Today was again a beautiful day and I took advantage of it for another training hike. My goal is to do two decent hikes each week plus a couple of visits to the gym. I set out for a hike around the James River in Richmond. There are some nice trails right in the downtown area but it feels like being in the wild.
I drove to one of my usual parking/starting places and got my backpack out of the car. I had loaded it up the night before with extra bottles of water to make it representative of the weight I plan to carry in Spain. As I was closing the car I saw another man loading a large backpack into his car. We started talking and it turns out that he had just finished his hike and he is also training for the Camino. He and a friend will leave about 2 weeks before me. After talking for about 15 minutes and comparing notes and ideas he suggested I might like to join them for some training hikes and I gladly accepted. We will meet tomorrow morning (Saturday) at 8:15 and leave our cars at an Irish pub near the river. They plan to hike and end up back at the pub for a pint for St Patrick's day (March 17). It should be fun.
I then set off on my hike first across the Boulevard Bridge. This is often referred to as the Nickel Bridge since the toll used to be 5 cents. Now however it is 35 cents.
The bridge crosses the James River with nice views on either side.
After crossing the River I headed down a steep path and after crossing a railroad track there is a nice path that stays close to the river bank for about 2 miles towards downtown Richmond. It was muddy in places and the river was much higher than normal. Probably due to the warmer weather melting the snow in the Appalachians further upstream.
The trail continues alongside the river and passes some small islands near the bank. When the water is low it is possible to cross to the islands on rocks but not today.
At one place the trail splits to a lower section and an upper section. I started along the lower section but it soon ended up under the water so I turned round and went to the upper section which was fine.
I continued on and then across a footbridge to a large island in the river; Belle Isle
This also offers a first glimpse of the downtown skyline across the river.
Here the river is very rocky and on the island there are the ruins of an old hydro-electric plant that closed in the 1960's
During the civil war there was a prison camp for union soldiers and a plaque has been erected as a memorial to the over 1000 who died there while prisoners.
Further I came to a second footbridge, this one across the main part of the river. It is built hanging from a large highway bridge above.
This gives clear views of the downtown skyline and of the river
Once on the north bank I continued on up the hill to the historic Hollywood Cemetary. Details of that part of the hike will be added as part 2 of this blog,
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