Across London following the Thames

I'm one for believing that you should continually strive for goals. The pursuit of goal helps us develop. I learnt a couple of years ago that there is a path along the River Thames both north of the river and south of the river. Since then I've always been intrigued as to how I would walk the length of the river. Given some time off in the summer of 2016 i thought it was worthwhile giving it a shot. It has been a few months since I last tried long walk along the South Down's Way.

The Thames Path

I started my Thames Path journey at the Thames Barrier with a view to walk as far west as i could, my target was Kingston upon Thames. Primarily for the ease of being picked up close to home. I started early around 8am and my time limit was 12 hours of walking maximum.

As with all (great) endeavours that start out in excitement, the actual task of walking the Thames Path is as dull as dishwater. The first 10 kilometres consist of walking through industrial estates and the path is sparsely populated. With the occasional cyclist flying by me as my feet thumped across London.

Thing become vaguely interesting as you approach Tower Bridge the starting point of the most worthwhile segment for the river. The bridges come thick and fast and the crowds increase. While the crowds and tourists reach their peak between Tower Bridge and Waterloo they are a welcome change from the monotony of walking.

Once you pass Battersea Park you begin counting the distance between the bridges and start thinking about your target. Strangely the Thames's meanders mean that whilst you're walking a long distance you're not actually covering a huge amount of ground. You can see from the curls of the line above that large curls in the river mean you can be looking at the same things for hours.

I did eventually decide to call in quits in Richmond primarily due to the call of nature and my pace of walking had decreased and going on to Kingston would have means another few hours. Maybe I will complete it a different day by as a first outing I was satisfied with the curls on my Nike+

In total I walked 46.60kms along the river it took me 9 hours. Not counting the walking between station and starting point and the struggle to find a washroom in Richmond. Thank god for Odeon Cinemas.

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America Trip Summary

When looking back over out trip i realised how difficult it was to find a particular page so I thought I would summarise it here for any readers and primarily myself.

America Trip Summary 

Day	Itinerary	Key Points
Day 1	Las Vegas	The first day
Day 2	Las Vegas	Las Vegas, shows and chilling
Day 3	Las Vegas	Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon West
Day 4	Las Vegas to Death Valley	Death Valley  (Dante's View, Zabriske's Point, Badwater, Artiste's Drive)
Day 5	Death Valley to Yosemite	To Yosemite (Stovepipe Wells Village, Mesquite Sand Dunes, Mammoth Lakes and Devil's Post pile)
Day 6	Yosemite	Yosemite National Park (Yosemite Falls, Vernal Falls and Glacier Point)
Day 7	Yosemite	Yosemite National Park - Trees and Trails (Sequioa Trees, Hikes to Taft Point)
Day 8	Yosemite to Lake Tahoe	To Lake Tahoe (Tiago Pass, Tuolumne Meadows)
Day 9	Lake Tahoe	Lake Tahoe (Fallen Leaf Lake, Around Lake Tahoe, Pebble Bay at night)
Day 10	Lake Tahoe to San Francisco	Lake Tahoe to San Francisco (Napa Valley, Calistoga, Bodega Bay and Golden Gate)
Day 11	San Francisco	Streets of San Francisco (Streets of San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf and Cable Cars)
Day 12	San Francisco	San Francisco's Chinatown and Golden Gate (Chinatown, City Lights bookshop, Chrissy Fields)
Day 11	San Francisco	Streets of San Francisco (Streets of San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf and Cable Cars)
Day 12	San Francisco	San Francisco's Chinatown and Golden Gate (Chinatown, City Lights bookshop, Chrissy Fields)
Day 13	Monterey	To Monterey (Crooked Hill San Francisco, Half Moon Bay and Pacific Coastal Highway)
Day 14	Cambria	To Cambria (Pebble Bay 17 mile Drive, Big Sur, San Simeone)
Day 15	Santa Barbara	To Santa Barbara (Morro Bay, Pismo Beach)
Day 16	Los Angeles	Santa Barbara and Los Angeles (Santa Barbara Beach, Drive to LA)
Day 17	Los Angeles	Los Angeles (Santa Monica Beach, Muscle Beach and Griffin Park)
Day 18	Los Angeles	Los Angeles (Hollywood Star's Homes, Warner Bros Studio Tour and Santa Monica Sunset)
Day 19	San Diego	To San Diego (The Getty, Malibu and San Diego)
Day 20	San Diego	San Diego (Shopping and Sunsets at La Jolla)
Day 21	Palm Springs	San Diego to Palm Springs (Looking down to the Palm Desert)
Day 22	Las Vegas	Palm Spring to Las Vegas (Palm Spring Tramway, Joshua Tree National Park, Route 66 and Mohave Desert)
Day 23	Las Vegas	Day of Rest
Day 24	Grand Canyon	Grand Canyon South Rim and Page (The epic Grand Canyon and Sunsets)
Day 25	Monument Valley (Page)	Monument Valley (Page) (Monument Valley and Horseshoe Bend)
Day 26	Page	Horseshoe bend rafting and Slot Canyon Adventures (Rafting in Page, Waterhole slot canyon and Zion)
Day 27	Cedar City	Bryce Canyon

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Day 27 (12 August 2016) Bryce Canyon

Our trip was coming to an end with our departure back home the following day (from Las Vegas). So the one last surprise was Bryce Canyon. We drove Drove to Bryce Canyon from Cedar City and then took the Interstate to Las Vegas.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon was a strange place to visit very distinct in its rock structure that leaves you wondering is this really earth you're on. The place has information on its structure and formation. Primarily there is a trail look around the Canyon where you descent into Bryce Canyon and then climb back out.

We went on a particularly hot day and so my tendency was to walk half way down and then back up. Though a lady we met on the way strongly encouraged us to do the whole loop. Much to our kids dismay. The extra walking was worth it as you have great photo opportunities at the bottom of the trail.

Route for the day

Our route for the day is shown below, it was essentially a drive to Bryce and then onto Las Vegas.

We ended out trip in Las Vegas, right back where we started it all.

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Day 26 (11 August 2016) - Horseshoe bend rafting, Slot Canyons and Zion National Park

We woke up early in Page as we had pre-booked a river rafting trip. The idea was to raft the horse shoe bend, its was very calm water so anyone can do the tour and the company that organises these tours was very professional (Colorado River Discovery). White water rafting trips are available further up the river in the Grand Canyon but these trip are inevitable longer. We had taken the half day option.

Colorado River Rafting

Slot Canyon

While rafting we learnt that there was a slot canyon that we could visit without the extortionate charges. This is a worth while thing to as a slot canyon is an amazing visual site. We visited the Water Holes Canyon just outside of Page on highway 89 it was mid day and it was a detour as we had planned to visit Zion National Park. The parking is just off road and you had to follow a trail of stones laid out by someone to help you navigate to a place where you can climb down into the canyon.

The Waterhole Canyon is a cheaper alternative to Antelope Canyon which can only be visited by tours. Antelope Canyon is more scenic and you can get excellent photographs if you go at certain points of the day.

Here are our photographs of Waterhole Canyon

Zion National Park

After the waterhole canyon we continued our journey on to Zion National Park and Cedar City which was going to be our stop for the night before we concluded our trip in Las Vegas. Unfortunately for us Zion National Park was closed as the access road had a rock fall. So we skirted around the edge of Zion, the park seems to have a lot of parallels with Yosemite. So are we skirted around the park we didn't feel we missed much.

Route for the day

We wanted to take Highway 9 through Zion but unfortunately the park gates were closed for the day. So we skirted north around Zion.

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Day 25 (10 August 2016) - Monument Valley

Page for us was a central hub for our travels for two after the first night in Page we travelled out to Monument Valley. The valley is phenomenal photographic opportunity with strangely shaped rock rising high from the floor. While you cant climb the rocks the views and shapes are a marvel and the location is backdrop to a lot of old western films.

The journey from Page (Arizona) to Monument Valley is a simple road with a total distance of 2 hours. Our route is shown below

There are a number of visitor centre en route which have a reasonable cross section of information. Primarily the area is very photogenic and there is a looped drive once you've reached Monument Valley that takes you around the park. Below are some pictures on what you can expect to see.

We spent a couple of hours driving to Monument Valley, spent a few hours there driving the loop and well documented drive and then a couple of hours driving back. We had mixed weather but as you can see from our pictures about the clouds and the crystal blue sky really made for excellent photographs.

Horseshoe Bend, Page

We ended our day with an attempt to get to the Horseshoe bend at sunset again we were lucky enough to catch a stunning sunset and whilst our pictures suffered a little from low light we caught a majestic glimpse of the sun going down. From the parking lot the view point is over a kilometer away so back on a 15 mins walk.

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Day 24 (9 August 2016) - Grand Canyon South Rim and Page

The last leg of our journey was going east from Las Vegas to cover the main part of the Grand Canyon. Our original plan was to cover the north and south rims but the north rim was closed and so the route to the south rim was the default choice. This was just as well as getting to the north or south rim from Las Vegas is a mammoth four hour drive and there is no way to cover both rims in a day by driving the distances are too vast.

Our route to the Grand Canyon and onto Page which was our stop for the night is shown below.

The drive is a long drive so trying to do the South Rim in a day from Las Vegas will be pushing it. The South Rim is the main part of the Grand Canyon and part of the US National Park service. Its not part of the rip off west rim. This meant that our Annual Pass worked and the way to visit the rim is very similar to the other national park. There is a parking area and then you take the free shuttle buses to the various view points along the rim. We parked in the Grand Canyon Village and essentially walked the Rim Trail and took the free shuttle buses for the view points further away.

Grand Canyon South Rim

This is want you can expect to see at the South Rim.

As you can see from the top picture we managed to go on a spectacular day where its was raining over part of the canyon and the top picture captures this. After the initial awe at this sight it became clear that we were going to get a soaking.

While typically you would think that a this would mean a lovely cooling shower it became clear that the situation was a little more precarious. Apparently the rim is prone to lightning strikes and when it rained we saw a number of lightening strikes across the rim.

The national parks had to evacuate the rim and the shuttle buses which displayed a 15 minute periodic lethargy started to come thick and fast. It need the classic American urgency and anger to kick things into shape but things usually more when this happens the Americans really get things moving.

After a 30 minute wait with wet clothes and a whole load of shivering we boarded the bus back to Grand Canyon village. When we arrived at the village we were pretty much ready to drive to Page having concluded that we had seen enough sunsets on our trip. But the Grand Canyon had one last surprise for us.

We were gifted with a spectacular sunset, the photographs above do not serve any justice to the beauty. So it you go do ask about the sunset at the time of the year you go there and if its worthwhile given the weather forecast.

We left the Grand Canyon in the dark and drive the couple of hours needed to get to Page. Where we were staying for the night.

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Day 23 (8 August 2016) - Las Vegas

Rest, there are some days where you need a day of rest and for us Day 23 was our day of rest. This pretty much meant we work up without an alarm and it was a day of pool side laze. Our evening was spend on the Las Vegas strip got back over the best bits from our first three days.

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Day 22 (7 August 2016) - Palm Springs to Las Vegas

The day in Palm Springs began with an early morning swim in the pool. The hotel was hosting a salsa competition well into the night so we had the pool pretty much to ourselves in the morning. By 9am the temperature was gaining and we left the pool check out and headed off to the main thing to do in Palm Springs apart from laze about is the Palm Springs tramway. The tramway takes you too the top of the valley to an alpine environment and there are a number of hikes and walking trails up there. Whilst we did not do any of them we went up there for the view and ambience.

Palm Springs Tramway

The pictures below show the view from the top of the mountain. If you have the time its a worthwhile thing to do. We did not experience massive queues there.

There are opportunities to camp and make a long day of the time at the top of the mountain. We had a long drive ahead of us so we spent only a couple of hours at the top before the descent.

Route to Las Vegas : Joshua Tree and Mohave Desert

I had planned a slightly intricate route to Las Vegas, I wanted to cover the Joshua Tree National Park and experience the Mojave desert. Part of the route was also to take in the historic (old) Route 66. Our route is shown below

The key element of this route were to back track from Palm Springs to Indio and further on the Interstate 10. At the junction drive through the Joshua Tree National Park up to Twenty Nine Palms/ From there continue north until hitting Amboy where you hit the historic Route 66. You only traverse the Route 66 for a short distance (6.6 miles I was told my Mrs. themanishdiary). Then drive through the Mohave desert, we fortunately hit it at sunset as you can see from the photos. Once you've passed Cima you continue north until you hit the interstate that takes you to Las Vegas.

Joshua Tree National Park

The Joshua Tree National Park is a very interesting drive, at the southern end of the park are no Joshua Tree's but mainly different class of Yucca trees some of these were pretty interesting and looked slightly dangerous and toxic.

Joshua Trees

You'll have seen I hinted at strange cactus trees in my earlier post. As we drove through the Joshua Tree National Park it became clear that what we had seen were Joshua Trees. A few more daylight examples here. The park has a core drive thats worth doing we did the main segment and the view point (Key's view).

When you reach Key's View you're again looking down at the desert floor and towards Palm Springs. Once clear days you can see further a field towards Mexico.

Route 66

From Joshua Tree National Parks as you exit through twentynine palms we drove north towards Amboy. We picked up old Route 66 from Amboy for a few miles west before we turned north through the Mohave desert.

We stopped off at Amboy where time seems to stand still and it looks like a place that inspired the Cars movie. The picture below show the Route 66 sign with a long "rail road" train in the background. I got bored after counting 106 carriages!

Mojave Desert

We drove the Mojave just as the sun was setting, this means that we hit Las Vegas late at night but it proved inspired timing as we managed to catch the sun setting as we were driving some of our photo's below. We had driven through the desert earlier in our trip so hitting the desert at sunset was truely perfect timing.

We eventually hit Las Vegas late at night but the long journey was worth it. Las Vegas was really all rest and relaxation until we started our final traversal through the national parks.

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