Camino Training 4

Although I haven't blogged recently I have continued to train with hikes around Richmond and at Pocahontas State Park where I can cover 15+ miles without having to cover the same ground twice.

In the meantime spring has arrived with flowers in the forest, leaves and flowers on the trees and birds and animals very active. Here are a few of the sights from recent trips.

The level of the river has gone down and left piles of debris which was washed down with the high water levels of 2-3 weeks ago on the rocks.

The power of the water is amazing.

I have previously written about Hollywood Cemetery and this makes an interesting part of a local walk in Richmond. But the James River itself is also fascinating. Soon after the first English colony was started in 1607 near the mouth of the River into the Chesapeake Bay, a settlement, which later developed into what is Richmond today, was established at the foot of the rapids on the river. The site for Richmond was chosen as it was the furthest navigable point on the river and is tidal almost the whole way. At this point there begin 7 miles of rapids and Richmond has grown up over the past 400 years along the rapids on both sides of the river. The falls are caused by the river cutting through a band of granite rock that stretches 1000 miles from New Jersey to Georgia.

Because it was not navigable for this stretch, transport of goods to the expanding colony westward from this point was difficult as everything had to be carried around the rapids and then loaded again into boats upstream. In the 1780's the Kanawha Canal was built by African Slaves, Irish laborers and Italian stonemasons. This allowed boats to by-pass the rapids and continue upstream. Locks were necessary and several of them still exist, but are not active or maintained. Two of these locks are close to the starting point for one of my city hikes. A quarry was established nearby to provide materials for the stone walls.

 

At the same site as the locks, a pumping station was built in 1882 to provide water to the City of Richmond. Thick walls to resist the water pressure and a strong ceiling to support a gantry crane allowed an addition to be made above the pump house. This was used a s a dance hall!

The building looks like a church on the outside.

But the open air upstairs space must have offered marvelous parties. People could arrive by boat on the canal and enjoy an evening with the sound of the river and the falls outside.

Most of the canal still exists but it now dry and overgrown. Here is section further downstream.

It must have had quite a lot of use in its heyday for both passenger and goods traffic. There is a plaque describing a visit to this area by George Washington who stopped here to meet some local dignitaries for lunch but they arrived too late and he had to eat on his own.

The training walks have taken me to many interesting places that I might otherwise not have known about.

I started training in early December and now I feel ready for El Camino. It has been fun experiencing the changing seasons, but reading the reports from Danny and David who started their Camino last weekend has made me anxious to finally get started!

I will leave here on Monday and start the walk on Wednesday 24 April in St Jean Pied de Port France. I hope to be able to blog while on the way and share some pictures, stories and experiences. I am interested to find out how much the experience will be physical and how much spiritual. I found a 9 day "Novena" or 9 day prayer preparation for a pilgrimage on the Internet and I am using it this week as I get ready.

I believe I have all I need - the less the better since I have to carry whatever I take including sleeping bag, rain gear, etc. in a backpack. I hope to be no more than 15 lbs (7kg) but it involves a lot of thought. Perhaps an important part in preparing for a pilgrimage is letting go?

 

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Camino Training 2 - part 2

Hollywood Cemetery was opened in 1849 and named to reflect the holly trees on the property. It sits on hills overlooking the rapids of the James River which stretch along most of the river as it passes through the city. It has an interesting history including being the resting place of 2 United States Presidents - James Monroe and John Tyler along with Jefferson Davis, the only Confederate President.

Having walked up from the river I found that the only entrance is at the very top of the hill. But my goal is to get fit, so no problem. I stopped at the office by the entrance and bought a map ($1.00). I followed one of the paths and soon came across an interesting memorial at the grave of a young girl

I remembered we had seen this a couple of years ago when we went for a walk here with Sarah and her (white) dog. There is a photo somewhere of Schatzi standing next to this dog.

I continued on enjoying a beautiful day and the peace. I came across a burial in progress (there is still room available!). Some of the graves are old and some are more recent.

Even some signs of spring as the trees are ready to burst

Next I came to the "Presidents' Circle" the black tomb is James Monroe and the tall column is John Tyler.

The view from here is nice but of course it is too late for the inhabitants to enjoy it!

The memorials are very interesting and often show the themes of those being memorialized. Here is one in memory of Confederate Officers from the Cicil War with the barrel of a cannon sticking out of the ground

 

I then left the cemetery and walked though one of the older neighborhoods in Richmond back towards the river trail. The architecture here is interesting and today many of these older houses are occupied by students from the nearby universities. Many of the porches had bikes tied to the railings - a give away to student occupation.

Then back to the river, acoss the hanging bridge and on to Belle Isle

This shows the river rapids with the cemetery on the hill behind.

As I walked along the bank of the island I saw people out enjoying the beautiful weather. I am not sure why the children were not in school since today is Friday, but perhaps they are home schooled.

Then on the south bank of the river, past the islands, across the railway tracks and up the hill to the Nickel Bridge and then to the parking area. A total of 10 miles today according to the GPS app on my iPhone and an interesting hike. There is so much history here. Perhaps I can explore more of it on another hike.

I have arranged for another hike tomorrow with the people doing Camino training who I met this morning. Meeting at the Irish Pub at 8:15. After the hike we will have lunch and a pint for St Patrick's Day at the pub. It should be a good day.

 

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Camino Training 2 - part 1

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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Camino Training

Back training for the Camino walk. I will leave Virginia April 22 and meet up with my pilgrim buddy Werner in Biarritz France the next day. We plan to take bus and train from there to the little French town of St Jean Pied de Port from where we will start on our 500 mile walk on April 24.
The weather had been cold and rather wet including snow last Wednesday, but by Saturday it had got warm and I went a very pleasant hike along the James River in Richmond. I completed about 10 miles which was a good way to get back into hiking. It was a beautiful sunny day and a lot of people had taken the opportunity to get out again with families, children, dogs and friends. I felt pretty good after it so perhaps I have not lost too much condition over the last 30 days.
Today I set out again. This time more ambitious with a trip to Pocahontas State Park, about a 40 min drive from home. I had filled my backpack to the target weight for the Camino - 17 lbs.
Again a beautiful day, perfect for a hike. It started out well on a trail through the forest with occasional clearings and meadows.

After a while I came to a stream across the trail but it was easy to cross so no problem

Soon after that I came to the creek that on previous visits I had been able to walk through since there is no bridge and wet feet was a good way of testing my susceptibity to blisters since I am almost certain to get wet feet on some days on the Camino (European spring weather).
What I had not planned on was a raging torrent, too fast and strong to cross on foot. The dam just upstream was overflowing as I had not seen before.

I stopped and ate my sandwich lunch as i decided what to do. I had previously met 2 people on horseback but they were long gone or perhaps they could have ferried me across the creek.
I was more than halfway around the 13 mile circular trail and since there were no other ways to cross the creek I turned around and headed back the way I had come. I headed back and finally arrived back at the car after a total hike of around 18 miles. I was very pleased and satisfied, if a little sore! This would represent a little more than a typical day on the Camino so I feel confident. I will try and do a hike of this length once a week until I leave for France with shorter local hikes in between.
This is also my "training" for blogging which I hope I will be able to keep up with on the trip.

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