Canals

I do love walking on the old canals; the industrial past, the beautiful architecture and then strange buildings like this. Not sure whether to title it Needs Some Work, or Seen Better Days.

An Uplifting Day

The Stroll continues. Onto leg 15 today. Walking along the Rochdale Canal from Todmorden to Sowerby Bridge for 10 miles or so, in beautiful autumn sunshine and mild calm weather. All sorts of people out and enjoying it too. Layla the star of the show on the train there and back, milking the adoration.

The stillness and the light made for some beautiful reflections. A bit straightforward a shot for me, but it does capture the day.

Life

 Life has been carrying on. Band practiced a couple of weeks ago, our music book group met to discuss a book about pianos in Paris, and we have a house guest for the weekend, Catherine, from New York City, the daughter of an old school friend of  Daneille's who we last saw 9 years ago as a 10 year old in Tuscany. So plenty going on.

Keldy 3

 

Peace in the dappled sunlight.

Keldy 2

We had some great walking in the forest, straight out of the door of the cabin. Perfect.
 

Keldy 1

After Colorado we had a few days in a forest cabin in Keldy Forest in the North York Moors. A fantastic place, really great accommodation, which as you can see suited all of us. Hot Tub on the deck was for humans only.
 

Colorado 6

Our final day was a drive back to Denver airport where our flight was delayed on account of Donald Trump having one of his hate-filled rallies in the city. 

This is an old gold mine in the Cripple Creek area

Colorado 5

 After the conference we had a couple of days together. We stayed in Cripple Creek, which used to be at the centre of extensive gold mining. Amazingly it still is, with a huge open cast mine in active and profitable use. It was a great little town to stay in. We went to see a production of Spamalot (the Monty Python muscial) which we loved. One of the cast asked me how their accent was, and I could honestly say that it was very good indeed. 

In the day we walked up in the mountains, where the aspen were losing their leaves for fall. It was a beautiful place to be.

Colorado 4

 

It is always good to meet the various people from around the world who come to these events, and I was happy to photography them on the final day. Jo Swinson (ex Lib Dem leader in the UK) was there, got on very well with her.

Colorado 3

I took the cog railway (rack and pinion) to the top of nearby Pikes Peak at 4302 metres high. For the first time in my life I felt a bit altitude wobbly. Previously cycling at over 5,300 metres had been no problem. I fear, it is another POTAP situation. Anyway the train was great with an excellent conductor telling us all about it. In this shot the train is making its way to the summit.

Colorado 2

 

Day 2 and I explored the area a bit more. There were lots of good trails, and just when I was getting peckish I came across a good cafe (or trading post as it was called) to keep me on my way. The weather was beautiful for our whole trip, unseasonally so, snow sometimes falls in October.