flight of 5 has lock keepers to oversee the process. 

Flight of 5 Locks

The Mill at Saltaire

The jewel of this section of canal is the town of Saltaire.  Saltaire was a purpose built development initiated by the mill owner Titus Salt.  By the 1840’s Mr Salt had become a very successful businessman owning several mills around the Bradford area.  But also by that time working and living conditions for the mill workers were pretty bad.  Mr Salt was aware of this and he decided to improve the situation.  He found an appropriate site near Shipley and built an entirely new larger mill to consolidate his other operations. Then he built all the other necessities for his workers - housing, churches, schools, recreational facilities.  He called the new community Saltaire after his own name and the River Aire, the river that runs through it.  

One thing Mr Salt did not build was public houses, he didn’t approve of drinking alcohol so he didn’t want his employees doing it either.  There are now pubs in Saltaire, including a nice river/park side one that I took advantage of.

Saltaire Bandstand and Park

Saltaire Park is a wonderful green space with a bandstand, a cricket pitch, a statue of Mr Salt and on this Sunday afternoon it was very popular even in these Coronovirus days.  It was also the day of the intended Great North Run in Newcastle (the largest half marathon in the UK and the World), which for Coronovirus reasons had been cancelled.  Around the country there were numerous mini virtual Half Marathons, including one here in Saltaire going up the canal towards Liverpool.  There was a constant flow of runners going up and down the canal path, for the most part quite socially distanced.

Any excuse to dress up as a Rhino

The mill in Saltaire has been renovated and is an impressive sight.  In its day it must have been a dark and grimy place with all the smoke in the air (photos of the area show many, many chimneys and of course all home heating would be from coal fires).  Now with the buildings sandblasted clean it all looks quite beautiful and idyllic.  Who wouldn't want to work there?

Victoria Hall, Saltaire

The restored mill provides a site for an art gallery, a restaurant, a museum and several shops.  It is a great place to explore.  The art gallery has a lot of works by David Hockney, who of course being born in Bradford is a local boy. 

United Reform Church, Saltaire

The various halls, churches, schools and the remaining housing (much of this has been demolished) also look beautiful now.  The area has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage. Well worth a visit.

The Scottish Isles - September 2020

In September, after completing my 14 days of quarantine in Staveley I joined my old University friends for a trip around Scotland.  I drove north from Derbyshire and stayed half way up with my friends John and Gabrielle in Dumfries and Galloway in their beautiful cottage n the village of Borgue.  They have a wonderful old cottage that has been significantly updated that sits above the beach with terrific views out over the Solway Firth.

Steve, Stuart, Paul and John

The next morning I set off north to pick up my friends Stuart, at a motorway services, and John, at the railway station in Sterling.  John was the initiator of the trip.  He is on a mission to visit all inhabited islands in the United Kingdom of which there are around 240.  There are 98 in Scotland and he needs just 4 more to complete the set - the Isle of Ewe, Dry Island off Badachro, Soay off the Isle of Skye, and Eilean da Mheinn in Crinan Harbour.  We had plans to tackle all four in the next few days.

After collecting John from Stirling Station we continued north  - quite a way north - all the way to Aultbea in Ross and Cromarty.  Along the way Stuart, the historian, regaled us with tales of Jacobite rebellions, highland clearances and the like, while John told stories of his earlier walk around the coast of Britain and his adventures visiting the islands. Just before we arrived in Aultbea we passed Gruinard Island.  The military had used the island to do some chemical warfare testing and the island was polluted with anthrax.  It allegedly has been decontaminated.

Alastair and Paul on way out the Isle of Ewe

We had a meet up time in Aultbea of 4:00 pm to get a boat out to the Isle of Ewe.  We also were going to meet up with Paul the fourth member of our group.  We timed things just perfectly and arrived at the harbour right on 4:00.  We had about 5 minutes to wait and then we saw a small boat crossing from Ewe to pick us up.  It was Alastair Grant in his little outboard boat to take us back out to Ewe.  Alastair was a local young man who had left and then returned to Ewe where he runs a boat building operation.  He loaded into his boat that was indeed a little cramped and a little small for 5 people and we headed out through the choppy sea to Ewe. It was probably around a kilometer over the water.  He dropped us off on a sea weed encrusted beach and left us to wander around for a while.  We walked up an old farm track to some old stone buildings where there was the ruins of a mill and some other farm buildings.  It was mildly interesting and we probed around for a bit and then Stuart and I went off to find Alastair to get our ride back to the mainland.

The Beach on the Isle of Ewe

Alastair was in his boat yard building a clinker built boat.  We chatted for the while as the rain poured down and then we realized John and Paul were waiting out in the rain back at the beach - sorry about that.  We got in Alastair’s boat, this time a larger one, and set off to pick up the other two and go across back to the mainland.  By the time we got to shore I was decidedly damp and a little soggy.

Alastair's Boat Building Workshop

Alastair had told John that he would ferry us around for nothing but we felt we should give him something.   Things went a bit too far though and because of a mix up with who was giving him what we ended up giving him 60 pounds.  A little bit more than we expected.

The Gairloch Hotel

The beach at Gairloch

We drove south for a short ways and stayed the night in the Gairloch Hotel, an impressive old hotel that sits just above the beach in the town of Gairloch.   It was raining again in the evening when we walked up the road for dinner - again we got pretty damp.

Next morning it was an early morning Full Scottish Breakfast - always a good choice.  Three of us decided to take a drive up the coast while our 4th member, Paul, languished in bed.  We drove up the narrow coast road to Melvaig and the end of the paved road.  There was a spectacular rainbow on the way back.

Rainbow near Melvaig

Dry Island

The King of Islonia's Palace

After returning to the hotel and picking up Paul we moved further south to our next island, Dry Island a small island in the bay that sits off the town of Badachro.  Access to Dry Island was not obvious and when we couldn’t find any easy access we ignored a Private Path sign to walk down onto the beach where there was a floating bridge over the 100 yards water onto the island.  We did not have permission to visit the private island and we were met by the owner who grilled us as to why we hadn’t called ahead for access.  He finally mellowed and ended up inviting us to join him for a cup of tea.  We went into his cottage and he regaled us with stories of his life on the island.  Three generations of his family have lived on the island.  He is a fisherman who supplements his income with a couple of holiday cottages on the sunny side of the island.  He has also declared independence from Scotland and created the Independent nation of Islonia of which he is king, and his wife queen.  He honored our visit by declaring us citizens of Islonia and giving us all passports.  A most interesting visit with a real character.

The Skye Bridge from Kyleakin

From Badachro we headed off to our next destination, the Isle of Skye.  It was quite a drive and we made a stop on the way in Plocton where we enjoyed tea and scones.  After refreshments we drove on to the Kyle of Lochalsh, then over the new and most impressive bridge onto Skye.  We stayed the night in the town at the island end of the Skye Bridge, Kyleakin.  Kyleakin has the Bright Water Visitor Center which commemorates the local wildlife, particularly the otters, and the writer Gavin Maxwell who memorialized them in his book (and later film) the Ring of Bright Water.

The boat to Soay

On board for Soay

Next morning we had the obligatory Full Scottish Breakfast, and then set off for the small fishing village of Elgol.  John had reserved a boat in Elgol to take us out to the island of Soay.  The boat was waiting at the dock and we boarded her for the short trip out to Soay.  We stopped offshore and one of the boatmen rowed us two at a time to the island. 

Being rowed onto Soay

The beach on Soay

Soay was purchased by Gavin Maxwell in 1946 where he tried to establish a shark oil business. Alas the operation was unsuccessful and folded three years later. There are still a couple of full time residents on the island but we didn’t see them.  We walked along the beach past the Old School House and the cottage of Tex Geddes who was supposedly Gavin Maxwell’s harpoon man in his shark fishing days.

Eilean Donan

We were done with Soay by 11:00 or so and we headed off back to the mainland and headed south.  We stopped at the castle on Eilean Donan for the classic photo opportunity and to reassure John that it was not inhabited year round (it wasn’t).  We drove on for a few more hours to Appin where we stopped for our customary tea and scones.  Feeling refreshed we pressed on for the last island of the trip, Eilean Da Mheinn in Crinan Harbour.  This island was about 300 yards off Crinan and the water was perfectly calm so we decided to use Paul’s inflatable boat to make the crossing.  It was a bit of a palaver getting the boat inflated and the outboard mounted but we eventually got it done and Paul ferried us across onto the island one at a time.  

Eilean Da Mheinn

The Inflatable to Eilean Da Mheinn

The island was not very big and had a single residence on its other side which we did not see.  We simply gathered on the beach and celebrated or getting out there and then returned to the mainland.  Of course, we then had the whole business of deflating and repacking the boat - a lot of work.

Crinan from Eilean Da Mheinn

We made a quick stop to look at the sea lock into the Crinan Canal.  There were a lot of fine sailboats moored there and one old steam vessel, the Glasgow Puffer.

That evening we stayed in the Lochgair Hotel, a big down-at-heel place by the side of the main road.  The room was frigid cold but the duvet was wonderful.

I devoured my final Full Scottish in the morning and then we set off for England.  Paul us left first for his home in Dollar, we dropped Stuart at a service station near Sterling and then I took John all the way back down to Chesterfield where he caught a train to his home in Birmingham. A most enjoyable trip. John is doing the Irish islands next year and I look forward to joining him for a few of them.

 

Tahoe Rim Trail - Part 3

On Friday, 24 July, I set off to do the final part of the Tahoe Rim Trail.  The last section I had to do was from Mt Rose in Nevada on the north east side to the road crossing at Brockway Summit over in California.  This is the highest section of the trail and it climbs up to 10,338 ft at Relay Peak.  The finish at Brockway is down around 7,000 ft so it is easier to start at Mt Rose and run down.

As had become usual, I left home just after 3:00 am and drove up to Tahoe.  I was at the pass on the Mt Rose Highway by 6:00 am and I was on the trail shortly after. 

The trail starts with a nice steady uphill slowly climbing up above the tree line towards Mt Rose (which you do not summit) and then on to Relay Peak (which you do summit).  The air over the Sierras was quite bad and there was a brownish layer of smog on the horizon all around and you could not quite see down to Lake Tahoe for the mist and smog.    As the day progressed the smog cleared but in the early morning it looked pretty bad and you could almost taste it in the air.

Early morning going up to Mt Rose

Near Relay Peak I saw a group of Blue Grouse out in the open.  I had been hearing their calls (a very low whoop, whoop, whoop) all over the Sierras but this is the first time I saw one.  After the most splendid and colorful woodpeckers and the occasional Stellar's Jay these are the most interesting birds up here.  

After Relay Peak the trail starts its descent and it is a nice easy run along the south facing side of the mountain.  There are some truly wonderful views from this section down into the Tahoe basin.  It was a shame about the bad air but regardless the views were still impressive. 

Bad Air Day

After passing Mt Baldy the trail moves lower into the trees again and there is nice shaded running along relatively smooth trails.

As I neared the end of the run and as I got close to the Brockway trailhead the number of people out for day hikes up the trail grew quite numerous.  It was surprising how many were now wearing masks on the trail as opposed to 2 or 3 weeks again when I ran up here.  I even ran with a bandanna around my face (not the easiest thing to do).

Near Mt Baldy, better air

I made reasonable progress and was off the trail by just after 12:00 pm.  I believe it was just around 19 miles by the time I was done.  I had to wait a half hour for an Uber to take me back to the car and then I was home by 3:00.

So that is the entire Tahoe Rim Trail done in stages over the last three years.  No more running in Tahoe for a while.

              

Tahoe Rim Trail - Part 2

Saturday, 18 July - Rubicon Trail to Phipp's Peak

The previous post described my attempts to finish off the circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe on the 176 mile Tahoe Rim Trail.  This weekend I was up there again to finish off another section of the trail.  This section from the Rubicon Trail to Phipp's Peak was a little more demanding in that it needed an off road vehicle, which I just happen to have.  On the Friday afternoon I set off for Tahoe and from the west side of the lake, just north of Tahoma I took the Rubicon Trail up into the mountains.  The Rubicon Trail is an Off Highway Vehicle trail over the Sierras and down the other side to the Sacramento Valley.  It is one of the most challenging off road trails in the area and so it attracts all manner of fat tired high clearance vehicles.  Not my kind of wilderness experience.

Miller Lake on the Rubicon Trail

I was expecting a fairly easy ride up to the summit but that was not to be it is quite a challenging rocky ride up there.  The sun was just setting when I reached the TRT trail crossing and I found a spot off the side of the trail to park my vehicle.  One thing I forgot to bring was bug spray and as soon as I got out of my truck the mosquitos were circling.  They were so pesky I immediately abandoned attempts to cook dinner and got inside the truck and dined on cheese, yoghurt and fruit washed down by a couple of beers.  No need to suffer those mosquitos.

I settled in for an early night intending to get up at first light and run.  It wasn't a quiet night however as lots of off road vehicles came up the trail, floodlights blazing in the night.  I think the last ones came through around 1:00 am.

After not the best of nights sleep I awoke just before 5:00 had a light breakfast and set off as soon as it was light enough to see the trail.  This is the best time to be on the trail - nice and cool and lovely light.  I nearly stepped on a big old toad making his way across the trail - what a monster.

Richardson Lake

After a couple of miles I reached Richardson Lake - a nice spot to camp for backpackers and through hikers.  The trail was reasonably good for running with a lot of smooth trail neither too steep downhill or uphill.  It was mostly in the trees so there was not a lot to see beyond the immediate forest but it made it nice and cool and a pleasant run.  At times you could see either Rubicon Reservoir or possibly Rockbound Lake over to the west but mostly I was looking at trees.

The Trail above Richardson Lake

As I got out about 7 or 8 miles and near General Creek and Phipps Creek the mosquitos became a nuisance.  In my runs in the previous weeks I had not been bothered at all by those pesky insects but today they were everywhere.  Whenever I stopped to rest I heard their high pitched whine around my head and I saw them gathering on my legs.  That made things a bit uncomfortable as I dearly wanted to take a rest but they wouldn't allow it.

A beautiful old tree - Cedar?

I was looking for the trailhead junction over to Meek's Bay around the south side of Phipp's Peak as that was where I stopped the previous time.  It is always further than you expect but finally I arrived.  The mosquitos were there too so I didn't stop and just headed on back.  The phone said 9.8 miles out so that would be the best part of 20 miles for the day.

A more open and scenic section

I was making reasonable time and with the help of the mosquitos I wasn't taking many rest stops.  I was back at Richardson Lake before I knew it and then it was a bit of a slog over the last 2 miles to the end.  It was a most welcome sight to be back at my vehicle and its mosquito free interior.  Next time I will bring bug spray.

 

My vehicle awaits