Beach running in paradise

Just so you know. I'm on the deck as the sun is going past the hill.



It's warm, with only the gentlest of breezes. There is a glass of wine just out of that photo. Dinner was superb. I'm happy. Let me tell you how I got that way.

I didn't intend to run today. Right heel, left knee, and left hip were all cranky this morning. I figured a day off was ok. Then on the way into Hamilton it turned into a perfect day, warm, sunny, gentle breeze. The ride in on the bus was exhilarating. Hardly anyone on it and the driver was really good. We think she was trying to set a record. At one point she pulled out and passed a car. No kidding. This is a first for me. We shopped a bit for the last time, and picked up more chocolaty goodness from the market.

The gentle walk and the nice day got me in the mood to run on a beach. As soon as I was home I changed and headed out. Ran very easy over to the beach by Ft. St. Catherine. Heel and knee still a bit cranky, but feeling better as I got going. Still a perfect day. Stripped off my shoes and socks. Started running back and forth, sometimes easy, sometimes hard, sometimes soft sand, sometimes packed sand, sometimes splashing in the water, sometimes not. A small family played on the beach and dabbled in the water.

A girl looking a bit like Sara Gross joined me shortly after starting. I thought she was nuts to be running in shoes, but every lap she headed up the driveway to the fort. I know from experience that pavement is really rough for bare feet. I walked through the water every 4 or 5 laps, then ran more, in perfect sunny weather. Warm enough to sweat, but not hot.

Eventually I got rid of everything but shorts, and put on my swim goggles. After getting wet I practiced beach transitions. It was near low tide. There's a bit of a shallow beach shelf knee deep, then it goes to chest deep or so quite quickly. I dashed in, dived, and swam hard maybe 50 m. Probably not as much as 100 m. It is the ocean and no lifeguard. Next stop is the Azores. Swam in hard, found the shallow bit, and burst out of the water to sprint up the beach. Ocean water tastes great!

I did that a few times, having fun. As I got out, she got in and swam back and forth. I didn't feel the need to actually distance swim so I ran easy to dry off a bit. Stretched. Walked. Chatted with her a bit when she got out. Turns out she's a Canadian teaching here, and this is her routine when it's nice enough. I did some stretching yoga on the beach. It's amazing to do yoga with a gentle surf background. Back bends are the most amazing thing ever when you're looking up into a clear blue sky.

Ran very easy back to the house. Not springy but feeling like I could go quite a while. However I knew the crankiness was still there and didn't push it. Chatted with Linda about future vacation plans. Rinsed off. Sipped wine. BBQd some beef tenderloin steaks in a custom Linda marinade, and had them with rice pilaf, veggies, and a simple salad.

Now you understand why I'm so happy? Oh, and here's the view just past the iPad, right this very second, not even standing up, lazy carcass that I am.



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A historical day

No, nothing to do with the new Pope that was just announced. Until a Pope starts doing something to correct the centuries of misogyny and child abuse they've been handing out as institutional practice, they will continue being irrelevant to the modern world.

Today we wandered through Fort St. Catherine. I wasn't sure what to expect, and even my most expansive anticipations were blown away. This place is amazing. Some of you may have seen photos of it from the outside, brooding over a beach I have run on several times. It's bigger on the inside.

We spent much of the afternoon there. Victorian engineering in general interests me, as does various military hardware. What can I say, I'm a guy, and most guys are interest in things that can go Boom!

There are a lot of forts in Bermuda to defend against various threats over the centuries. Trying to take this one would take some doing. There's actually 3 forts close together, this one, and up on the hill above it, Fort St. Albert, and Fort Victoria. We walked past their ruins, and even that was impressive.

Bermuda has spent quite a bit of money restoring the fort. If you are interested in artillery and British imperial history, this a must visit. They have all sorts of cannon and other artillery pieces on display. There is a huge case full of various pre-WWI small arms. There are several displays of British crown jewelry on display.

You can walk through almost all the fort, from the gunpowder and shell rooms in the bowels, up to the top of the keep. The view is amazing. There is a ton of information about the life of people working in the fort, all extremely well presented. There are several models showing how the fort developed over the years.

I got a whole new appreciation for the engineering skills required to construct such a building given the materials and equipment at hand. Many of the history books talk about the various macro aspects of the empire. This fort makes it clear just how well organized it was. They talk about what people ate, how it was prepared, how they lived. Each barrel of gunpowder was numbered and tracked. There was a system, and rules to be followed.

We both thought our time today was very well spent. Here's a few photos of the day. These two keep following us around. That guy with the sunglasses looks pretty sinister, doesn't he?















A 360 degree shot. You'll have to embiggen it to make any sense of it.


A small part of the small arms display. Don't be put off by the paneling.





Linda exploring the depths. Surprisingly, this wasn't the least bit claustrophobic.


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Soft, pink, ankle deep sand

It's just killing me that I can't really comment on blogs using the iPad. Blogger has eaten many, but a few get through, and I don't know why. So if you're thinking I don't love you anymore because I'm not commenting, it's not true. Reading lots, and gnashing my teeth at all the witty comments going to nothingness.

Back to the beach today. We started at Horseshoe Bay and slowly worked our way along. There are rock outcroppings that create smaller private beaches. Sometimes you can wade around to them, sometimes you have to walk some sandy trails to get there.

There were a few more people today, but the majority of them appeared to be one herd of college kids. We walked to the end, and kept going one past where we got last time. We had it to ourselves. After a bit of running in the soft sand, I swam a bit, and tried snorkeling, but the water was too turbid to see anything. The water was much warmer than any of the triathlons I've done, even if the locals think its way too cold to even wade in.

It was very relaxing. We strolled on and eventually made it to Warwick beach. Even fewer people. Softer, deeper sand. We loved it. Eventually we emerged and headed back to the house as the clouds were getting darker and it was starting to cool off.

Some lightly processed photos for you.









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Seals, otters, and octopuses!

The tower has stopped singing. The clouds aren't moving so much. The rain has stopped. The run this morning was the longest yet here, about 75 minutes. Warm and sunny. Drank coffee on the deck after.

Our adventure today was the Aquarium and Zoo. It's surprising large, with the expected marine creatures local to Bermuda. But there are also exhibits from Madagascar, the Caribbean, and Australia. The octopus has some toys on a string to play with; I just wished I was on the other end of the string. We watched the 4 seals for a while, though the mother was just working on her tan. The pair of river otters were delightful, as otters always are. Watched them for a while too. There is an alligator that they said didn't eat this time of year, but he had a bit of a gleam in his eye as he looked at me.

We wandered around Flatts Landing a bit, then into Hamilton. Goodies. Visited with a friend of a friend. Home for bison burgers on the BBQ.


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Another writing day, some of it on deck

Lots of rain this morning, though by the afternoon the winds were dropping and there was some sunshine. Naturally, I spent part of it out by the pool, writing. We had a hard night last night, watching 3 or 4 episodes of Wipeout. I love the squawks the women let out as they get whapped into the water by some rotating implement.

Here's more of the raw novel snippet.

'Thats good. Now keep in mind that people will see different things, that's true even where we come from. You see x, a fairly utilitarian space. I see a much more comfortable space, quite a bit bigger.'
'How can we be seeing such different things, even down to room size?'
He smiled. 'Here's the secret. If you are here, you are helping to create it. You yourself at the moment, not so much. That's how they know you and Les didn't really belong. But since you were here at all, there was the chance you could learn. Some people stumble in, and manage to learn enough on their own, though the odds are not good. As long as you're with me, nobody will look twice at you. Well, the human guys might, but that's different.
'We didn't create this, and we don't know how old it is. It's introduced to us during our training. When we knew there was a soft spot here, we really pushed to move onto your plant grounds. Getting into your old facility was perfect for us. Once we knew we had the space, we added that bit of tunnel to connect up.'
'You didn't actually dig it, I get that. How would think it into existence?'
'Lets walk before running. Are you done your coffee? Lets take a bit of a walk. Dirty dishes go here.'
'Do I dare ask who does the dishes? And the cooking?'
He grinned. 'That you have to have to ask tells me more about you. Lets go this way.' He walked her across the room. 'Are you seeing where we're going?'
'Not yet, though that wall is further away than I thought. Hey, where did that stairway come from?'
'It was always there. Lets go up. After you.'
Dwen started up the spiral stairway. They couldn't walk beside each other, but neither was it a really tight spiral where you had to pay attention to where you put your feet. 'How far up?'
'You'll know when you get there.'
Dwen paused to look over the railing. Somehow after two turns she couldn't really make out the cafeteria anymore, or even the walls. It all seemed to fade into fog. 'So is the fog normal, or am I limited again?'
'Well, this one is foggy to some extent. Ah, here we are.' He reached past Dwen to rap on a nice wooden door, then opened it. They walked into a plain stone walled hallway, turned right, and a few steps brought them to a large open room dominated by a Buddha statue. He bowed to a monk sweeping the floor, and after a brief pause Dwen did the same.
Outside that room was a nice balcony. Dwen gasped at the view. 'Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.'

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Some dressed up photos

Normally, wind resistance is not an issue during a run. Normally doesn't apply during gale force winds. The weather tower was singing all night long. It sounds much like a jet airliner as it comes in to land. Running along the ocean this morning was a bit like running up a steep hill. Leaning forward and pushing hard. At one point the headwind nearly stopped me mid stride.

Ran about 40 minutes, through town to Gates Fort, up to Ft Catharine, and back via Kyber Pass road. Started by limbering up and running really easy, and then pushing fairly hard when it felt good for a nice run. Walked to cool down, just missed some rain. Lots of stretching after.

There are some tall ship sailing school in port. I've chatted with a couple people from them. Today we walked down the hill to look at the ships close up, then stocked up on supplies. (Wink, wink.) Most of the rain has been quick showers, but just as we got home it settled in.

We are otherwise taking it easy today. I've spent a bit of time playing with Snapseed to clean up the photos, but not push them over the edge into art. The first one is of course Linda sitting at a little picnic area in Coney Island, mostly out of the wind.



Different parts of Horseshoe bay.





Looking along the coastline.


There people up in the rigging doing something in preparation for their departure on Sunday. Their next port of call is the Azores.


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The lash of salt spray

It's still very windy here. I got a bunch more writing done last night and this morning, even if I couldn't do it outside. We had a long discussion about what to do today. Over coffee. Watching a few showers zoom through. After sleeping in a bit. My legs are feeling a little cranky so I didn't run first thing. Or any thing. Maybe tomorrow.

We were watching morning television after the weather report. There is a guy selling workout DVDs called Insanity. No equipment, just a bazzillion isometric exercises done at high intensity. They said you'd be well on your way to being ripped in 2 months. It looked tough. Even though I'd like to expose my shy and retiring 6 pack, I didn't order the video.

Eventually we headed off and ended up at the Swizzle Inn. Can you picture a combination of a grilled cheese sandwich and fish and chips? Now I can. As near as I can tell they batter and fry the fish, then pop it onto an open grilled cheese with tomato, then close it all up. It's huge, and delicious. Look at the name of the place if you want to know what we powered down a half pitcher of.

From there we wandered out and spent some time on the railway trail again. We wandered through Ducks Puddle Park, then Coney Island Park. This left us completely exposed to the wind and sea spray at times. Wind that nearly knocked me off my feet a few times. Enough spray we had to clean off our sunglasses several times, and I was licking more salt off my lips than I did during ironman.

Then into Hamilton to pick up some goodies. The Miles Market is a MUST for chocoholics. Pity it's so far from here, but then maybe it's just as well. I think I've lost a bit of weight.

Here's a few more I unretouched photos from today. I often end up taking a bunch of the same shot, hoping the spray will appear, or that I'll be standing still enough, or any number of other photography flaws cancel each other out. There was a 45 second long video of my trying to stop the video. I couldn't see squat on the screen.



That big fort on to of the hill is the Martello fort I ran to the other day. If the rail bed was still there getting home would be a walk in the park. As it is, it took about a 20 minute bus ride and a bit of walking.





A tiny little harbour. That gap in the rocks isn't much wider than the boat. The rock wall was 10 to 15 feet high, I think, and the spray was often coming over top.








A nice column near the market. Clear blue sky's at this point. 20 minutes later there was a brief rain shower.


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