RHH's photos

I am posting two photos of Death Valley because we are headed there very early Monday morning. We'll go first to the Moab area of Utah and visit some of the parks there, Goblin Valley, Blue Valley, Arches and Canyonlands, and then go on to pick up our oldest daughter in Las Vegas and from there to Death Valley where we'll spend a week. The photo is from a loop hike up through Golden Canyon and back through Gower Gulch and shows the end of the trail as we exited Gower Gulch back into the valley. The Sierra Nevada is in the background across the valley. The hike is spectacular and goes to Zabriskie Point in the mountains on the east, if a side trail is followed from the top of the loop.

This is the interior of the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Chester. It was built in the 11th Century amid the remains of an older 7th Century church and rebuilt in the 1800's. It was originally Chester's cathedral but was replaced as the cathedral by Chester Abbey.

Our hour-long walking tour of the city of Chester was led by this man, dressed as a 15th Century Shropshire archer. He gave some of the history of the city and also of the Battle of Shrewsbury, fought in 1403 between Henry IV and Henry Percy in which the Shropshire archers played a major part. The story of the battle and the events leading up to it is told in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts I and II.

When in Chester we not only walked the city walls but walked along the Shropshire Canal outside the walls. We walked to the locks that connect the canal to the River Dee. The canal runs for 66 miles through the counties of Staffordhire, Shropshire and Cheshire.

When in Chester in Shropshire as part of a tour arranged by the conference we were attending, we walk a good part of the city walls, the oldest and most complete city walls in Britain. The walk is about two miles and the walls were begun by the Romans between 70 and 80 A.D to protect the fortress of Deva Victrix.

While attending a conference in Shropshire, we went on an arranged tour to the city of Chester where we walked the walls, had a guided tour, led by a man dressed as a 16th Century Shropshire archer and spent a pleasant though rainy day.

One of the arranged tours during the conference we attended in England was to the city of Chester. There we walked the old city walls and had a tour of the city lead by a man dressed as a Shropshire archer. The photo here is of the Eastgate Clock, a Chester landmark, from the city wall. The clock was actually built in 1899 but commemorates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

The Iron Bridge was built in 1781 at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It was designed by Thomas Prtichard and built by Abraham Darby III. It is made of cast iron, is 100 feet long and spans the River Severn at the heart of Ironbridge Gorge in the town of Ironbridge. We visited there as part of tour arranged by the conference we were attending.

This is Ironbridge Gorge looking east from the old cast iron bridge that crosses the River Severn at the town of Ironbridge. The bridge was built in 1781 at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and is a major tourist attraction.