Gorge-ous

So over the next few days there will be a watery theme to my blog.

Just after New Year I went for a day out in North Wales. I went to Beddgelert, a lovely village that I have been to many times walking along the river and eating ice cream.

This time however the ice cream parlour was closed (it is mid winter and the number of visitors is pretty low) and rather than stop in the village I drove a little further out and parked up so that I could walk back along the gorge.

This is Aberglaslyn Gorge and the rough path works its way along the river's edge through spectacular scenery. The walk itself its just about four miles return or there is a slightly longer circular walk that takes you over the mountain via an ancient copper mine.

The light in the gorge was lovely and the noise of the water as it thundered through the valley was incredible.

That's Canada, Eh!

This is Pigeon River and it forms the physical border between Canada on the right and the USA on the left.

When I sat here looking at this scene in the second image I thought back to the pictures I saw in geography class  many years ago and it struck me as being a quintessentially Canadian scene with the autumn leaves, the rugged cliffs and the river tumbling between the rocks.

Years ago this was an important part of the logging route with logs being floated downstream and via a variety of chutes to avoid the falls on the way to Lake Superior. Nowadays the logs are transported by road on big trucks and so the river has returned to its natural state although signs of the old industry are there if you look for them.