- Time of past OR future Camino
- Recent:Norte/Muxia- Spring '23
MadridWay- Fall '23
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Well it's not photoshopped and I didn't need ropes. I got up from the far right side, out of view, but was a walkable, but rather hard climb up. The photo is real, but a tad of an illusion.Phoenix and Chrissy
Fantastic photos
I just can’t work out how you got up there Chrissy?
I am always surprised at how many birds and other small animals you are able to get photos of...I barely see any!A good walk along a favourite route to ease tension after a two hour dental appointmentA few days ago I saw my first owl - a gorgeous Barred Owl. I returned to the same path today and there she/he was right next to my path! You can see her in the photo after the closeup (staredown contest), perched in the tree beside the path. Also along the way a softly coloured mottled rabbit (another staredown contest) and and a Common Yellowthroat bird. Stopped to admire the mosaic stepping stones made by children and inspired by what they saw in the community garden. By then the freezing in my face was gone and I could have lunch!
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Roland 49
We have marmots in the Rocky mountains. They are quite large, so cute, and fun to watch.loved the photo of the Marmot…
@ranthr, what is that photo of your "gold" for dinner? Looks interesting, but unfamiliar to me.I had a walk in my neighbourhood picking up some gold for todays dinner,
We got a lot of rain the 3 days after we started. Thunderstorm at the ascent (950m in 3,25h) to the "Braunschweiger Hütte" and ~0°C and snow at the morning to cross a difficult ridge after the "Braunschweiger Hütte", the Pitztaler Jöchl (2950m). After descending to the glacier we sledded down on our bottoms to the glacier station Sölden. That was so much fun and all the bad weather and all the strain was forgotten! All in all we were a hiking team of 11, but one had to give up due to medical complications. After the crossing the border to Italy the weather got better and warmer. Never been by foot as high as on the "Similaun Hütte", 3019m.Roland 49
Looks like a wonderful trip with some amazing photographs and wondering wistfully if we’ll ever get to the Alps again
loved the photo of the Marmot…we just loved their “whistle” as we approached their living quarters!
so….back to look at your photographs again!
Cloudberries. multebær in Norwegian, and Chantaréllus, the mushroom, kantarell in Norwegian.@ranthr, what is that photo of your "gold" for dinner? Looks interesting, but unfamiliar to me.
Thanks! I googled them both...yum!Cloudberries. multebær in Norwegian, and Chantaréllus, the mushroom, kantarell in Norwegian..
A couple of "ribby" horses behind that tank thing! They look like they need a feed.Two loops on the route w/ fire road
View attachment 106945View attachment 106947View attachment 106946, already hot this am (we’ve been topping 100 lately). Followed Peter Cottontail for a short distance, and checked out how many horses are at the farm across the fire road—up to eight now plus two cows and a calf, either they’re boarding horses or the kids in the family are doing 4H.
I thought the same thing. I emailed my sister (who owns several) to ask if that’s normal…but then all the horses I saw on the Camino looked skinny and my cats are fat.A couple of "ribby" horses behind that tank thing! They look like they need a feed.
Rib section is not a good indicator on horses. Better to look at the top of their buts. If there is a deep indentation then they are too fat. Flat is good.I thought the same thing. I emailed my sister (who owns several) to ask if that’s normal…but then all the horses I saw on the Camino looked skinny and my cats are fat.
Everyone has such lovely pictures of their walks.
I live in a bland, midwestern small town. I usually take my trail to he east out in the flat countryside, but today I went west to town, so I took a few pictures.
The tree was huge, so I used my hat for "scale".
IThese flowers have seen their best day, but I wonder what they are. Straight stems come straight out of the ground and they have no leaves.
A neighborhood in town.
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Yes, that is the flower. Thank you!Lovely photos. I am originally from the bland Midwest and can relate. I often walk in a neighborhood that looks like your town. I believe the flowers are amaryllis belladonna, officially not hardly in northern IL, but reportedly so. https://www.highcountrygardens.com/...ed-bulbs/amaryllis-belladonna-naked-lady-lily
We visited friends in Northern Limburg over the weekend.
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The last two are indeed Thorn.My guess : Thorn?
I love your bird photos, @Theatregal! I don't think you have ever not included one in your walks. You are a birder extraordinare!A walk at Brunswick Point to see the rare flock of American White Pelicans that have been sighted during the last 2 or 3 weeks. They were too far out to get a good photo and I only post this blurry fuzzy one to give a sense of how many there were. BUT!!... the view through my binoculars was spectacular. I watched them for about 10 minutes until they suddenly all lifted up and flew further away and out of view behind a bank. Off the main path along the point is another trail through the tidal flat. Goldenrod all in bloom and I saw some people collecting rosehips from the Nootka Rose bushes.
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Ahh thank you Chrissy! I have to admit that over the past year or so, birds have become a dominant focus of my walksI love your bird photos, @Theatregal! I don't think you have ever not included one in your walks. You are a birder extraordinare!
I had to look closer at your bike photo. I thought the seat was backwardsBike and walk... locally.
What’s the path with the bird symbol?
What’s the path with the bird symbol?
If I saw something like that in Spain I’d have thought “hey, it’s a sparrow walk!” Followed it, got lost, and probably have fallen in a stream for good measure.Educational path for the little ones...
Phoenix,View attachment 107937
Colorado suburbia. Today wasn't about the scenery.
Last summer, my “walking/hiking legs” were in pretty good shape, although in pain most of the time. Then in the fall, things fell apart quickly; the only options left were to live with pain/low activity (i.e., little hope of walking another Camino) or to go through the gauntlet of two major reconstructive surgeries to get prosthetic knees. I chose the latter, and the process began just before Christmas 2020.
It’s been a tough road, but worth it. Since I moved from the recovery phase to conditioning, I’ve been slowly building up distance (6+ miles), and have seen a gradual improvement in hiking pace as well. This morning, I focused on establishing an accurate baseline, using a min distance of 3 miles.
After nearly 9 months of surgeries, physical therapy/rehab, and the gradual conditioning process, I’m finally back to where I was a year ago—but now without the pain. Back to an avg pace under 18 min/mile, with several quarter-mile splits in the 17’s and 16’s. (Note: all of it above 7K ft elevation). Just need to keep working on building up distance/endurance.
Feels good, man.
Beautiful photos LexicosI took these photos a few nights ago, when I did a long walk in my neighbourhood. Does 20 km qualify for a days worth of local Camino? There are many parks, gardens and rivers nearby but sometimes it’s good to be in our urban environment, in the places where we spend most of our time. It is, after all, the outer limits of what is our home. Let’s hope that my pics and post are enough on topic this time to be left intact.
This is my local Camino during this era of lockdowns and curfews.
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the colors in some of your pictures seem so—alive isn’t the right word I suppose but it’s what’s in my head. Like the colors themselves have their own story they want to tell. They remind me of the mosaic colors in the monastery at Monserrat, I can’t look away.Sometimes you just have to break the rules, when it does no harm to anyone or anything. I figured this walk was worth the risk…..
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There is something truly beautiful about real friendship…. But sometimes, just being alive is enough, isn’t it?
Well once you’re on the wards there will be plenty of steps to make up for any sitting in a classroom. CongratulationsView attachment 108119
Although today's walk wasn't very far (from the far reaches of the parking lot to the building and back), it was an important one.
Twenty-nine years after completing my last degree, I walked back into college classrooms today. Officially a pre-nursing student taking many of the prereq courses again (since I took them 30+ years ago - too long for them to count), and hope to enter RN program in 2023.
One just never knows where the first steps of a walk will eventually lead...
Quite jealous! I’ve had hummingbirds land on my hand but never scrub jaysA beautiful drive this morning up the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler. I took a gondola to the peak of Blackcomb Mountain, hiked for a couple of hours and then a gondola across to the peak of Whistler Mountain and another hike. Something I've always wanted to do. A wonderful day. Saw one of the famous whistling Marmots (who Whistler is named for) and a Canada Jay. I stretched out my hand and it flew over and sat for a few moments.
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I’m almost speechless looking at these wonderful photosA beautiful drive this morning up the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler. I took a gondola to the peak of Blackcomb Mountain, hiked for a couple of hours and then a gondola across to the peak of Whistler Mountain and another hike. Something I've always wanted to do. The air clear and fresh with the sun warming up the cones on the pine trees and the cool mountain breeze carrying the scent along the paths through the trees. A wonderful day. Saw one of the famous whistling Marmots (who Whistler is named for) and a Canada Jay. I stretched out my hand and it flew over and sat for a few moments.
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Theatregal,A beautiful drive this morning up the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler. I took a gondola to the peak of Blackcomb Mountain, hiked for a couple of hours and then a gondola across to the peak of Whistler Mountain and another hike. Something I've always wanted to do. The air clear and fresh with the sun warming up the cones on the pine trees and the cool mountain breeze carrying the scent along the paths through the trees. A wonderful day. Saw one of the famous whistling Marmots (who Whistler is named for) and a Canada Jay. I stretched out my hand and it flew over and sat for a few moments.
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Curiosity. To whom are you replying?Umm wait, isn’t the Grail here? I almost walked this way because of that.
Kirkie,Although I did have a local walk this morning, I would like to offer this article from the Irish Times. It details a world under our feet, not just the ground pilgrims tramp on. At some point above, St James's Gate, traditional starting point on the Camino from Dublin... as well as the site of the Guinness factory!
DAVE GREENE HAS BEEN INSPECTING THE TUNNELS UNDER DUBLIN FOR 49 YEARS.
It’s a pilgrimage we’re going on, says Dave Greene, as he leads the way through the city’s ancient river tunnel network where the Poddle flows out to meet the Liffey
Patrick Freyne
I’m standing in a redbrick tunnel at the bottom of a manhole near the Palace Street entrance to Dublin Castle. I’m in full PPE, hard hat, head torch and waders, with a harness to winch me to a tripod when I’m climbing in and out. I have a gas monitor hooked to my belt which beeps comfortingly every few minutes, assuring me that all is well.
The Poddle river, which is around six inches deep as I stand there, is running by my feet and Dave Greene, a council employee for 49 years, is speaking rapturously about the city’s underground pipes and tunnels.
“It’s a pilgrimage we’re going on,” he says. “You’ll be a new person when you leave.”
Another council employee, executive engineer Ross Flanagan, walks behind us as we move and is keeping track of time and making sure we’re safe.
Not willing to be responsible for losing two Irish Times staff members in a subterranean waterway, they’ve ensured we’ve done a day of “confined spaces” training, and several more Dublin City Council personnel check in on us at different manholes along the way. I ask one of the men if they’re coming with us as I’m descending the ladder and he laughs. He’s part of the emergency rescue team, he says. “You really don’t want to see me down there.”
So it’s me, Dave Greene, Ross Flanagan, Enda O’Dowd (Irish Times cameraman) and, though I don’t actually spot them, probably some rats. Rats are called “the sewer man’s friend”, according to another man at the entrance.
“Because if you see one, that means that there’s no gas, like canaries in a coal mine,” he says. You can also catch Weil’s disease from them though, something else to worry about that I learned on the day-long training course.
Local lore
Unlike the actual sewer system, there’s unlikely to be dangerous gas in the Poddle now (though it was treated as a sewer at one point in its history). It’s the fifth largest of Dublin’s waterways. It rises in Cookstown, northwest of Tallaght, and comes through Tymon Park, Terenure, Mount Jerome and along the South Circular Road. It’s largely culverted through tunnels now at its lower reaches, but Vikings could once take their boats up the Poddle from the Liffey. Back then, it was around 80ft wide and 40ft deep and it helped form a pool around where the gardens now sit in the walls of Dublin Castle. This was the “Black Pool”, the Dubh Linn, after which the city is named.
For hundreds of years, Dubliners drank its water and used it to energise their mills and it was the city’s main water source before pollution, disease and flooding made it seem like more of a nuisance than a help. “They put a roof over it in the 1860s,” says Greene. “It had a lot of gifts this river. But though they loved it, they had to put it underground and tame it a bit.”
Now out of sight and out of mind for most Dubliners, it lives on in local lore. In the revolutionary era, there were tales of prisoners escaping Dublin Castle through these tunnels. In 1985, some hapless bank robbers attempted to tunnel into the nearby Allied Irish Bank from here. Sometimes the council come down in response to reports of people seen messing with manholes or heard underground. Sometimes they take security personnel to check it for threats before important State visits. More commonly, they’re down here to check if any of the brickwork needs to be reinforced.
It’s not polluted now. The water at my feet looks remarkably clear. If there’s a smell down there, it’s more the musty damp smell of underground brick. At the bottom of the ladder we can go left or right but Greene has a route in mind. The four of us walk back through the running stream beneath the gate of Dublin Castle before turning right and coming to a chamber in which, facing us, are two redbrick arches. Both bring the river in parallel streams out towards Ship Street. “The reason they split this culvert in two is in case they built one single culvert and it was blocked with timbers or bicycles,” says Greene. “If you were to travel back either of those culverts they’d meet one another to shake hands at the Birmingham Tower and Record Tower.”
He notes a sharp section jutting between the arches that looks like the prow of a boat. “This could be a reminder of the Vikings,” he says. “Why did they stop here [in Dublin]? Maybe the Poddle was a miracle they were hoping to see… People would wash their clothes and drink the water of the Poddle.” Children once swam here in the now underground river, he says. “It’s flowing. It’s constant.”
To our right as we face the arches, there’s a narrow tunnel that takes the Poddle beneath Dame Street towards the Liffey. This is the direction Greene wants us to take in order to get to the bigger river while we’re still at low tide. “The tide won’t rest for anyone,” he says, ominously, but he doesn’t seem too worried.
Decades coming down here means that Greene always knows what’s above him. At one point, he gestures upwards and says: “If you got out at this manhole you’d see Eddie Rockets restaurant and also you’d see the Olympia Theatre where our great actors and musicians perform… We’re really going back in time now.”
It’s not an entirely easy route. As we walk, the roof gets much lower in places and we have to stoop and bend. At two locations, large sewer pipes cross our path at around waist height and we have to climb over them. Greene can tell us exactly where these sewer lines come from and where they are headed.
It’s only about 320 metres to the Liffey, but the breathing equipment we have to carry for safety reasons is heavy, it’s hot beneath the PPE, and clambering over the pipes and walking in a crouch is tiring. Greene doesn’t seem tired. He seems energised. “When I started 49 years ago I just got addicted to the underground,” he says, at one point.
There are little oddities along the way. The redbrick gives way to grey stone. At one point the stream is joined by another culvert that leads back to the manhole at which we entered. We would have come this route, if we had walked in the other direction when we first entered the tunnel. At another point, we can see what appears to be a little room to our left. “That could be a basement from times past,” says Greene.
From time to time, Greene points out bits of loose brickwork or stone on the watery floor on which we’re walking. Workmen sporadically have to come down for repairs. “Everything has a life, like ourselves, and the walls have a life and have lived through the centuries and maybe they’re saying goodbye to us now, a lot of the bricks,” he says. “These are the walls from 1860 and they’re still standing today… The people who built it are in the heavens now – stonemasons, general workers.”Does he feel a bond with those people? “You do feel a connection with them. Maybe they keep you safe on the journey.”
As we get closer to the Liffey, the sound of running water gets louder. We reach a section where we can stand straight once more and ahead of us we can see the Liffey through an archway with a sort of portcullis. We walk to the edge of the archway and look out on the river, across to the north quays. “This is where the Poddle says goodbye to us and meets the oceans of the world,” says Greene.
We take it all in for a little while before Greene suggests that we head back to the surface. It’s unlikely that the water will rise much today, he says, but “on extreme days of high flood and heavy rain you may not be able to see this arch”.
At one point when we’re walking back through the tunnels and clambering over pipes, I bang against the low roof and knock my head torch from my helmet into the river. The way ahead is pitch black and for a moment I get a sense of how terrifying it would be to be down here without safety gear and a team of people who know the way. Greene hands my torch back to me. “Without a torch you’d be going around in circles down here,” he says.
He seems completely unafraid. He stops at one point and crouches to let the little river run over his gloved hand. “The river Poddle is quiet now, like all the rivers in Ireland, but from time to time they let us know that they’re very much alive, just like angels and saints,” he says.
Soon we’re at the chamber with the double culvert again and, after stopping there for some photos, we’re back to the manhole at which we entered. I climb up the ladder and out into the daylight of Dame Street. “We’re leaving the old city of long ago and we’re entering the more modern Dublin,” says Greene as he emerges shortly after me. “We’re coming towards the end and we’re travelling back to the new century.”
Oh dear, sorry if I misled you. The article was written by Patrick Freyne, a journalist who writes for the Irish Times. I am not sure I would have the courage to walk where Patrick walked!Kirkie,
Wow! Glad you made it "back to the new century" and that your underground walk was uneventful. Entering the Medulas' tunnel or crossing the Portomarin bridge will now be a snap.
Wrong post and wrong place. Ignore meCuriosity. To whom are you replying?
I love evergreens too, and there are so many varieties, even in Illinois. One interesting little fact is that the Sequoia pine tree (which I have only seen in California) is "the largest living thing" in the world. Ironically, the pine cones it produces are very small.I call evergreens mountain trees. I love them.
Peter Fransiscus,Yesterday we walked through miniature Netherlands called " Madurodam ".
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The real one keeps a part off the Netherlands dry during bad weather.
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The "Peace Palace " in The Hague.
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Th old ss Rotterdam from the Holland American Line is now lying in Rotterdam as a Hotel.
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The Monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam in memory of all fallen and murdered persons since the Second World War.
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The park and castle in Nijmegen that bears my last name, namely the Valkhof. And no it is / was not from our family . It is unknown where the name comes from. There is an advantage if we go to the museum of the same name, it costs nothing.
After visiting Madurodam we walked to Scheveningen.
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There is still a cruise ship waiting for better times.
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