The 1700+ km long Grand Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage, site goes from Hangzhou to Beijing, was built over a 1000 years ago, and is still used today by work boats hauling sand, dirt, cargo containers, and more. One day I'm gonna get myself on one of these work boats for a ride. Gotta do it!
Our Wedneday route takes us on trails used by both the Hangzhou 100 Km Trail Run (red circles and arrow) and the Hangzhou Trail Marathon (green dots). Not sure what the yellow circles are but guess they may a shorter version of the HZ100KM.
Spectacular view to Longjing Village on our way west. West Lake and Hangzhou city are barely visible in upper left corner.
Descending out of the Western Hills.
See the HZ100KM markings?
Another beautiful valley filled with tea plantations.
Here's some video of the Grand Canal as our water taxi passes a work boat.
And the video link for email subscribers.
Old gate and new skyscraper near the water taxi docks.
Aunt and I shortly before I was warned by an attendant not to hang my arm out the window
.Empty boats sit high, full boats very low.
After 5 kms or so we got off the boat, walked around the old textile mills that have been converted into museums and shops, had lunch and then walked back to the docks where we started...The fan museum.
A work boat going under an old bridge.
There are beautiful walking paths on each side of the Grand Canal, but this older man prefers walking on the bridge railing. Oh my!
5 comments:
Lovely trail run route although not much room for passing runners. And Grand Canal looks busy, good to see it's in use. Surprised to see crewman swabbing the deck.
The trail looks well constructed and easy to walk on. I find it interesting that there are no handrails near the steps. The absense may make the walker more careful when stepping plus it doesn't obscure the view. It wouldn't be compliant with requirements in the US for public spaces.
Crash, It is very common to see someone swabbing the deck of these boats as they cruise down the canal, especially after unloading a messy cargo like sand. Ship ship you know. As most boats are family-run, often the "crewman" is the wife. It's also common to see the wife chopping veggies or hanging up laundry or acting as lookout on the bow or piloting. Not to mention that dogs and strapped down bicycles are also normal accessories...I could spend all day watching these boats go by on the canal. ;-)
Liz, Last fall we did some hiking at Hanging Rock State Park in NC and were happy to find a similar danger factor as in China ie long drops with minimal hand rails.
John, if you're going to sit and watch boats, we still want pictures.
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