Day 32: Rest day
Welcome
Yesterday we had a rest day which we spent in Richmond with the Rosie Tucker crew.
The 2022 Summer Beths/Rosie Tucker Tour Run Club met for the first time yesterday morning. Our hotel was conveniently located in Dowtown Richmond, right next to the James River and that is where we headed, crossing the T. Tyler Potterfield memorial bridge to get to the south bank. We then ran through the woods on the Buttermilk Trail which took us to Belle Isle, home of the famous Dry Rocks. Along the way we caught great views of the river and its many bridges, as well as finding a turtle stranded halfway across the footpath.
Crossing the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge.
Turtle lover Jess Kallen hits the jackpot.
Stopping for a rest with a great view of the Bell Isle Dry Rocks.
Our next stop was the Belle Isle Hydroelectric Plant, one of the many abandoned buildings we passed on the island’s trails. The transformer building is still standing and you can see the concrete footings where the generators once rested. Built in 1904 the plant generated electricity for the street car system on the south side of the river and the steel plant on Belle Isle up until the 1950s when high maintenance costs and the low price of oil made it impractical.
The generator room.
Inside the generator room.
We continued along the trails to the north end of the island and then crossed back to Richmond on the Belle Isle Suspension Bridge, a pedestrian bridge that hangs from the underside of the car-carrying Robert E. Lee Memorial Bridge. It was a classically hot and humid Virginia day and by the time we returned to the hotel we were all sopping but feeling satisfied.
Belle Isle Suspension Bridge.
After cleaning up we all headed down to the lobby to assemble with the rest of the tour party for the main activity of the day, a river swim. Our friend Alec from Carpark Records lives in Richmond and was playing tour guide, as well as bringing Brutus along, his magnificent Golden Retriever. We stopped at a Wholefoods to pick up breakfast/lunch and then headed of to Alec’s secret spot which turned out to be about a kilometre up the river from Bell Isle. The large flat rocks along the riverbank provided a marvellous setting to enjoy our meal and put in some good relaxation time. I consumed a quartet of salads including a Grilled Asparagus and Artichoke Salad, Summer Vegie Spiral Salad, Vegan Fiesta Cauliflower Salad, and Southwest Kale Caesar Salad.
Brutus meets everyone.
The water was cool enough to be extremely refreshing without being too cold and we had a lovely dip before laying ourselves out on the warm rocks to dry and absorb some Vitamin D.
Dinner plans were made for later in the evening and the chosen spot was a popular local bar called Cobra Cabana. Rather than walk we decided to use on of the more notable public transport routes in Richmond, the BRT Pulse. It was a mere 500 metres to the bus stop on Broad Street and we wandered up ready to capitalise on the free public transport that the city of Richmond has just extended to 2025. While our scheduled service did fail to arrive the next one was right on time and the journey was extremely pleasant. The raised platform boarding at each end was so good that we didn’t have to bend our knees.
The Pulse pulling into our raised platform.
Arriving at Cobra Cabana we were first impressed by the huge cobra on the wall. The vibe was nice and we secured an outdoor table to enjoy the locally brewed ales and great pub food.
We returned to our hotel in the same manner as which we left, on Virginia’s finest Bus Rapid Transit system, the Pulse.
