England - The Dales Way, Day 1

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

Ilkley to Appletreewick (12 miles)

Our first day on the Dales Way brought us to a lot of experiences and sights that would be commonplace over the next eight days. But for now it was all new.

The official start of the Dales Way is on the west side of Ilkley along the River Wharfe. We'll be following the River Wharfe upstream for most of the next three days through "Wharfedale" and "Upper Wharfedale". ("Dale" means valley.)

Typical Yorkshire stone farmhouse.

A lot of the trail followed rock walls that separate pastures. If you're short, as I am, this can severely limit views! Sometimes there's even a wall on both sides of the footpath.

May is the end of lambing season. Lambs are so cute! We were warned not to touch or handle the lambs (or any livestock we encountered).

Ramsons, wild onion/garlic, added fragrance to the path in many parts. They are closely related to ramps, a wild onion beloved in Appalachia.

It was also bluebell season. We came across many stunning fields of bluebells.

Lots of wool gets caught on barbed wire.

We watched a yellow-legged gull pull food out of the river, then go to a nearby rock to eat it. Binoculars (and a telephoto lens) revealed that the gull was eating crayfish.

Bolton Abbey marked the half-way point of today's hike.

It was never clear to us why part of the priory is in ruins, but one section is completely finished and used as the parish church. It's not clear whether it was destroyed or never finished.

The wall above the altar in the church. This wall separates the completed section from the ruins.

Another look at the ruins.

Bolton Abbey is actually a large estate that surrounds about a five-mile stretch of the River Wharfe, and is open to the public for day use. At the priory, the Dales Way crosses the river. You can cross on the stepping stones, as Lon is doing above, or you can take a bridge.

Lon on the stepping stones in the deepest part of the river.

The "strid" is a short, but perilous, stretch of the river where it has carved a deep, narrow gorge in the sandstone rocks.

For some reason, lots of coins have been pounded into old pieces of wood, be they fallen logs, benches, or tables.

Our endpoint for the day -- the tiny hamlet of Appletreewick. Although not much more than a dozen buildings, Appletreewick boasts two pubs. Our inn for the night (the New Inn) is the white building at the left side of the photo.

England - On Our Way to Ilkley

Monday, 13 May 2019

Today was a travel day from London to Ilkley via Leeds. Our train left from Kings Cross station.

On the outside, Kings Cross railroad station looks like a very traditional train station.

But the inside has been modernized. I think the structural style is similar to the new international airport in Mumbai.

Today, most people probably know of Kings Cross as the station from which Harry Potter leaves for Hogwarts from Platform 9 3/4.

Even in the morning, the line to get a picture taken (as above) is fairly long.

Next to Platform 9 3/4 is the Harry Potter Shop where fans can pick up all sorts of Hogwarts necessities.

Right next door is St Pancras station. It mostly serves international Eurostar trains.

In the plaza outside Kings Cross / St Pancras, the home-improvement company B&Q has set up a wall of live plants for pollinators. The lack of bees in the English countryside was notable.

England - Two Days in London, Part 2

Sunday, 12 May 2019

We started our second day in London by taking a river boat to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Our "Oyster cards" (transit passes) also covered this transportation.

While waiting for our boat, we noticed that the modern building on the left had people on the top.

A closer look showed four men rappelling down the skyscraper. No idea whether this is "recreation" or work.

The Tower of London.

Tower Bridge

An old warehouse, now converted to apartments, kept its old loading crane.

Our destination: the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the Prime Meridian. For technical reasons, the official Prime Meridian doesn't line up with the GPS prime meridian -- they differ by about 300 feet.

The courtyard of the Observatory offers a panoramic view of London.

The new skyscrapers of the Canary Wharf area rise behind the National Maritime Museum and the Old Royal Navy College.

A small building at the side of the Observatory contains a "camera obscura" ("dark room") that projects a live view of the buildings below through a pinhole down to a flat table in the room. Once your eyes adjust, it's amazing to see the detail -- cars and people moving in what at first glance seems to be a static scene.

At the top of the observatory is a red "Time Ball" that has been synchronizing clocks throughout London since 1833.

At 12:55 PM, it rises half-way up the post (left). At 12:58 it rises to the top (right).

And at exactly 1:00 PM it drops and returns to its bottom position.

To finish the day we returned to St. Paul's to attend the Evensong service, followed by an organ recital. We were inspired by the cathedral ambience, but the muddied acoustics (about a 10 second reverb!) made it difficult to follow spoken word and music.

England - Two Days in London, Part 1

Saturday, 11 May 2019

We went to England in mid-May to have a nine-day hike along the Dales Way -- more about that later. But first we had two days in London to adjust to the time change before starting our hike.

We walked over this overpass with it's interesting cast of characters.

It looks more conventional from below.

Our first stop was St. Paul's Cathedral -- designed (like so much of London) by Christopher Wren and modeled after the churches in Rome. After touring the interior, we climbed up to the small outside gallery at the top of the dome -- 528 dizzying, claustrophobic steps, mostly on spiral staircases. Just before the top, you can peer down through the "oculus" in the middle of the dome and view the cathedral floor 350 feet below.

View from St Paul's: the Thames

View from St Paul's: new London meets old London (and not-so-old-not-so-new London).

View from St Paul's: Paternoster Square. I particularly liked the ping-pong (ahem, table tennis) tables set up in the shadow of St. Pauls. Public ping-pong tables appear in a number of incongruous places.

View from St Paul's: Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian bridge that connects St. Paul's with the Tate Modern. 

After crossing the Thames on the Millennium Bridge, we walked along the south bank and re-crossed the Thames on the  Jubilee Bridge. All day the weather was highly variable. Within 10 minutes we had blue-sky sunshine, a downpour, and even pea-sized hail. Rinse and repeat (several times).

The pedestrian Jubilee Bridges flank a large railroad bridge. Mother Nature takes advantage of every nook and cranny to grow green stuff.

Big Ben and parts of the Houses of Parliament are buried in scaffolding while undergoing major maintenance and repairs.

On our way to Westminster Abbey, we walked through the peaceful Whitehall Gardens.

On the Way Home

Saturday, 2 February 2018

As we flew over the Caribbean and up the Atlantic coast of the southeastern US, I got to see some interesting landforms below.

This is the southern coast of Cuba. After consulting Google Earth, I realized that the finger-like bay is the notorious (at least to Americans of a certain age) Bay of Pigs.

As we flew over the northern coast of Cuba, I figured that this distinctive urban pattern should be easy to find on Google. It's Cardenas, a city about 100 km east of Havana. I presume Havana would have been visible from the other side (port, left) of the plane.

Next up were the unmistakeable Florida Keys. Again, with a map I was able to figure out which Keys I could see.

The southern tip of Florida with the Everglades to the lower left and the Keys running from the center to the right.

Richmond, Virginia. The WestRock (formerly MeadWestvao, MWV) Building at the arrow.