![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Walks & Rides
Sep. 13th, 2010 10:39 pmBerkeley Walk #1. A while ago I got "A Map of Berkeley's Pathways", which shows slightly more than 100 pedestrian paths in Berkeley, mostly official and marked and mostly in the Berkeley hills. They were built to allow easy access up and down the hills for people that didn't have horses or those new-fangled au-toe-mo-beels. I've been wanting to start to walk them all, and on Sunday, Kimberly and I finally did the first ones.
Our destination was a set of paths at the southeast corner of campus, the only ones I thought we could easily walk to. There are six of them in the area called "Panoramic Hill", numbered 114-119 on my maps booklet. The first of them was Bancroft Steps (114) an attractive set of bannistered stone steps that ran up behind the stadium.
From there we went up to Orchard Lane (115-116), which was the pathway that really impressed me. Much like the Steps, it was stone and bannistered with attractive waist-height columns along the sides. However it was its size that really impressed me. It went up a fairly considerably length of hillside, and was large and majestic for the first half, and still nice for the second half. There were, of course, houses along the way. Many of them even had their main entrances and mailboxes on these paths, rather than an actual street. As we walked up the path we saw a deer in one of the backyards, chewing away on hedge. It fled when we got too near.
(The nearby pic shows the upper half of Orchard Lane, after it got smaller. The deer is pretty well hidden in the pic, but it's to the left in the distance.)
Past the top of the Lane we walked Arden Road, an actual street, a bit. That's the one bad thing about the walkways. Many of them dump you out onto streets with poor sidewalks, also reflecting the time most of these were built, in the early 20th century. Fortunately they're not too busy. Fortunately, they're also full of attractive houses. I particularly liked the brick ones I saw in our journeys, as they remind me of the Midwest.
From there we walked up Arden Path (119), which was hidden back at the end of a cul-de-sac, in what I at first assumed was someone's side yard. That top walk was more what I expect of Berkeley's paths: just one person abreast, with no handrails or wooden ones. The top bit of the path was just wooden steps. Nice though.
And that took us to the top of the paths for the day. Sadly, no particular panoramas. I could make out the skyscrapers in Emeryville and bits of the Bay Bridge at one point, but for the most point it was too foggy, which has been our curse most of the summer.
Heading back down, we took Arden Path, then Arden Steps (118) immediately below it, which was much the same. Below that we got onto Mosswood Lane (117), which was the least finished of the paths. The top of it was just wood blocks offering a step down every 5 or 10 feet, then below that it turned into a rambling path that winded its way among of houses. At one time it ran just to the side of a set of majestic trees, which I expect were planted 100 years ago when the path was built. A few times, I thought the path had just ended, but then we'd take a turn and it'd go on. Eventually it connected back up to the monumental Orchard Lane, and from there we headed gradually back down into Berkeley--where we eventually went to campus where we had a picnic dinner under Stevens' Hall, where we've et several times lately.
Lafayette. Eating seems to be the theme for the last couple of days. Kimberly had a doctor's appointment out in Orinda in the late afternoon today, so we decided to meet up in Lafayette after I was off work to eat at the Baja Fresh there.
It's a bit far to go for fast(ish) food, but we loved our Baja Fresh when it was in Berkeley and were very unhappy when it disappeared last year. Actually, Lafayette is closer than I think. Door-to-door it took me about 40 minutes to get there from home (including biking to the Rockridge BART station). We were surprised to see one of the employees that used to work at Berkeley and that we chatted with the most. After that we had food, and it was good.
I was back in my office in Berkeley about 2 hours after I left, including 15 minutes spent waiting at Lafayette for a train (during which I read aloud from Soldier of Sidon, by Gene Wolfe).
Tonight. Much to do. I've been working on a log of the penultimate Savage Tide game (after my computer ate the first half I'd already written) and a review for RPGnet. And this journal entry.
Well, something's done now.
Our destination was a set of paths at the southeast corner of campus, the only ones I thought we could easily walk to. There are six of them in the area called "Panoramic Hill", numbered 114-119 on my maps booklet. The first of them was Bancroft Steps (114) an attractive set of bannistered stone steps that ran up behind the stadium.
From there we went up to Orchard Lane (115-116), which was the pathway that really impressed me. Much like the Steps, it was stone and bannistered with attractive waist-height columns along the sides. However it was its size that really impressed me. It went up a fairly considerably length of hillside, and was large and majestic for the first half, and still nice for the second half. There were, of course, houses along the way. Many of them even had their main entrances and mailboxes on these paths, rather than an actual street. As we walked up the path we saw a deer in one of the backyards, chewing away on hedge. It fled when we got too near.(The nearby pic shows the upper half of Orchard Lane, after it got smaller. The deer is pretty well hidden in the pic, but it's to the left in the distance.)
Past the top of the Lane we walked Arden Road, an actual street, a bit. That's the one bad thing about the walkways. Many of them dump you out onto streets with poor sidewalks, also reflecting the time most of these were built, in the early 20th century. Fortunately they're not too busy. Fortunately, they're also full of attractive houses. I particularly liked the brick ones I saw in our journeys, as they remind me of the Midwest.
From there we walked up Arden Path (119), which was hidden back at the end of a cul-de-sac, in what I at first assumed was someone's side yard. That top walk was more what I expect of Berkeley's paths: just one person abreast, with no handrails or wooden ones. The top bit of the path was just wooden steps. Nice though.
And that took us to the top of the paths for the day. Sadly, no particular panoramas. I could make out the skyscrapers in Emeryville and bits of the Bay Bridge at one point, but for the most point it was too foggy, which has been our curse most of the summer.
Heading back down, we took Arden Path, then Arden Steps (118) immediately below it, which was much the same. Below that we got onto Mosswood Lane (117), which was the least finished of the paths. The top of it was just wood blocks offering a step down every 5 or 10 feet, then below that it turned into a rambling path that winded its way among of houses. At one time it ran just to the side of a set of majestic trees, which I expect were planted 100 years ago when the path was built. A few times, I thought the path had just ended, but then we'd take a turn and it'd go on. Eventually it connected back up to the monumental Orchard Lane, and from there we headed gradually back down into Berkeley--where we eventually went to campus where we had a picnic dinner under Stevens' Hall, where we've et several times lately.
Lafayette. Eating seems to be the theme for the last couple of days. Kimberly had a doctor's appointment out in Orinda in the late afternoon today, so we decided to meet up in Lafayette after I was off work to eat at the Baja Fresh there.
It's a bit far to go for fast(ish) food, but we loved our Baja Fresh when it was in Berkeley and were very unhappy when it disappeared last year. Actually, Lafayette is closer than I think. Door-to-door it took me about 40 minutes to get there from home (including biking to the Rockridge BART station). We were surprised to see one of the employees that used to work at Berkeley and that we chatted with the most. After that we had food, and it was good.
I was back in my office in Berkeley about 2 hours after I left, including 15 minutes spent waiting at Lafayette for a train (during which I read aloud from Soldier of Sidon, by Gene Wolfe).
Tonight. Much to do. I've been working on a log of the penultimate Savage Tide game (after my computer ate the first half I'd already written) and a review for RPGnet. And this journal entry.
Well, something's done now.