Barry's Ramblings

Symi: to the other side of the island

Posted on April 15, 2014 by BarryH

It isn’t often that I contradict myself so quickly. Not that I’ve changed my mind, just that I’m putting a different slant on things. In the last blog I disparaged the old Taoist saying that “the journey is the reward”, now I’m going to endorse it.

I was writing then about long distance, high speed travel and my views on that haven’t changed one bit. It’s necessary but not enjoyable. However, it is unlikely that the Old Taoist philosopher had the benefit of air travel. His context would have been plodding from one end of Asia to the other on foot. Therein lies the difference.

On foot you get to see far more than zooming around by plane, train or car. To appreciate a place you need to walk, a view endorsed by such eminent travel writers as Bruce Chatwin and Patrick Lee Fermor. A journey on foot is very much the reward

I arrived on Symi on Wednesday morning and spent the next three days trying to sort out practicalities, the most personally satisfying of which was to set up a MiFi in the house which, lacking a phone line, has no ADSL. As a techno-incompetent that was an achievement. Now I’m back on the internet so I can get all those SPAM e-mails again.

Come Saturday and I had to escape to the mountains. Cloudless sky, gentle breeze, perfect conditions. I set out to walk to Agios Vasilios and Lapathos beach on the other side of the island, a walk which I have done many times and written up to put on the internet for others. (see below) The walk is every bit as enjoyable as the destination. I have been there by boat and it somehow demeans the experience of the place.

One difference from previous occasions is that I have always started from Lefteris’s Kafeneion at the lower end of Horio, the old village above the harbour. The house which I’m in this year is much higher up in the village and it went against the grain to walk down only to climb back up in a different set of alleyways. For those who don’t know it, Horio is a maze of narrow alleys with only a few places which cars can reach. The house is 10 minutes walk from the nearest taxi drop-off point. The network of interconnecting paths is so complex that it has not been mapped nor is it likely to be.

In all that tangle of alleyways I reckoned that there must be a way of reaching where I wanted to be without losing too much height. Just behind the house is a church which would be a good starting point as churches which are actively used have a network of paths leading to them. This was very obviously such a church as its bells clang regularly at weekends making your brain vibrate in your skull.

The short alley which the house is in, barely shoulder-width at the top, took me up to the church in less than a minute and from there I followed a meandering route with minimal change of height, mostly between derelict buildings, which brought me out to a point I recognised. (coming in from the left of the now closed shop shown in photograph 11 of Walk 1 ‘To Viewpoint above Horio’ if you look at the walking guide.)

The church towering behind the house

One of he alleys between derelict buildings

At this time of year even derelict corners are colourful

From there the route was familiar. First continuing upwards out of the village to what is probably one of the best viewpoints on Symi looking over the iconic harbour and down the valley to Pedi Bay with the mountains of western Turkey sharply defined, the width of the Bristol Channel away. Through a ramshackle gate and onto the open mountain on a rocky kalderimi bordered by great clumps of oregano scenting the air and soon to be flavouring my meals. On passed the tiny chapel of Agios Paraskevi and an ‘improved’ section of path to cross the tarmac road running the spine of the island.

Looking down to the main harbour

Looking down he valley to Pedi Bay

On the other side of the road reach the ridge-top at 320 metres and the hamlet of Ksissos, enlarged but not enhanced by building in recent years, is soon passed and then onto another rocky path flanking high above the Vasilios Gorge, this time with clumps of wild sage.

Rocky path and sage

After half an hour or so Lapathos Bay comes into view far below at the end of the gorge and the path begins to descend not to the beach but to the top of the cliffs on the west side of the island.

The end of the gorge and Lapathos Bay

Below the cliff-top path the chapel of Agios Vasilios sits perched on the edge of a vertical drop, well worth a visit not for the splendour of its frescoes or iconography but for its simplicity and peaceful setting.

Lapathos beach far below Agios Vasilios

The bell

A steep climb back up to the now very narrow path between sloping slabs of rock and then the almost precipitous descent down to the floor of the gorge and the beach. The most dramatic and interesting part of a dramatic and interesting walk. I didn’t hurry, it took 2 hours each way.

I enjoyed every minute of the journey as well as the destination.

The steps from Agios Vasilios back up to the cliff-top path

The narrow cliff-top path

…. drops near-vertically down to the floor of the gorge

half way down the rock gives way to steep, loose stones

The peace and calm of the beach

Looking towards the climb back up to the top

If you come to Symi and want to do the walk up to the Viewpoint or onwards to Agios Vasilios take a look at the following. They are a little out of date now, one of the things I hope to do while I’m here is to update them.

Walk 1 To the Viewpoint above Horio
Symi walk 1- Viewpoint
Notes:
1 ‘The ‘Glaros’ taverna in photo 2 is now called the ‘Village Cafe’ and the oval painted sign has been replaced by a rectangular wooden one.

New name, new sign

2 The end of the alley in photo 10 is now a pair of new stone-built houses not a blank wall with a door

Walk 2 To Agios Vasilios and Lapathos Beach
Symi walk 2 Ag Vasilios

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains | Tagged Agios Vasilios, Greece, Oregano, Sage, Symi, Vasilios Gorge, Viewpoints | Leave a comment

Symi: en route and arriving

Posted on April 10, 2014 by BarryH

“It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive” is an axiom, often repeated but first penned by Robert Louis Stevenson, which has become a cliché. The thought echoes and old Taoist saying that “the journey is the reward”. I read a slogan the other day to the effect that the true traveller doesn’t care about arriving. ‘Round objects’, as Churchill is reputed to have scribbled in the margin of a document he didn’t agree with.

My take on it is quite different. I travel because I want to be where I’m going, not because I want to be in the places in-between. If I wanted to be in those places I would plan to go there. The journey may be mildly diverting but as far as possible I deal with it by reading or dozing. I sometimes find myself half wishing that the emergencies which the flight crew prepare us for would happen just to add a little interest. If I could go into stasis and wake up at the destination, that would be fine by me, I would manage without the in-flight meal.

Airports and planes are ‘nowheres’, enclosed spaces with no view of the real world, divorced from reality. But they are necessary to get to where we want to be.

My flight was at 22.15, the journey a disaster waiting to happen in terms of timing. Arrive Athens 04.00; connecting flight 05.00; arrive Rhodes 06.00; ferry from the ‘Colonna’ harbour 08.30, arrive Symi 09.20. Plenty of opportunity for slippage and lost baggage there!

Apart from being misdirected to the connecting flight and doing a grand tour of Athens Venizelos Airport on 3 levels, it all went like clockwork. Arrived Rhodes on time, baggage on the carousel before we had strolled across the tarmac to the terminal building. Out of the door by 06.15

Chatting to people on the plane I found that there were a number of us going to Symi and therefore all heading for the harbour so we shared a taxi costing €6 each, arriving at the ferry only minutes ahead of another guy who caught the bus for €2.30 and with nearly an hour to kill before the ticket office opened and 2 hours before the ferry left.

I needed to put credit on my Greek mobile phone so I walked across the road from the harbour into the walled Old Town, built by the Crusaders centuries ago. In summer the place is heaving with people at virtually any time of day or night, restaurants and tavernas stationing fast-talking spiders who leap out to entice you into their web. When I arrive at the end of April last year I found he Old Town very quiet, few people around, and some businesses not yet open for the season. This year not a single place was open, shops, restaurants, tavernas, kiosks all shuttered. A few cars zoomed up and down the main pedestrianised street and a couple of guys getting ready to paint were the only signs that there was anyone still left on this bit of the planet.

As I arrived back at the harbour the sun was rising above the buildings on the quay opposite into a cloudless sky, adding warmth to the colour of the stone walls and glinting on the water and the sides of .the moored boats.

Dodecanese Seaways have two high speed catamarans which ply the Aegean, linking the Greek islands along the Turkish coast, north up to Patmos and then back every day. Having been enclosed in the cabin of a plane for four hours already I generally sit outside on the back of the boat, this early in the year a little chill in the wind but bearable in the sunshine.

After 30 minutes the coast of Rhodes is disappearing and we are running close along the eastern side of Symi, the first port of call. I stand at the rail and watch, remembering parts of the coastline I know from trekking the mountains, looking at possible routes up the cliffs which I keep intending to try. As we slow down to pull alongside the quay those travelling further, flock outside to take-in what is one of the most spectacular harbours in Greece if not all of Europe.

I’m met at the quayside and share a taxi up to the Horio, the old village on the hill above the harbour and then, dropped off at the closest point that we can get by car, walk the last 10 minutes to the house I’m renting on narrow, twisting, rough surfaced alleys which haven’t changed in centuries. Donkeys used to be used for this leg of the journey but the guy retired so now we carry our own burdens.

I’ve arrived.

One of the gates through the walls of the Crusader city

The main street up to the old mosque, usually crowded but early in the season and early in the morning all shuttered tight

Carved wooded door of a ‘traditional’ kafenion

The sun warms the stone walls, reflections of small fishing boats in the mirror-smooth water

The walls reach the water’s edge

Turned to gold

Posted in Greece, History, Landscape, Reflections | Tagged Crusader city, Greece, plane travel, Rhodes, Rhodes harbour, Rhodes Old Town, sunrise, Symi, Symi harbour, travel | 6 Comments

Escape to the sun

Posted on April 5, 2014 by BarryH

Apart from putting forward the ridiculous hypothesis that Jesus once visited Britain, William Blake’s poetic reference to “England’s green and pleasant land”, with specific reference to “mountains green” and “pleasant pastures” , ignores the fact that it is only so because it rains. A lot.

Thursday morning and again grey cloud but thankfully dry. I prepared the soil in a terrace in the vegetable garden and planted ‘Pink Fur Apple’ potatoes to add to the ‘Charlotte’ and ‘Picasso’ I planted in a similar dry slot on Wednesday. I cursed the slugs which had munched on the sprouts, red cabbage and leeks I planted the day before that then headed off to cut the hedge in my son’s garden before catching the bus to Cardiff for essential pre-trip shopping and meeting an old friend for a curry and a pint. By which time it was raining torrentially.

Such is spring in Britain and, increasingly so, so is summer. Sufferers of SAD just groan.

There has been a rapidly accelerating pace of activity over the last few days as my departure gets closer and the amount I have to do before I go doesn’t seem to get any smaller.

Friday was frenetic. Long phone call with friends coming out to visit. Trip to the bank to sort out an ISA to protect my meagre savings from the taxman. Visit to the barbers for a summer-weight haircut. Fish and chips with the Ladzwotlunch before we go our different ways again. Pick up grandchildren from school then plant some potatoes with them in their bit of the garden, explaining that they are neither Pink, Furry nor Apples. The rest of the family arrive for a meal. When they leave I do the washing up and clearing. Then walk the half hour to the pub to meet a friend for a pint. And it’s suddenly gone midnight and I fall asleep in the armchair in front of the TV, hot drink going cold on the table beside me.

Saturday, it’s grey and drizzling. Still have seeds to plant. Must protect the prickly pear cacti from slug-attack (they ignore the spines and feast on the thick flesh). And it’s now desperate that I start to pack, a necessary process not yet progressed beyond thoughts whirling around in my head.

The preparation is all about escape. Escape from the grey and the wet but more positively, escape to the sun. As soon as I feel the sun seeping into my bones the hassle of preparation will be forgotten. It won’t be a new world, we are stuck with that for now, but it will be a sunnier, warmer world. For a short time at least.

April 2013: Two-foot long spathe of a Dragon Lily at the side of a rocky footpath through the mountains overlooking Symi harbour

Poppies at the side of a old wall

Posted in Greece, Grey Britain, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Reflections, Spring | Tagged Dragon Lily, escape, gardening, Greece, Grey Britain, poppies, potatoes, pub lunch, Sunshine, William Blake | 4 Comments

Spring in Wales and Greece

Posted on March 26, 2014 by BarryH

Sunday afternoon, 23 March and the sun was shining. The sun has only put in the occasional appearance recently. Heavy showers in the morning had cleared and blue sky beckoned. One of the great benefits of living at the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park is that there is good walking from the house, no need to drive to a mountain, there’s one out the back.

I followed a favourite route, an amble along the Abergavenny and Brecon Canal and then a steep pull up to the ridge, distracted by potential photo opportunities on the way. I sat in the sun at the Folly Tower, but didn’t stay long, there was a cold North-easterly wind and the ridge top is pretty exposed. Looking out of the window at home I had been tempted to walk in shorts and T-shirt but was very glad I didn’t. The sun may be shining but after a few days of spring warmth the temperature has dropped again with overnight frosts if the sky clears. Budburst seems to be on hold again.

Reflections in the Abergavenny and Brecon Canal

The last pull up to the ridge-top

Looking across the Vale of Usk

Welsh Blacks in the top field

As I walked down the ridge path to complete the circuit back to the house I mused about the vagaries of the weather, how different this route can be.

I remembered many years ago walking the path in the opposite direction and turning back before I reached the Folly Tower, beaten by 5 foot snow drifts and inadequate clothing. The path drops down into Pontypool Park, home of Pontypool RFC which, in the days before the game went professional, was one of the best clubs in Britain with a world famous front row. I had gone to watch a Saturday afternoon home game. It snowed heavily overnight and all morning. As the covers on the pitch were laboriously pulled back by an army of eager spectators the green of the grass, framed by white, was dazzling. But not for long. The falling snow became heavier. Within 15 minutes the pitch too was white, the stands on the opposite side invisible and the ball lost as soon as it was kicked. The referee abandoned the game and I set out to walk to the Folly to salvage something from the afternoon. I remember the occasion vividly because it was only the second time I had turned back on a walk, even today one of less than a handful of such occasions.

Last Sunday the farmers had already turned their cattle and sheep out into the topmost fields on the ridge, obviously having decided that a return to winter was unlikely.

But it was very different last year, winter continuing well into the ‘spring’ months. Back home I checked and on 23 March 2013, a year to the day, I walked the same route in deep winter conditions, walls, trees, fences snow-blasted and frozen. No sign of animals until well into April.

On the way to the top

Snow-blasted Folly Tower

Ridge-top wall

Stile into the top field

With only two weeks left before I head for Greece I wondered what the weather will be like there. We had been on Hydra in the Saronics in April 2003 and know that the weather is likely to be by no means settled dry and sunny like it is in Summer. Some days warm sunshine, others grey and cold. On a return visit to the island in March 2004 we had to shelter a couple of times under the canopies of beachside tavernas as it snowed. But what more than made up for the indifferent weather was the spectacular flora which carpeted the island.

A wide variety of flowering plants

Anemones grow everywhere

Poppies contrast with daisies

Not an impressionist painting, the real thing

I don’t know how Symi and the neighbouring Dodecanese islands will compare with Hydra in spring colour but I’m looking forward to finding out. I’m taking warm clothes.

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Monmouthshire, Mountains, Nature, Pontypool, Spring, Wales, Winter | Tagged Abergavenny and Brecon Canal, brecon beacons national park, Greece, Hydra, Pontypool, Pontypool Folly Tower, Pontypool RFC, Saronics, snow, spring flowers, Symi, Wales | 5 Comments

Greece: preparations, stay cool

Posted on March 17, 2014 by BarryH

It is now only 3 weeks before I fly to Greece. Preparations have to be made for leaving behind house and garden, friends and family.

With a sudden outbreak of dry if not reliably sunny weather I have been concentrating my attention on the garden: completing the autumn-clearing previously interrupted by week after week of rain; sorting out the devastation from the wettest winter in England and Wales since records began in 1766 (before the USA was even a twinkle in revolutionaries’ eyes); preparing to sow and plant the vegetable garden for the growing season with crops which can be harvested when I come home. Sorting out the garden may not sound like a big deal but it’s a quarter of an acre which quickly becomes overgrown if neglected.

In 2010, the first time I went to Greece for a prolonged period, I came home after 2 months for a few days and found 6 foot thistles choking the paths, vegetables lost among luxuriant weeds. Since then I have been laying a network of paths which will remain weed-free, now nearing completion.

Preparations also have to be made for ‘going to’ as well as ‘leaving behind’. Practicalities such as flights to book, ferries schedules to suss out, en route accommodation to find. Decisions to make on what to pack and locating things not unearthed since last summer.

I will not be in Greece for the whole summer, returning home for grandchildren’s birthdays and the suchlike but nevertheless a stay of months at a time is very different from a two week holiday. It’s a whole different mind-set, not becoming a resident but not being a typical tourist either.

It may sound obvious but even the smaller islands, and Symi where I’ll be based is one of the smallest, have facilities and services. No need to take basics such as batteries, sunscreen, toiletries and coffee. They are readily available in supermarkets. No need for American Express intervention, the islands even have medical services.

Which reminds me. One of the things I hope to do this summer is spend more time writing about previous travels and one thing I wrote about recently is an incident which happened to me a few years ago when I was ill on the island of Tilos in the Dodecanese: ‘Being ill in a Foreign Language’. Take a look.

Being ill in a foreign language 2

Be prepared. Stay cool.

Posted in Greece, Health and humour, Hiking, Mountains | Tagged American Independence, bladder infection, foreign language, gardening, Greece, Greek medical services, growing vegetables, ill health, laying paths, medical services, Record weather, summer, Symi, thistles, Tilos, vegetable garden, wet winter | 1 Comment

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz ……!

Posted on March 10, 2014 by BarryH

The well-known poem*, often attributed to New York prolific writer of comic verse Ogden Nash but made famous, in the UK at least, by Spike Milligan when he wasn’t walking backwards to Christmas, reflects the lightness of mood when the sun finally comes out, temperatures move into double figures, plants push out of the sodden ground and burst into bud.

Spring arrived in Old South Wales and much of the rest of Britain on Friday. Months of grey, wet weather instantly became history, relegated to the back of the mind. The sun shone from near cloudless sky with noticeable warmth, lighting up the colour which had been appearing gradually and unnoticed in the gloom.

And, after a momentary return to grey and wet on Saturday, the mountain behind the house lost in low cloud, spring reasserted itself by the end of the morning. I laid yet another path in the garden.

As well as spring flowers people came out of hibernation, blinking in the sunlight, faces shiny with TV-screen-pallor, clad in summer-weight clothes. The towpath of the Abergavenny and Brecon Canal was thronged with people strolling, cycling, walking the dog, pushing buggies, trying to stop little Jimmy from falling in the water.

Sunday was even better, not a cloud in the sky all day. I headed for the ridge and had it to myself, everyone else having cleared supermarket shelves of lager, was glued to the annual crunch match between England and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. This is the only one that really matters in Wales. Unfortunately, the only sadness of the day, we lost. It will make winning next year all the sweeter.

Daffodils light up in the sun

Aeonium ‘Schrwarzkopf’ regains its deep purple colour in the sun.

Hazel tree laden with catkins

Crocuses like chicks with bright coloured beaks

Stately daffodils in the shade leaning towards the light, waiting their turn

Newly planted ramsons (wild garlic) just emerging from the leaf mold.

Drab under grey sky, colourful in the sun

Not an alien life-form, newly emerging rhubarb leaf

On the ridge, trees still in tight bud

Stunted remnant of old hedge

The Folly Tower above Pontypool

Spring looks set to continue for a few days yet.

*The full poem:

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz
I wonder where the birdies is.
The bird is on the wing.
But that’s absurd, the wing is on the bird.
Or so I’ve heard.

Posted in Health and humour, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Pontypool, Spring, Wales | Tagged aeoniums, catkins, daffodils, Ogden Nash, plants, poetry, Pontypool Folly Tower, ramsons, rhubarb, rugby, Spike Milligan, spring, Spring is sprung, spring weather, wild garlic | 4 Comments

Canadian Rockies: Winter trails around Banff.

Posted on March 3, 2014 by BarryH

Before I turn my attention to Greece, for those who may be interested in following them, below is a summary of some of the walks I did during my recent visit to Banff. They were tracked using the ‘Endomondo’ app on my phone against a Google Earth background. The satellite imagery was taken in the summer months but when I was there it was covered in ice and snow and so uniformly white.

The timings are in no way targets to aim for. They are how long I actually took, mostly from the town centre hotel I stayed in and back to Starbuck’s for a caffeine fix, and so allow for plenty of photo stops. The internet links are to the descriptions and photos on Barry’s Ramblings for that particular trail.

I did other walks which were sections or composites of these six routes.

A very useful map is the 1:35,000 ‘Banff Up-Close’ by Gem Trek Publishing:
http://www.gemtrek.com/banffupclose.html
available on-line or in Banff bookshops and the Parks Canada Office.

Click on the images for a larger view of the track

Cave and Basin and the Marsh Loop

An easy, fairly level walk on broad trails including the Strange World of Ice and Steam and the board walks around the Cave and Basin complex and over the marsh.

4.75 miles, 2 hours

https://barryh2.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/canadian-rockies-history-bio-engineering-and-a-strange-world-of-ice-and-steam/

Track for the Cave and Basin and Marsh Loop Trails

Spray River

An easy walk down to the Bow Falls, ignoring the ‘Trail Closed’ signs at the steps up the side of the crag overlooking the falls or as an alternative diverting away from the river to circumvent them. Then a choice of trails alongside the Spray before climbing up to the higher level Spray Loop for the return. Cleats and trekking poles may be useful especially over the ‘closed’ section of trail.

5.2 miles, 2 hours 30

https://barryh2.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/canadian-rockies-icy-river-twitching-senses/

Route on Old Quarry and Spray River Trails

Sulphur Mountain

Down to the Bow Falls again and then a path rising up through the pine forest to reach the Upper Hot Springs and the Gondola. A very good board walk at the summit. Cleats and trekking poles may be useful.

9.2 miles including just over a mile on the gondola, 4 hours 30

https://barryh2.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/canadian-rockies-to-the-top-of-sulphur-mountain/

Trail to the Sulphur Mountain Gondola and on the summit

Sundance Canyon

A broad trail to the canyon then a narrow trail climbing up to Sundance Pass and another climbing more steeply up the side of a frozen waterfall at the head of the canyon. Cleats and trekking poles may be useful.

10.6 miles, 5 hours 30

https://barryh2.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/canadian-rockies-flashback-in-sundance-canyon/

Trail to Sundance Canyon and Sundance Pass

Tunnel Mountain

A great walk straight out of the town, a clear path steeply zigzagging up the mountain from Tunnel Mountain Drive. Well used trail but cleats and trekking poles may be useful.

4 miles, 2 hours 30

https://barryh2.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/canadian-rockies-to-the-top-of-tunnel-mountain/

On Trip Adviser:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g154911-d3443726-r151203407-Tunnel_Mountain_Trail-Banff_Banff_National_Park_Alberta.html#REVIEWS

Tunnel Mountain Trail

Vermilion Lakes

A very easy level walk with expansive views.

7.8 miles, 3 hours 45

https://barryh2.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/canadian-rockies-the-icy-expanse-of-vermilion-lakes/

Trail to Vermilion Lakes

Posted in Canada, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Winter | Tagged banff canada, Bow Falls, Bow River, Cave and Basin, Edmondo, Snow and ice, Spray River, sulphur mountain, Sulphur Mountain Gondola, Sundance Canyon, Tunnel Mountain, Vermilion Lakes, winter trails | 2 Comments

From the Canadian Rockies to Greece: looking back, moving forward.

Posted on February 27, 2014 by BarryH

It’s tempting to keep looking back to good times but there comes a point when attention has to shift in order to move forward.

I had a great time in the Rockies, skiing and walking some of the winter trails around Banff. Conditions varied from unusually mild weather when I arrived to seriously cold with temperatures in town down to minus 35 and a lot colder than that in the mountains. Towards the end of my stay a few days of fresh snow perked things up very nicely.

My skiing improved a little, especially on hard-pack and icy surfaces. Skiing powder at the end drilled home that there is still much room for improvement, bad habits to identify and change, better technique to learn.

I did some good walks, revisited favourite locations, saw some new places. It’s always satisfying to leave a place knowing that there were things which I didn’t get round to doing. An incentive to return, if one were needed.

Surrounded by dramatic mountains, etched with snow and backed much of the time by blue sky it was ideal for photography, making up for lack of technical knowledge.

I met up with some old friends, made new ones. Always one of the pleasures of travelling.

The sun sets on an icy world: as the temperature plummets ice sculptures become more of a feature

$Sunset refracted through a fine piece of carving$

Sunset refracted through a fine piece of carving

Now it’s time to meet up with family and friends back home. And to start planning, making preparations for going to Greece in the summer. The plan this year is to base myself on the island of Symi in the Dodecanese. I’ll travel out from there to see friends on neighbouring islands such as Kalymnos, Nisyros and Tilos, maybe travel further afield.

In addition, the plan is to spend more time writing. I have not got beyond chapter 8 of my “Travels Around Greece by Bus”, barely two weeks into an 8 week journey in 2012 …… and I need to revisit those in light of constructive criticism from a good friend.

Last year my plans were unexpectedly laid waste, or rather were steered onto a very different course. I remind myself yet again that “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (Book of Proverbs chapter 19 verse 21).

Trying to focus the mind, I have booked my first flight out. I leave early April. A great deal to do to sort the garden after the winter’s devastation, planted and pruned ready to leave for the summer and come back to harvest.

Posted in Art, Canada, Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Winter | Tagged banff canada, canadian rockies, dodecanese islands, Greece, hiking, ice sculpture, skiing, Symi, trekking, winter trails | 2 Comments

Canadian Rockies: Flashback in Sundance Canyon

Posted on February 21, 2014 by BarryH

The skiing and trekking in the Rockies are finished now and I’m back home. But there are still a couple of things to write about.

Beginning with my jaunt to Sundance Canyon. I went there first in January 2011 after I damaged my ACL in a skiing accident. Reluctant to just sit around and advised by the physio not to let the knee stiffen up, once the swelling went down I started a short series of graduated rehabilitation walks before flying home. Culminating in Sundance Canyon.

First following the Bow River upstream past the Cave and Basin, the trail passes through the strange world of Ice and Steam, then on beyond the Marsh Loop where it rejoins the river.

Minus 30 degrees, steam rising from the thermal spring as it reaches the marsh

In winter the trail is principally used by cross-country/Nordic skiers, in summer by cyclists. The views are impressive, made more so by blue sky and temperatures below minus 30, freezing all the moisture out of the air. The river is flat and lazy upstream of the Banff bridge and so is thick-frozen and snow-covered, with winter-long footpaths crossing the ice, a large oval skating track regularly cleared and much used by the local community. At one point a thermal spring keeps a channel open in the ice.

One of my favourite views, a thermal spring meanders through the ice, Mount Edith pointed in the background

Before I reach the end of the trail I divert off to the left, steeply up through the pine forest following tracks barely the width of my feet in deep snow. Clearly not trodden for some time, there is 6 inches of fresh snow on top. I’m again grateful for my cleats and for the first time use trekking poles with snow-baskets. The trail is signed ‘Sundance Pass’ but the destinations are some tens of kilometres away. Closest is 12 kilometres to the Spray River, with a similar length return. With skiing tomorrow I don’t intend going that far. I follow it for an hour, sometimes steeply, sometimes more gently but always through the trees. When I reach a small clearing at what I guess is close to the highest point, I stand in the sun for a few minutes to eat a muesli bar and then turn back as my main objective is a little further up the canyon itself.

Trail just visible under fresh snow

On narrow ridge dropping steeply to the right, almost vertically to cliffs into Sundance Canyon on the left

On a narrow ridge, dropping steeply to the right, almost vertically down cliffs into Sundance Canyon on the left

At the end of the broad trail are picnic tables thickly blanketed in snow even under the trees, a large log-built shelter with long wooden tables, benches and facilities for BBQs, and ‘washrooms’, the polite Canadian term for public toilets. Even here, the middle of nowhere, the latter are open even in the depths of winter, doors held slightly ajar by drifted snow.

From the ‘trail head’ a narrow and little trodden path crosses a low wooden bridge and then climbs increasingly steeply and clogged with snow up the side of a frozen waterfall. When I first came here in 2011 the sound of water tumbling beneath the ice triggered a flashback over half a century to an incident in the Peak District in Derbyshire. From that incident I wrote a piece on the theme ‘A Narrow Escape’. It didn’t win any prizes but you might like it.

Under the snow

I wanted to come back to Sundance Canyon partly because I enjoy the walk, partly to reflect on what might not have been, and to take a few photos.

“I had left the twin cross-country ski grooves on the back-trail from Banff towards Sunshine Village…”

“a vertical rock face towered on the right, narrow ledges picked out in white”

“a stout-timbered bridge crossing the canyon neck-craningly high above”

Near vertical compacted snow up onto the bridge … and up off it at the further side

With a low-angled sun much of the steep-sided canyon is in shade at this time of year, a little gloomy. But then the walk back is in bright sunshine.

Back in the sunlight, looking towards Mount Rundle

Survived

Posted in Canada, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Reflections, Winter | Tagged banff canada, Bow River, Derbyshire Peak District, Mount Edith, Mount Rundle, narrow escapes, Sundance Canyon, Sundance Pass, thermal springs | 1 Comment

Canadian Rockies: to the top of Sulphur Mountain

Posted on February 18, 2014 by BarryH

During the last 10 days or so of my stay in the Canadian Rockies I decided to concentrate my efforts on trying to improve my skiing. With fresh falls of snow the conditions changed from the ‘hard-pack’ with which I had become familiar, exposing my lack of proper technique. Change of conditions, change of emphasis, change of sky from blue to less photogenic grey resulted in more skiing and fewer photographs.

But there were still ‘days-off’. One of the reasons I like Banff is the opportunity to walk winter trails on days when I’m not skiing. I try to include a mix of routes which I have enjoyed on previous visits and others new to me. Coming towards the end of my stay I realised that there were more trails I wanted to explore than days available. Snow shoeing in Marble Canyon? The Hoodoos Trail with the prospect/risk of running across a bunch of coyotes again? A nostalgic jaunt up Tunnel Mountain? Walk up Sulphur Mountain Trail?

In the event one decision was made for me by friends who I met last year and again this who had bought tickets for the Sulphur Mountain Gondola, not used, and very generously left in an envelope for me at the hotel.

I had wanted to go up Sulphur Mountain which at 2260 metres (7,415 ft) is 570 metres (1870 ft) higher than Tunnel Mountain which I blogged about previously. The longer walk-in, longer climb and heavier going in fresh snow, together with the prospect of the impact on my legs for days of more skiing to follow, had put me off.

There was also a far more daunting prospect, a darker cloud than the one overhead leaking snow profusely: the need to go shopping, presents to find for the grandchildren. I can’t buy just any old tat, I have to find something which I think appropriate, which will be appreciated, and which can be encompassed times four within the space and weight limits of my flight baggage.

The gondola tickets provided the ideal solution. With the morning snowfall forecast to clear by afternoon I could tackle the shops first and then for light relief walk to the gondola base near ‘Upper Hot ‘Springs’, ride to the top and wander on up to the Observatory.

I was exhausted when I returned to the hotel after trolling around 15 or 20 prospective sources of gifts in Downtown Banff. Resisting the temptation to sit down ‘just for a minute’ to recover, because I knew that if I did I would doze off in the seductive warmth of the hotel, I changed into full winter kit and set out.

The first part of the walk is to Bow Falls, always a pleasure, and once the cold air hit me I freshened up. The expanse of open water between the Town Bridge to below the Falls which featured in my walk along the Bow River in the unseasonably mild weather at the end of my first week had changed dramatically with over a week of minus 35 degree mornings and minus 20 afternoons. Most of the river had now frozen over and was snow-covered. The Spray River joined the Bow below the ice. The sky was nolonger blue but graphite as the snow continued to fall.

Part of the iced-over Bow Falls

Two weeks ago a broad expanse of open water below the falls, now only a narrow channel and the at the foot of the crag, the Spray River entirely covered

Two weeks ago a broad expanse of open water below the falls, now only a narrow channel and at the foot of the crag, the Spray River entirely covered

Looking along the snow-covered ice over the Spray River

The old ice level on the Spray, newly formed ice below it, open water on the Bow beyond

The Bow Falls Trail climbs a crag and in winter is chained across with a swinging ‘TRAIL CLOSED’ sign, mostly ignored. It is certainly passable with care in good boots but I had put on my cleats which made the steep, snow-filled wooden steps easier and safer, taking them off once down at river level.

I found the onward trail to the Upper Hot Springs at the far left of the top car park of the love-or-hate-it self-styled ‘chateau’ of the huge (alright, the luxurious but architecturally monstrous faux-Gothic) Banff Springs Hotel. The trail climbed, sometimes steeply, sometimes gently, up a through the forest. I regretted having removed my cleats as in places the hard-pack below the fresh snow was sheet ice. With rising temperatures I soon got very warm and also regretted being in full winter gear.

There were only two sets of prints in the fresh snow on the trail ahead of me, one the boots of a young teenager or small woman, the other of what I hoped was a dog not a coyote.

When in half an hour I reached the massive 5-star Rimrock Hotel adjacent to the Upper Hot Springs I thought that the architecture of the Banff Springs wasn’t that bad after all.

The large car park at the base of the Gondola was virtually empty, fewer than ten cars, parked prominently in the middle the very chunky red and white Brewster Ice Explorer with its monster-wheels, ready to take visitors onto the Columbia Icefield when called upon to do so.

The Ice Explorer in the Gondola car aprk

The gondola base station is impressive, with a Starbucks offering a tantalising caffeine–fix. I decided to defer the pleasure until on my way down. Anticipation heightens the experience. The turn-round of the 4–person gondolas is, very surprisingly, dependant on fit young things with backs bent pushing the cabins around the loop, unlike the similar–sized gondolas on the ski hill which are fully automated.

Ten minutes to the top and a different world. The upper station of the gondola is older but just as impressive as the bottom, with a high level ‘viewing deck’ above the flying saucer shaped ‘Restaurant at the Top of The Universe’, offering an all-round panorama.

Once outside it was significantly colder and windier. Now I was glad of my winter gear and, with significant wind-chill, only regretted having sweated on the way up from the river. I soon warmed up again as I followed the extremely well constructed half a kilometre-long board walk across the drifted snow down into a col and then up to the 1903 Meteorological Observatory. There was 20cms of fresh snow in places, even on the boardwalk, with deeper drifts. The snow-blasted, thick-walled, stone-built observatory now has a sturdy telecom mast on top, presumably replacing the manual observation and reporting procedure of the 30 years it was used principally by Norman Bethune Sanson after whom the small peak was named in 1948.

Looking along part of the boardwalk to the Observatory from the upper Gondola station

The snow-blasted hut of the Observatory on Sanson Peak

Reflected voyeur and the interior of the hut, preserved for posterity

Looking from Sanson Peak towards the flying saucer which is the upper Gondola station and the summit beyond

The cloud had lifted off the peak for the time I was there but I could see the dark mass of another snow cloud creeping inexorably along the length the Spray Valley from the far end of Mount Rundle. Neighbouring peaks were lost in the clouds, not photogenic but the views were still impressive.

Looking over Banff

Looking down to the Bow River, the Falls hidden by the faux-Gothic Banff Springs Hotel bottom left

The serrated peaks of Rundle Mountain briefly lit by the sun

The serrated peaks of Mount Rundle briefly lit by the sun

Back at the base an exceedingly enjoyable caffeine-fix sitting in an armchair by the fire, then eschewing the prospect of taking the twice-hourly ‘Roam’ bus back to the hotel, I strapped on my cleats and headed down the trail, a real spring in my step as the peak of the mountain disappeared once more and the snow shower finally overtook me.

Newly frozen surface on the Bow River, Mountain Rundle lost in the snow sweeping down the valley

Newly frozen surface on the Bow River, Mount Rundle lost in the snow sweeping down the valley

Shopping completed successfully. An 8 mile walk, just over half a mile horizontally and 698m (2,292 ft) vertically on the gondola. Yet another great day. And it snowed, so the next day skiing would be good.

Posted in Canada, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Winter | Tagged banff canada, Banff Springs Hotel, Bow River, canadian rockies, faux-Gothic architecture, ice, Mount Rundle, skiing, snow, Spray River, sulphur mountain, Sulphur Mountain Gondola, Sulphur Mountain Meterological Observatory, Tunnel Mountain | 5 Comments