London Bike Show 2013

http://www.thelondonbikeshow.co.uk/

Road cycling, mountain biking, BMX, cycle cross, a family cycle.

Thirty-five Minute Walk to Lecture at Brock University

I parked my car across from Good Will at the Pen Centre shopping mall and walked (in a very cold north-west wind) west along Glendale Avenue, then turned left on Hampton Road. I walked through the suburban streets to Glenridge Avenue at the bottom of the escarpment. Then walked up the escarpment along Glenridge to Brock University.

At Brock University I attended a meeting of the Niagara Peninsula Society of the Archaeological Institute of America where Prof. Ben Ford, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, gave a talk called
"The Search for Chauncey’s Fleet in Lake Ontario", about naval ships on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812.

On my way back I took the Bruce Trail  from the top of the Escarpment behind Brock University to the west end of Tremont Drive back down to Glendale and my car.

To walk from the Pen Centre to Brock University takes about 35 minutes.

In a Strange Room

I just finished reading South African novelist Damon Galgut's book, In A Strange Room, with three stories narrated by the same character (whose name is also Damon). It is a novel about his travels in Africa and Europe, with similiar themes tying the stories together.

The first story, The Follower, is about two men who go backpacking together on a long walk through Lesotho, their relationship ending badly. The other two stories have similiar unhappy endings but the third story is the most intense and saddest of the three.
I've read other books by Galgut and greatly enjoy his writing.

Niagara Falls Loop

Sunday, January 13, 2013.
We walked from Dufferin Islands to the Falls and back. It was a very warm day for January. 16C.

Facer Street Loup

 

 

On this loop, we walked about an hour. Stopped at the library, and then went into Walmart on the way home.

 

 



The St. Catharines Public Library, Grantham Branch, at the corner of Niagara & Carleton.

West to Fairview Mall

 

 

L and I walked west from the corner of Carleton & Bunting along Carleton to the Fairview Mall. Again it takes about 40 minutes to walk one way. But since we went shopping we were away for 2 1/2 hours.

 

This finishes the complete pattern, which forms a cross. To walk it (one way for each arm) would take 4 x 40 minutes or 2 hours and 40 minutes. A total of 5 hours and 20 minutes both ways. In reality, we walked about 8 hours total.

 

The finished pattern looks like this:

 

South to Queenston Street

Walked south along Bunting Rd. Takes 37 minutes to walk from Carleton Street to Queenston Street. Places visited on the way back:
 

 

 

 

 

Welland Canal Parkway Bike Trail

Local Trails

This trail follows the Welland Canal and is very popular with walkers, bicycles, roller- blades, and family pets.

http://www.niagaragreenbelt.com/listings/17-canals/716-welland-canal-parkway-trail.html

 

This is the lighthouse at the northern point of the trail. We are at "Point of Interest" #1 on map below.

Sign showing the northern trail section at Lake Ontario.

East to McNab Road

Going east, I walked from Bunting Rd. along Carleton Street to McNab Road. I crossed the Welland Canal. The canal is now closed and large dump trucks were taking dirt to the east side of the canal. At the corner of Carleton and McNab is an old school, now converted to a private residence. Above the door is a sign that says "S.S. No. 4. A.D. 1878". (It looks like the words are carved in concrete.) On a map of 1876 there is a little house icon at this corner indicating that a school was here at that time. An earlier map indicates that the four blocks of land here were reserved for the church. (No church was built here to my knowledge, although there is a church at the corner of  Lakeshore and McNab.) My parents lived at McNab from 1968 to the 1990s.)

The walk there and back took 1 hour and 20 minutes.

 

Walking North

Today I walked north from the corner of Carleton and Bunting to the corner of  Lakeshore and Bunting. Plotting my route on the map shows a line going up. Before I left I used Google maps to see how long it would take to walk: 41 minutes. This was a good estimate. I clocked myself at 38 minutes for 3.4 kilometers.

I plan to create a pattern on the map with my walking over 4 days. Here's the first map.

 

Paul Salopek's Long Walk

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, Paul Salopek, plans to take a seven year walk from Africa to Asia, and then from Alaska to the southern tip of South America. He was interviewed on CBC's The Current this morning.

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2013/01/03/following-the-footsteps-of-humanitys-ancestors-paul-salopek/

You can see the map of his journey on his website: http://www.outofedenwalk.com/

Follow him on Twitter: #edenwalk

His travels are in collaboration with:

National Geographic
Knight Foundation
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program, MIT
The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago

I don't yet see the date for the start of his travels, but it should be soon.