A spontaneous trip to the beautiful Isabella Plantation in full bloom – absolutely stunning. I’ve lived in London for 6 years and today was the first time I’ve been here. Perfect timing too, with all the flowers in all their colourful glory. Do try to get there if you have a chance this spring!
Oh, and for you Vine aficionados out there:
Nature, eh? Amazing. vine.co/v/b05lFa1vUvW—
Thomas Knorpp (@thomasknorpp) May 11, 2013
Incomprehensibly, gigantically, stunningly beautiful. I could go on.
But neither words, nor images can come close to experiencing the Grand Canyon first hand. I am just so glad I got to see it and I’m sure that I’ll be back there one day soon for some proper hiking and camping.
Georgie and I went on three hikes (not counting the walk to Shoshone Point, even though that is probably the best view of the Canyon from the South Rim that we came across!) and I just wanted to share them with you here, along with the GPS data from my Garmin Forerunner.
And if you’d like to see more photos from the trip – they’re over on my Flickr page.
Bright Angel Trail to the Indian Garden Campground
The Bright Angel Trail snaking off to the lush green Indian Garden campground in the distance. Taken from the rest house three miles from the South Rim trailhead.
The most popular hike in the Canyon, probably as it’s so easily accessible from Grand Canyon Village and burros are available to take you down and up (we decided to walk!). Also our longest hike of the three, we made it to the Indian Garden before turning around for the hike out. Totally knackered after that ascent!
8.5 miles
3 hours, 22 minutes
2,986 feet from highest to lowest point on our hike
Hermit’s Rest to Dripping Springs
Not too far from Hermit’s Rest – on the way to Dripping Spring.
A stunning hike with some spectacular views and a surprising amount of trees and shade. Also, the descent flattens out after 1.3 miles and 1,364 feet.
6 miles
3 hours, 10 minutes
1,542 feet from highest to lowest point on our hike
Grandview Point to Horseshoe Mesa
The aptly named Horseshoe Mesa
Probably my favourite trail of the three. Accessible from the aptly named Grandview Point, Horseshoe Mesa is ‘only’ a three mile hike away from the trail head. The first of those three miles was probably the most difficult stretch of trail we experienced. It gets a little less steep after that, but there quite a few boulders we had to scramble over. All really good fun!
As with Dripping Springs, we didn’t actually make it to our final destination (we didn’t want to overdo it on our first trip to the Canyon) but that doesn’t mean we enjoyed them any less.
4.1 miles
2 hours, 37 minutes
2,006 feet from highest to lowest point on our hike
A quick snapshot of the Shard towering over London while waiting for the 521 bus. Post editing done entirely on Snapseed.
Source: Flickr
An ongoing gallery of photos from my week in Philly with Georgie and Momo.
An absolutely freezing night at the Emirates to watch the FA Cup third round replay between Arsenal and Swansea. Even though the stadium was only 3/4 full, the atmosphere was excellent. The fans were cheering on the Gunners, pushing them, willing them forward. When, after 86 minutes of frustratio (mainly at some profligate finishing from Walcott), Giroud finally managed to set up Wilshere for a cracking volley to win it and put us through to the next round.
Panorama taken with iPhone 5 and run through Snapseed for extra oomph.
Entirely by accident, I came across the 8 Bit Lane that Disney have set up at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London to promote their new flick “Wreck-it Ralph” via good old Twitter. And as I’d planned to head out on one of my favourite runs in London – Tower Bridge to home – I thought I’d combine the two.
So all layered up, I headed out to Brick Lane, enjoying some of the wonderful street art and the way to the Brewery.
Finally at the Truman Brewery I took in the great 8 bit art on show. It’s an interesting stunt and I throughly enjoyed it. I didn’t play the life-sized Wreck-it Ralph game via the Blippable building – and I didn’t see anyone else giving it a go either. Instead, everyone had their smartphones out and were taking photos. The explanation on the poster was straight forward – but to me it was just another example that while these augmented reality apps, nifty little gadgets that they are – just aren’t mainstream enough and perhaps require more effort in their implementation.
Also, unless you recognised the angry looking character from the Wreck-it Ralph game (I didn’t) or knew that this was about the soon to be released Disney flick (I didn’t), there was no messaging I could see explaining the exhibition to passers-by. Only through googling once home was I able to pull it all together.
How can you not love that wee ‘pixel pup’ (HT @surfpunkian) with his little bit of digital doodoo?
All pixeled out, I stripped off my trousers, vest and jumper – garnering some rather alarmed glances that quickly turned to relief as people realised I was wearing running gear underneath – and headed off home.
2°C and scattered clouds. 9.1 miles, 1h19m18s, 8m40s/mile – via Strava
No points for guessing why this is one of my favourite runs in London: it goes right past some of the most inspiring sights in London, all the while being dwarfed by the newest addition to the London Skyline, the Shard. Of course you do have to contend with the all the tourists, especially around the Tower of London, along Embankment and especially by the Houses of Parliament.
The beautifully restored Albert Bridge signals that there’s just under 2.5 miles left to go bringing my total for the Strava Run Base Mile Blast 57 miles in 13 days. Chuffed to have kept my January runstreak going so far!
All images from the day are also on my Flickr and edited using Snapseed for iPad for some added oomph (loving the ‘Drama’ filter).
A lovely walk along the Thames with my brother for our Christmas lunch at the Old Ship W6.
Taken with iPhone5 and pimped ever so slightly with Snapseed (black & white, drama filter).
8-0 to Chelsea in what was probably the most one-sides game I have ever seen. Up until 4-0, it was the Villa fans making all the noise, culminating in a roaring rendition of ‘This is a library’.
Taken with iPhone 5′s brilliant panorama mode and run though Flickr’s Salamander filter.
A fantastic little trip to the Schwägalp in Switzerland. It was a beautiful day and we were able to enjoy some fantastic views from atop the Säntis. Beautiful!
