Moments in Dirt and Ink

My "in situ" sketches for the short month.  In the park and along the cliffs and at the train station in not-very-local places. The pier from the cliffs by the golf course. The well weathered sea walls along the beach . Sheds along the beach . And one that is local. One of the ice can stoves at Cottam Camp .

Santa Barbara back country Map link. The web page that indicates the current state of the first gate on Camuesa/Romero changed from "will probably be reopened on the 17th" to "was closed on the 27th" in anticipation of a coming storm that passed without much result. I decided that this meant I could make a loop of the Blue Canyon and Romero Canyon trails without having to worry about traffic on most of the road between the two trailheads. Not being sure where Romero meets the road, I thought it best to park near the gate and proceed to Blue Canyon coming up Romero Canyon. I spotted the sign on the way in, so could have reversed it but decided against that. I found a place to park near the gate and walked down to it, discovering that the mysterious road headed down to the left of the gate is actually a parking lot. High on the side of the canyon as the road begins to drop down into it, there is a good overview of the hike to come. Continuing past the ...

The trails of the front country can be veritable highways where you seem to pass another person every 10 or 15 minutes, at least for the first couple miles.  Even as the people thin further away from the trailhead, the trail itself is often a wide track with a deep groove from the heavy traffic.  Heading into the backcountry, the trails are still well established though generally narrow tracks.  The bushes are kept at bay and the track is fixed if there is a slide.  But keep going, to the trails that spend some time behind seasonally locked gates and plunge into the deep backcountry (and often have attractions like hot springs near the start to draw off some of the crowd) and the trails start getting hard to follow.  They're easy enough for the first mile or two, but keep going and there's parts that vanish.  A few tree falls and the trail might be lost altogether.  It becomes a challenge to follow these trails. It looks like Indian Creek is a good i...

Norfolk, United Kingdom This isn't really a hike, just a walk around the city looking at the various buildings that reside generally in the city center. Around the church, there are a museum and lots of shops and some repurposed buildings and some that are just old or at least built in an older style. I walked down the the center and around the church and the old not sure what, then hiked along the beach back to the lighthouse to grab my stuff and get myself onto the train. On down the street are apartments while closer at hand are more apartments but they were once a school at a guess. This entrance says "boys" over it.

Norfolk, United Kingdom Cromer beaches route map. Following the walk to the east, I quite logically chose to walk to the west. But first, it was raining in the morning, so I didn't actually start for a while. Starting at the lighthouse again, I went through the park and onto the path along the top of the cliffs. On the far side of the park, there is an informative sign showing such things as where a WWII gun bunker used to be in the area. A bird in the park. I followed the path down the side of the cliff which brings one to the edge of the city by the beach. Cromer was built where there was a low spot so the beach was easily accessed and this is still the center of town, or more specifically, just the other side of the church is the town center. The pier is off to the side of the low spot and the local lifeboat launches from the end of it. (The lifeboat is like a volunteer fire department except that they go out to help distressed ships rather than put out fires.)...

Norfolk, United Kingdom Cromer beaches route map. I found myself with a weekend in Cromer to do with as I pleased and as I pleased was to walk along the cliffs and beaches. This seems to be what a lot of the local population pleases, as well, especially since the day was amazingly lovely. Looking out over Cromer and then to the North Sea beyond. I headed out onto the bluffs from by the lighthouse and turned to the east. In this direction, the city park by the lighthouse quickly morphs into the Royal Cromer Golf Course. There is still a path along the side of the cliff between the manicured lawns and the drop off. Signs point out there is no public right of way but leave it as your own risk rather than forbidding. Further on, the use trail along the cliff passes behind some back gardens, mostly mediocre but with a few that are quite nice, and more signs about one's own risk. The Cromer Lighthouse, which is still in use.