A Nice Walk ( with photos )

[PeppermintPatty]

Never mind our walk. Today we watched the Blue Nose dock. The Blue Nose is a famous Canadian sailboat. She was built in Lunenburg Nova Scotia and is impressed on our Canadian dime - a ten cent coin.

The first picture isn’t mine.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Today we walked along the Atlantic Shore once again. It was a 5 kilometre walk. It was quite warm today so we splashed our dogs with ocean water.

 

[MrPants]

I took a pic of Bluenose II a couple years back when I was in Lunenburg. It was docked right outside my hotel window. It was just pulling out of it's slip as I woke up one morning and opened the curtains. Such a majestic sailing ship and to see it in person is truly memorable!

 

[PeppermintPatty]

I took a pic of Bluenose II a couple years back when I was in Lunenburg. It was docked right outside my hotel window. It was just pulling out of slip as I woke up one morning and opened the curtains. Such a majestic sailing ship and to see it in person is truly memorable!
View attachment 361458

Thats a fabulous shot. I was minutes away from getting a perfect shot. We were driving to where it was going to dock and saw it about 100 yards away in the water. If we could have stopped off the road I would have gotten a perfect shot but my husband didn’t pull over. La growl. lol

We have a blue nose model ship in our living room.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Our doggie trailer showed up today so we put it together. It’s actually better made than I expected. It easily folds for quick transport into and out of whatever vehicle we choose to use.

 

[MarkD]

Your Blue Nose pictures encourage me. Today I'm driving Lia down to Stanford for a medical treatment she gets every three weeks. Coincidentally I came across some information about an 1800 year old redwood called the Methuselah which will be just a short side trip off our regular route to Stanford which will allow us to at least view what we can from the road, though I hope to to have time to walk to its base.

Checking on Flickr for other people's photos of it I found some by a fellow named Randy Lloyd who took a number of nice photos from his trip there in 2011. Here are some of my favorites from his photos. The first photo is of Mathuselah the others are from his walk.

Well there are 36 photos in his album titled El Corte de Madera which you can see here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjvsmg47

But there is some interesting information about the Mathuselah tree which I came across at this site: Big Old Tree On Skyline – Methuselah Tree on Skyline Blvd

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Eighteen hundred year old red woods are sure spectacular. I love the bridges.

Today we had a perfect example of scattered showers. We had company today so our walk was late. After our company left, it poured down. It rained cats & dogs. After the rain we got in our car and 3 kms away the road was dry and the sun was shining. Then 1/2 way to where we were going it poured down again. Before we got to our walking path, the sun came out again .

On the way back it poured down but the skies weren’t as dark. Talk about scattered showers.

I can’t wait for my bike to show up so we can try out the trailer. Our dogs don’t looks as impressed…… lol

 

[MarkD]

Eighteen hundred year old red woods are sure spectacular. I love the bridges.

Today we had a perfect example of scattered showers. We had company today so our walk was late. After our company left, it poured down. It rained cats & dogs. After the rain we got in our car and 3 kms away the road was dry and the sun was shining. Then 1/2 way to where we were going it poured down again. Before we got to our walking path, the sun came out again .
View attachment 361631View attachment 361633
On the way back it poured down but the skies weren’t as dark. Talk about scattered showers.

I can’t wait for my bike to show up so we can try out the trailer. Our dogs don’t looks as impressed…… lol

Well you don't give up easy. Like the postman you aren't put off by a title precipitation.

We found this whopper of a tree. I think the reason it survived the logging that took out every other redwood in the area is that it probably had been a victim of a lightening strike or windstorm long before europeans showed up. to record it. But a huge amount of the crown that was there in 1954 blew down in windstorms that year. Basically the tree is one huge pillar of about a hundred feet by 14 foot diamter on top of which new branching continually tries again only to blown down again. Here are pictures I took today starting with the sign etched into the gate leading to the tree.

Coming down the far side of the tree there are steps down a steep slope and a small tunnel caused by fire but too small to get into for a person.

Looking back up into the tree from the bottom of the steps.

The road up to this location had been long and winding but coming down we were pleasantly surprised to realize we were on the Sandhill road we normally take from the freeway to get to the hospital at Stanford.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

That’s a really large tree Mark. I find trees fascinating. After logging in my pictures I can’t help but notice a huge difference between our trees and yours. Our property has a mixture of deciduous and coniferous but mostly birch, cherry, maple, poplar, Douglas fir, white pine and spruce. Our property is 1 kilometre back ( deep ) by about 600 feet wide.

Sometimes I like walking in the rain, especially if it’s flat easy walking. The last few days we’ve been for short walks. Just half an hour walks walking 2 to 3 kilometres.
My ebike came in so we went for a ride. I wish I took photos. The scenery is really breaktaking on nice sunny days. The sky is so blue and so is the ocean.

Today we walked our property which isn’t an easy walk. In fact it’s really challenging in parts.

We’ve been intentionally trying to make paths through it.


I really have to be careful of my footing along these paths. While walking this morning, we could hear a hawk really close to us.




It’s a fairly dense forest that we are gradually thinning out. The nice thing is it’s refreshingly cool so is great on hot days. There aren’t a lot of bugs either which you’d expect. It’s actually a nice walk in the winter time too.

What we need to get now is a bike rack so we can go places and take our dogs. We’d rather get them use to the trailer without the cars which is why we didn’t take them. Plus I’m just getting used to my bike. E-bikes can really go fast. Going down some hills we are over 40 kilometres per hour.

 

[MarkD]

Making your own trails might be fun. I’d try to make them with as little incline as possible. Eventually that will matter. I’d also try to stitch together as many nice views as possible. My FIL built his house on a steep slope and managed to make his paths easy but nice. Of course his lot wasn’t near as big as yours.

That tree his much bigger around and older than almost any redwood on the SF peninsula, so not at all typical. But even a hundred year old redwood can be quite tall. The girth is what takes time. It must be thrilling to hear a hawk nearby.

 

[MarkD]

Our walks have shrunk more and more. Lately we go to the nearest large dog park most often, Point Isabel. Lia’s blood pressure is remaining much too low when she walks so she must sit frequently. We really got the new rolling walker just in time.







This what it looks like there in March before it all dries out.

https://flic.kr/p/2oDXZsr

And at low tide other pathways become available.

https://flic.kr/p/2oh5tkP

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Making your own trails might be fun. I’d try to make them with as little incline as possible. Eventually that will matter. I’d also try to stitch together as many nice views as possible. My FIL built his house on a steep slope and managed to make his paths easy but nice. Of course his lot wasn’t near as big as yours.

That tree his much bigger around and older than almost any redwood on the SF peninsula, so not at all typical. But even a hundred year old redwood can be quite tall. The girth is what takes time. It must be thrilling to hear a hawk nearby.

We are kind of winging making paths on our
property. The ATV paths started out as a necessity for my husband to get firewood . Some areas are steeper than we’d like so this year we are modifying the ATV trail for strictly walking purposes.

In some places it’s steep enough to see the ocean but only in the fall and winter when the leaves are gone. The wintertime is the easiest time to walk these paths, after my husband has put an ATV through. The ATV packs the snow down so well that it’s easier walking. On a nice sunny day it’s actually quite pleasant.

I see Lia is enjoying her roller. I wonder how it does in the snow. Do you even get snow where you live?

Ember sure seems to enjoy having her picture taken. She’s incredibly photogenic too.

Today we are going for a bike ride. I’ll have to figure out a way to bring my phone so I can have easy access. The great thing about my ebike is that it has a carrying basket in the front and a strap on carrier on the back. It also comes with lights. One at the front and one at the back. My helmet has flashing L.E.D. Lights on it for better visibility.

Hopefully this afternoon I’ll have some nice photos from the oceanfront scenic drive and I’ll try to do that without driving my husband nuts. He makes me get in front. He has a mirror. Something I don’t have on mine yet.

Have a lovely day everyone.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Our bike ride started out sunny but ended up cloudy so the pictures weren’t as gorgeous as usual.

We took the dog trailer without the dogs just for practice. My husband pulled the trailer, of course.

It was a fun ride but I kept going faster than him. I offered to go behind him but he refused, of course. lol . I currently have no mirror so can’t see the cars and to be honest, this road is VERY hilly AND windy so visibility isn’t the greatest. Ordering the bike car rack is essential if we want to take the dogs.

Speaking of the dogs, they aren’t happy being left at home but my husband and I agree that it’s probably good for them to be left on their own from time to time. Eventually they will get use to it.

Cars coming up behind us is a real problem for my husband since he’s got the trailer. I pull off to the side of the road but he doesn’t , so I think it’s best that we don’t use the trailer on this particular road.

The bike ride itself is awesome. Today we went a total of 20 kilometres. The other day we did a total of 16 kilometres. It’s a long enough ride that we get a work out and it doesn’t hurt my tailbone too much. It strengthens up my knees. Something that needs strengthening.

The bike I have has 7 gears and 5 pedal assists. It’s also got a throttle which I love. After going down hill , in 7th gear, it’s so easy to change gears and turn the throttle to go up hill with ease. It’s taking a bit of time to get use to it but the good news is, that I am.

Now for pictures. I wore Skechers leggings so I had a side pocket for my iPhone. ( camera)

My man on his bike.

The community centre scenery. This is 8 kilometres away from where we live.



The next two pictures is where a pair of eagles live. We’ve discovered that eagles like living near an inlet; meaning that they like a peninsula of land for hunting ( fishing ).


Next up is an old barn which I think holds lots of character.

 

[RadishRose]

Beautiful. I love the barn!

 

[PeppermintPatty]

After the ride we made pancakes while a deer and her fawn looked for things to eat. They saw and heard us in the house but didn’t care.

 

[MarkD]

Our bike ride started out sunny but ended up cloudy so the pictures weren’t as gorgeous as usual.

We took the dog trailer without the dogs just for practice. My husband pulled the trailer, of course.

It was a fun ride but I kept going faster than him. I offered to go behind him but he refused, of course. lol . I currently have no mirror so can’t see the cars and to be honest, this road is VERY hilly AND windy so visibility isn’t the greatest. Ordering the bike car rack is essential if we want to take the dogs.

Speaking of the dogs, they aren’t happy being left at home but my husband and I agree that it’s probably good for them to be left on their own from time to time. Eventually they will get use to it.

Cars coming up behind us is a real problem for my husband since he’s got the trailer. I pull off to the side of the road but he doesn’t , so I think it’s best that we don’t use the trailer on this particular road.

The bike ride itself is awesome. Today we went a total of 20 kilometres. The other day we did a total of 16 kilometres. It’s a long enough ride that we get a work out and it doesn’t hurt my tailbone too much. It strengthens up my knees. Something that needs strengthening.

The bike I have has 7 gears and 5 pedal assists. It’s also got a throttle which I love. After going down hill , in 7th gear, it’s so easy to change gears and turn the throttle to go up hill with ease. It’s taking a bit of time to get use to it but the good news is, that I am.

Now for pictures. I wore Skechers leggings so I had a side pocket for my iPhone. ( camera)

My man on his bike. View attachment 362822

The community centre scenery. This is 8 kilometres away from where we live.

View attachment 362823

The next two pictures is where a pair of eagles live. We’ve discovered that eagles like living near an inlet; meaning that they like a peninsula of land for hunting ( fishing ).
View attachment 362824
View attachment 362825
Next up is an old barn which I think holds lots of character.

View attachment 362826

Riding a bike on a narrow road like that would make me nervous but the red dog trailer and flag should increase your visibility. Good decision!

We're getting set to go to Fort Funston in San Francisco again but there has been a surprising amount of rain coming down. Not a down pour but more than the drizzle which would be usual this time of year. Odd to get any rain this early.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Riding a bike on a narrow road like that would make me nervous but the red dog trailer and flag should increase your visibility. Good decision!

We're getting set to go to Fort Funston in San Francisco again but there has been a surprising amount of rain coming down. Not a down pour but more than the drizzle which would be usual this time of year. Odd to get any rain this early.

Riding a bike on this windy road makes me nervous. It will make me even MORE nervous having precious cargo back there so we’ve decided we aren’t going to take the dogs on that road. We are going to take them on the ATV/ biking and walking trails. That’s where we went today.

I hope you don’t get water logged. lol

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Today I’m feeling so content and grounded.
We went on the path we are going to take our dogs first biking trip on. They don’t like being left on their own so we are hoping that they will enjoy going in the trailer more than staying at home on their own. Aren’t we sneaky? lol

Today was Saturday so it was really busy but I LOVED it. It’s nice meeting or passing others that are going out enjoying their day like we are. They all smile and say hello and seem to be in a good mood. We always put our dogs back on their leashes which is the rules and people always thank us. My husband griped a couple of times. We usually go on weekdays when it’s not so busy. I actually enjoyed the company today.



It was a bit warm today; 24 degrees Celsius but this path has plenty of trees to shade it.
We walked 5.4 kilometres today and stopped at our usual place. In the distance there were people with tents on the beach. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see them.


Here’s a pretty wild flower. Have I mentioned that I LOVE wild flowers.


Today was a glorious walk. Everyone was so cheerful and friendly towards us. Then again I woke up in a grand mood and have been smiling all day and I think a good mood is contagious.

I’d like to take a moment to thank all those who frequent this thread. Thanks for taking time to visit and read my thread. Writing about my walk really helps make my day. I’m really just sharing my LOVE!

 

[MarkD]

Those are beautiful photos. I especially like that old bench. I'm glad you enjoyed the many people there to enjoy it with you on the weekend. Reminds me of when we hiked from Mammoth Lakes in the eastern Sierra into Yosemite Valley in about ten days. Most of it was off trail with days when we never saw another human being. As we were walking the last day into the valley we saw tons of people but what stands out was how glad I was to see their faces and say hello. When we're not inundated with each other it can actually be nice to see each more people.

We also made it to our walk the morning on a Saturday, something I usually try to avoid. But today was pretty mellow because it rained much more than a sprinkle this morning. So we got coffee and headed over there but then sat there and read while we waited for the weather to settle. When it did I headed south to go down to the beach via the sandy cliffs while Lia stuck to the firm paths with her new rolling walker.

We used to go right down the slick sandstone-like cliff face but now, even by myself I prefer to glissade down the steep loose sand where I can't so easily hurt myself. Took this looking toward the top on my way down.

You can see by the way Ember is standing how steep it is here but also how soft and welcoming that sand is.

On the middle level as I headed South to the horse ramp I spied the same naked ladies to the left. On the right is a crude bench on the cliff edge.

They seemed very poised and used to being admired in their naked pinkness.

Then we headed down to the beach on that horse ramp.

 

[horseless carriage]

The closure of a branch line railway back in 1964 gave the New Forest another asset. The track bed became known as Castleman's Trailway. The Trailway is one of the Forest's gentlest way-marked, walking, cycling and horse riding routes. About 16 miles long, the trailway follows much of the old Southampton to Dorchester railway line.

These two photos show you the route and the solid pathway. If you are lucky you might just catch sight of the forest's shyest creature, the red deer. But for this post I want to show you what happened to the railway station.
This photo, taken before closure, allows you to see it as it was.

Holmsley served much of the surrounding rural area. After closure, stations were pulled down and became either housing or industrial estates. The sensitivity of the forest meant any building was severely restricted. Holmsley became: Holmsley Tea Rooms.

The flavour of the former station remains, and being tea rooms, it's more like a cafe than a pub, although they do have a licence to serve alcohol. It's very popular with walkers when they want to take a break. Tourists and locals both use it regularly too. On the wall in the main restaurant is a wonderful artist's impression of that earlier photograph.

It's a fair distance to walk from where we live, but the proprietor is in love with our old MG. We get treated like royalty when we turn up in it.

 

[MarkD]

Today I’m feeling so content and grounded.
We went on the path we are going to take our dogs first biking trip on. They don’t like being left on their own so we are hoping that they will enjoy going in the trailer more than staying at home on their own. Aren’t we sneaky? lol

Today was Saturday so it was really busy but I LOVED it. It’s nice meeting or passing others that are going out enjoying their day like we are. They all smile and say hello and seem to be in a good mood. We always put our dogs back on their leashes which is the rules and people always thank us. My husband griped a couple of times. We usually go on weekdays when it’s not so busy. I actually enjoyed the company today.


View attachment 363107
It was a bit warm today; 24 degrees Celsius but this path has plenty of trees to shade it.
We walked 5.4 kilometres today and stopped at our usual place. In the distance there were people with tents on the beach. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see them.
View attachment 363110

Here’s a pretty wild flower. Have I mentioned that I LOVE wild flowers.

View attachment 363111
Today was a glorious walk. Everyone was so cheerful and friendly towards us. Then again I woke up in a grand mood and have been smiling all day and I think a good mood is contagious.
View attachment 363114
I’d like to take a moment to thank all those who frequent this thread. Thanks for taking time to visit and read my thread. Writing about my walk really helps make my day. I’m really just sharing my LOVE!

I’m glad you do. Some day I’ll walk less myself and it will be enjoyable vicariously enjoy the walks of others. Hope you’ll still be posting by then.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Those are beautiful photos. I especially like that old bench. I'm glad you enjoyed the many people there to enjoy it with you on the weekend. Reminds me of when we hiked from Mammoth Lakes in the eastern Sierra into Yosemite Valley in about ten days. Most of it was off trail with days when we never saw another human being. As we were walking the last day into the valley we saw tons of people but what stands out was how glad I was to see their faces and say hello. When we're not inundated with each other it can actually be nice to see each more people.

We also made it to our walk the morning on a Saturday, something I usually try to avoid. But today was pretty mellow because it rained much more than a sprinkle this morning. So we got coffee and headed over there but then sat there and read while we waited for the weather to settle. When it did I headed south to go down to the beach via the sandy cliffs while Lia stuck to the firm paths with her new rolling walker.

We used to go right down the slick sandstone-like cliff face but now, even by myself I prefer to glissade down the steep loose sand where I can't so easily hurt myself. Took this looking toward the top on my way down.

You can see by the way Ember is standing how steep it is here but also how soft and welcoming that sand is.

On the middle level as I headed South to the horse ramp I spied the same naked ladies to the left. On the right is a crude bench on the cliff edge.

They seemed very poised and used to being admired in their naked pinkness.

Then we headed down to the beach on that horse ramp.

Did you do interior hiking. Hiking where you carry your own gear? ( tents, clothes, food etc)

We did a 10 day interior walk in Algonquin park and and 17 day interior canoe trip and were tickled pink to finally see other people instead of bears. Lol. I’m not kidding either.
We met up with lots of them.

Do you and Lia often split up in your daily walks? Pushing that roller in that thick wet sand would be frustrating to say the least.

It looks like we both have incredible scenery. Your pictures are amazing.

I love the pink naked ladies.
We both took photos of pink wild flowers. Our lives are somewhat parallel.

Ember looks like she loves having her picture taken.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

The closure of a branch line railway back in 1964 gave the New Forest another asset. The track bed became known as Castleman's Trailway. The Trailway is one of the Forest's gentlest way-marked, walking, cycling and horse riding routes. About 16 miles long, the trailway follows much of the old Southampton to Dorchester railway line.
View attachment 363180View attachment 363181
These two photos show you the route and the solid pathway. If you are lucky you might just catch sight of the forest's shyest creature, the red deer. But for this post I want to show you what happened to the railway station.
This photo, taken before closure, allows you to see it as it was.
View attachment 363183
Holmsley served much of the surrounding rural area. After closure, stations were pulled down and became either housing or industrial estates. The sensitivity of the forest meant any building was severely restricted. Holmsley became: Holmsley Tea Rooms.
View attachment 363182
The flavour of the former station remains, and being tea rooms, it's more like a cafe than a pub, although they do have a licence to serve alcohol. It's very popular with walkers when they want to take a break. Tourists and locals both use it regularly too. On the wall in the main restaurant is a wonderful artist's impression of that earlier photograph.
View attachment 363184
It's a fair distance to walk from where we live, but the proprietor is in love with our old MG. We get treated like royalty when we turn up in it.

It’s interesting that you bring up pathways made from old railways. Two of our favourite trails are actually old railway tracks that got converted to walking paths. One is next to our nearest town. It follows the Atlantic Ocean and is very scenic.



The other trail is about 30 minutes away and goes around the Atlantic Ocean. The path is about 92 kilometres and we’ve walked about 25 kilometres of that. I don’t mean that we’ve walked that at one time. I mean we’ve walked 5 kilometres here, 5 kilometres there. It’s the path we are going to be biking on while pulling our dogs in the trailer. It’s really a lovely path.

The second path not only has resting benches but has washrooms about every 5 kilometres

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Today we went on an ATV trail . This one we aren’t sure if it used to be part of an old rail track trail but seems to be.

It has a stream right beside it so the dogs can get a drink of water and cool off. My husband said that there’s trout in there.


The next picture is a bunny that looks photoshopped .
This trail hooked up to another dirt road that came out along the main road. In total we walked 4 kilometres.


On the way back I took a picture of the boats
We went home , had a sandwich and then went biking. We went just over 19 kilometres in 53 minutes. It’s fun but I can’t wait to get a trailer so we can take the dogs with us.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Our bike rack came in extra early so my husband put it today and we went biking today with our dogs.

Last night I found some foam and cut a piece to put into their bike trailer to make it more comfy. Yes they are spoiled. I wasn’t expecting them to get used to it as quickly as they did. We got some really cute pictures to send to my in-laws.

Today we went to the Atlantic Coastal Trail and biked 32 kilometres.
We stopped half way at a picnic table overlooking the ocean and had our lunch we brought with us. The view was amazing.



The trail truly was fabulous. The next place we stopped at had a big map along with more picnic tables. It even had an entrance way down to the beach. I took a picture of 2 lobster boats.



A bit further up we spotted a bald eagle catching its dinner. It first caught the fish. Not a little fish either. It went from rock to rock with this fish in its claws. I managed to get some good photos of it.

Note: since I can only add 5 pictures per post I will add these to the next post.

There are a few horse ranches along this trail so I took a picture of one. There were a few horse but I just took this picture of one.


On the way back we stopped at a nice lookout spot and started a conversion with a nice older gentleman. Turns out he’s from Ontario and is here for a wedding. He looked a lot like Robin Williams. When I told him that he seemed to really like it.

This picnic area had picnic tables as well as a hammock. It was a nice area to stop and rest.

Not far from there I wiped out. Somehow I managed to get off the trail and fell off my bike. Luckily I had a on a full head helmet cause my head bounced off the trail. I skinned my left arm and left knee and somehow managed to hurt my lower left rib. My husband kept asking if I think I broke it but I’ve had broken ribs before and know what that feels like. It’s just a bruised rib. My bike has a few scratches on it so I’ll consider it broken in. ( no pictures ) lol