A Wintery Walk along Richmond's Watercourse

On New Years Day I awoke and made my best attempt at leaping out of bed with some enthusiasm. I was hiking along the James River in Richmond today and it was very cold outside. I gave the thought of bailing some serious thought, looking at my warm covers wistfully but got ready regardless. I wasn't going to start the New Year with a failure. I layered up my shirts, pulled on lined hiking pants and grabbed gloves and a scarf on the way out of the door.

 I saw this huge claw mark by the car and added my footprint to give an indication of size. This was a big print. I initially thought it belonged to a bear or a skunk but then thought it possibly looked like one print on top of another and wondered if it was a vulture, or other large bird, landing and immediately taking off again. I didn't ponder for too long. My cheeks were aching from the bitter breezes and as I drove down the hill, the temperature gauge read 10°F. The countryside was beautiful, the morning sun caused the frosty and still slightly snow sprinkled fields to glitter and sparkle. It was almost a fairy tale land, easy to believe from my now warm car interior.
I met some of the group at Fredericksburg and we then convoyed down to Richmond. I was very glad I hadn't been tempted to go drinking last night. I would never have survived in these temperatures with a hangover and also the police were out today in large numbers, pulling people over, for speeding, and likely for alcohol still in their systems.
We met others from the group in a parking lot, and without standing around for too long, set off. It wasn't going to be a long hike, about 6.5 miles and following trails along the river banks which meant there wouldn't be any long uphill climbs.

 We marched at a brisk pace, the speed and cold waking me up fully. My scarf was wrapped around my ears and over my nose. I was as warm as toast, as long as we kept moving. Which we did. I barely had time for photos as we quickly made our way along the trail and before long were looking down at an icy James River.

 This was the coldest part of the hike, we were exposed as we crossed the bridge, the winds biting into our faces, and nobody stopped to admire the views. I took one quick look down at the boulders in the water, each one rimmed with a crust of ice. On the other side we clambered down a bank and were back on the sheltered trail again. We came across the old pumping station at Byrd Park, walked around the outside and admired the architecture.

A beautiful building, but I was mostly impressed with a sign on the door, prohibiting trespassing at night, but seemingly allowing it during the day. I may be back!

And then things went a bit pear shaped. We found ourselves trudging along a track which didn't really feel like a trail. We kept going until we finally clambered up a bank...on to a rail road track!

Not wanting to retrace our steps we headed back along the tracks, walking quickly just in case we heard a shrill whistle behind us. I couldn't help myself and after a few minutes yelled out, "Train!!" and was rewarded with 4 startled faces looking back at me.
We were soon back on safe soil, on the proper trail, and continued our march. Which for most of the time was what it felt like. We barely stopped at all, and whenever I stopped to take a photo I had to then trot to catch up with the group again. I took all these photos with my iPhone, pleased that at the last moment I'd left the Sony in the car. It would have been a frustrating hike trying to take all my photos on my usual manual exposure setting, racing to set up the shots and then running to rejoin the quickly disappearing marchers further up the trail.

It was beautiful scenery, definitely enhanced with the ice on the water. The trail was hard and dry, although slippery in some places due to so many dead leaves underfoot. Occasionally we had to clamber over rocks while crossing streams, some of the boulders icy underfoot. I was amazed when up ahead I spotted a guy in swimming trunks emerging from the frigid water and reaching for his towel. He didn't even seem in a hurry to be covered, his movements were almost casual. I couldn't observe any further as we turned a bend and he was hidden from view but I marveled at his resolution.I'm not sure that even a date with Daniel Craig could have enticed me into those arctic waters.
We came across a stone ruin on the river bank. This was the short lived Foushee's Mill. Built in 1819 and destroyed by floods in 1832, it was used by farmers to grind their grain. We stopped here for about 2 minutes, just enough time to look up and downstream, read the sign, and then start marching again.

Above is Charlie's Crossing, dedicated to a dog who was tragically killed here last year.
The ugly stairwell we climbed later led to a bridge crossing the railway line. We climbed a few sets of stairs, to get us across the railway line or the James River. I had to run up these as it felt like the cold was locking up my knees.

We also passed a couple of grave markers. I wasn't sure if these were where someone's ashes had been laid or just simply memory markers. Kim finally tumbled down after tripping over yet another tree root, having had 2 previous trips where she had manged to stay upright. She leaped up announcing loudly, "I didn't have any drinks last night!". to which, Scott, quick as a whip, retorted, "But what about this morning?" We all laughed and she was fine apart from a muddy knee.

Richmond came into site, tall buildings loomed on the horizon as we walked along with the cemetery up on our left, and we all started looking forward to a warm restaurant with warm food. One more crossing back over the river, walking on a suspended foot bridge where we passed a guy rolling rather expertly towards us on a unicycle, and then a hike back down the riverside to the cars. We ended up having walked about 8 miles and had covered the ground quickly. We headed towards Legend Brewery which was closed as we pulled up. I was secretly pleased as beers did not feature on my new diet, but laughed when Tim pleaded with the group, "Anyone know how to pick a lock?" Instead we went to a local burger bar which served only burgers or salads. Salads? Who'd want those in these frozen tundra temperatures. Warm food was an absolute must and I amazed myself by leaving half of my fries, most of my burger bun and swapping out my usual couple of beers for 3 coffees. I was starting this New Year right. There was little heating where we sat, so cold air wafted over to us every time the door was opened, so we all sat huddled with our coats on.

We left after our meal, and I was looking forward to getting into a warm car, but smiled at the wedding proposal on the cinema board across the road, wondering if she accepted. I got home after dark, climbing the hill with a huge and very bright wolf super moon lighting the way, and my Christmas lights twinkling a welcome from the patio doors.