Some thoughts on travel to England

 

AIRPORTS AND IMMIGRATION .  Most flights go into London Heathrow but, depending on your itinerary, you might want to consider alternatives (Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow etc.).  Hopefully shorter lines and faster baggage reclaim.  Immigration at international airports is easier (usually) than it used to be as the entry scanners can now read the chips in American passports.

 MONEY.  Even though Britain is fast becoming cashless, go to an ATM upon arrival and get some (not many) pounds sterling. Be sure you have a chip and pin card or even better, a card with a “tap” chip. The old card-swipe process is pretty much a dinosaur. Use cards whose issuing banks do not charge foreign transaction fees. Many people now use smart phone payment systems anyway.

 CAR RENTALS. If renting a car, be sure to inspect the vehicle carefully upon hiring. The companies sometimes ding you for any minor scratch you may have overlooked.  One-way rentals incur a huge premium. They also give you the car half full of gas and expect you to return it likewise. Their way of making money on gas.  When returning a rental, fill up at a petrol station a few miles away from the airport where petrol stations charge a premium price.  Petrol is mind-boggling expensive anyway but consumption is good and distances are short. I think that car theft is rare but better keep valuable (money, credit cards, passports etc.) with you.

 TRAINS.   Wonderful between bigger towns & cities and some more rural destinations.   Advance booking creates crazy-huge savings on ticket prices. I use https://www.thetrainline.com/    

 DRIVING.  In Britain, vehicles drive on the left side of the road. Furthermore, the driver's seat is on the right-hand side, which means you shift with your left hand instead of your right. However, the clutch, gas, and brake pedals are in the same positions you're used to. Automatics are now readily available though usually at a premium. 

 Many roads are speed monitored by traffic cameras for both speed limit violators and traffic lights.  Stick to the posted speed limit and don’t gun it and go through lights as they turn red. Watch a video on roundabout etiquette and how they are supposed to work (yes …. they do work). Roads in rural areas can be very narrow, sometimes single track.  Assume a zero-tolerance approach to drink and driving: always use a designated driver.

ELECTRICITY.  UK power sockets are 220-volt, 3 x square pin plugs so you will need plug converters (these are not transformers) to accept the US flat pin plugs.  Charging devices for laptops, phones etc. are multi-voltage these days and do not need a transformer. Anything that uses a heating element or motor will probably still require a transformer which can be a royal pain.

MEDICAL INSURANCE.  I suggest that US participants consider taking out health insurance.  The UK national health system is based on residency (not citizenship) and is not available to foreign visitors without charge. However, hospitals and doctors will treat you straight away without even mentioning money but will then probably submit a bill (albeit a fraction of what it would be here). Finding good travel insurance is a challenge …… shark-infested waters.

 PHONE SERVICE.  T-Mobile include some level of international service in their US plan. It’s an optional extra for Verizon, ATT, Sprint.  For those of you using US cell-provider international plans, your phone numbers will remain the same. If you have an unlocked, GSM-compatible phone, the better alternative may be to buy a UK pay-as-you-go SIM card for your US smartphone upon arrival. You will get a new, temporary number. They are readily available at supermarkets, larger petrol stations and newsagents.

 TIME TO GO.  North-west Europe benefits from the warm waters of the Atlantic Gulfstream which means that the climate is generally mild. The best months are April, May, September, October. Air conditioning is relatively unusual and so any atypical heatwaves (July – August) can be a challenge. English high-school summer breaks are typically mid-July to early September. University summer breaks are from mid-June to mid-September.  Remember that London is about the same latitude as Saskatoon which means the summer days last from about 4 am to 10 pm and the winter days from 9 am to 5 pm.  

 ACCOMMODATION.  B&Bs are usually delightful, often in peoples’ homes.  Residential pubs can also be pretty cool. VRBO and Airbnb are now firmly established in England in the bigger towns and cities but in rural areas you might be better off with one of the myriad of other holiday-let agencies such as Sykes Cottages etc.  Rural Retreats specializes in luxury listings and the Landmark Trust specializes in historic buildings. There will be cultural quirks in an English rental versus an American one. Get over it.

 FOOD.  Dispel any pre-conceived stereotypes you may have about food in the UK.  It has improved immeasurably since the austere rationing days of WWII and, although it’s still possible to encounter bland, overcooked food, it’s also possible to find innovative fine dining in many places. Note that a lot of the upscale restaurants have gone to all-in 2 or 3 course menus. It’s OK but not great for people with a very small appetite. You might want to pass on the black pudding at breakfast. Most restaurants will not automatically give you water which, as well as soft drinks, may come without ice unless requested (one cube or two?). Generally, no free refills on soft drinks.

PUBS.  Finding good beer and good food in pubs also means paddling in shark-infested waters.  Many pubs have converted to gastro-pubs to survive (due to laudable, yet draconian, drink/drive laws and the prohibition of smoking) so the traditional neighborhood pubs that focus solely on conviviality and well-kept beer are becoming a rarity.

THE TRADITIONAL LOOP.  The typical circuit for US tourists seems to be some sort of combination of London, Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath. This is unfortunate as these destinations are likely to be extremely crowded. Think out of the box.

 SO …. WHERE TO GO?   Spoilt for choice …..  and this does not include Scotland, Wales or Ireland.  

 London.  Preferably allow at least a week and expect mind-boggling crowds.  Don’t even dream about having a car. All national museums are free. My personal favorite museums are the Victoria and Albert Museum, National Gallery and the Tate.  For world-class historical sites, consider Westminster Abbey, Tower of London etc.  Also, get away from the tourists by walking across Hampstead Heath on a Sunday from the south to a pub lunch in either Hampstead Village or in Highgate. Also, a tour of Highgate Cemetery is worthwhile. Sharon’s earthly Happy Place is Kew Gardens.

Other fabulous cities.  York, Durham, Lincoln, Wells, Oxford, Chester, Manchester (as a successful, post-industrial urban renaissance).

Soft, classically English countryside. Perhaps the Cotswolds (Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire).

More rugged, mountainous countryside.  The Yorkshire Dales or the Lake District.

Hardy Country.  Dorset. Consider adding Devon and/or Cornwall.

East Anglia.  Suffolk and/or Norfolk. Gorgeous and perhaps not so crowded.

Dinosaur Ridge near Morrison, Colorado

Dinosaur Ridge is a Mesozoic “hogback” (a resistant ridge) in Colorado, near the town of Morrison, west of Denver. On the west side are Upper Jurassic mudstones known as the Morrison formation.  Dinosaur bones and some footprints are found in the Morrison. On the east side are younger Cretaceous sandstones, the Dakota formation.  Most of the dinosaur footprints, trace fossils and ripple marks are seen in the Dakota.  Cross section below from the James St. John website. 

 

This is a road-cut at the top of the hogback showing the Cretaceous/ Jurassic boundary. Note the globular concretion in the Morrison.

 Morrison

 

This therapod track was found in a boulder and moved to its current location. It maybe from a young Allosaurus.  Therapods were three-toed carnivores and are the distant ancestors of modern birds; in fact, some had feather-like skin covering.

This Allosaurus is a typical three-toed, carnivorous therapod.

This bulge is probably a sauropod foot print (possibly an Apatosaurus), seen in cross-section.  Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads and four thick, pillar-like legs.

The Apatosaurus is a typical sauropod, much like the famous brontosaurus.

A rare velociraptor (commonly shortened to "raptor") footprint.  They were related to the related to the therapods. This is one of only twelve raptor sites in the world. 

Bones of a sauropod dinosaur, possibly an Atlantosaurus (similar to the Apatosaurus above).

 Dakota

Iguanodontid and theropod dinosaur tracks; stained gray with charcoal for easier visibility. Iguanodontids were large herbivores which were both bipedal and quadrupedal. 

An Iguanodon.

Crocodilian claw scratch marks

 

Ripple-marks made in shallow water. 

Invertebrate trace fossils: burrows made by invertebrates in the soft shoreline mud. 

These guys were pretty huge !!!!

So what on earth is Sharon sitting in?  We are in the Blanco River bed if that helps. 

And here are more:

Does this give you a clue?

The size looks right

Sometimes they are enhanced by the river water

And they usually form a linear pattern

By now you have guessed. Sauropod (Greek = "lizard foot") tracks.   These are in the Glen Rose formation of the Lower Cretaceous.

The Glen Rose is a widely distributed shallow-marine formation as indicated both by ripple marks and abundant marine invertebrate fossils.

These types of tracks are not that uncommon in Texas but these are conveniently close to Austin and San Antonio.  How do you get there:

Take FM 1623 west of Blanco. In just over three miles you pass the intersection to CR 103 (Trainer Wuest Rd.) on the left.  Shortly thereafter, there is safe and convenient parking on the side of the road.   Walk back to Trainer Wuest Rd. and take it down to the river.  If it is safe to do so, you can then hike the river bed east (towards Blanco) for a few hundred yards and should easily see plenty of tracks in the exposed Glen Rose formation. Its then probably worth backtracking to the Trainer Wuest Rd. river crossing and keep on going to the west for half a mile or so.  There are more tracks to see on this stretch. 

Some other thoughts:

1. Never, ever hike the river bed if the water level or flow rate creates an unsafe situation. 
2. This blog entry does not imply that it is legal to access the river bed in Blanco County. I have no clue about private land/river rights.
3. The dirt road (Goldwin Smith Rd.) on the south side of the river is definitely private property. 
4. See last week's blog entry for info. about the therapod (carnivore) tracks on the San Gabriel River. 

  

 

Covid Mitigation Activity: Cretaceous Park

So, this week’s Covid Mitigation Activity was to take a visit to Jurassic Park …. actually, Cretaceous Park in our case.  About a half mile west from the Hwy 183 bridge that crosses the South Fork of the San Gabriel River near Leander, lies twelve or so dinosaur footprints embedded in the Glen Rose formation of the river bed.

Based on the shape of the three-toed prints, geologists believe they may have belonged to a huge carnivore called the Acrocanthosaurus which is a theropod dinosaur that existed in the Early Cretaceous, about 120 million years ago. These guys reached about 40 ft. in length and weighed up to six tons.  

 Seeing them dry is not as impressive as when wet.  That/’s easy as there is plenty of water to dampen them. The circular ring around a couple are man-made; perhaps a failed attempt at removal?

There are also supposed to be some faint sauropod tracks closer to the 183 bridge but we did not see those.  As vaguely round depressions, they blend easily into the surrounding erosional features of the river bed. These fellows were giant, long-necked herbivores, similar to the once-named “brontosaurus”.

There are a few palaeontologists that question the Acrocanthosaurus tracks’ authenticity. “Poor farmers in the region during the Great Depression learned they could sell the chiseled-out tracks for significant profit to visiting tourists and paleontologists. And when the supply got low, they learned some innovative ways to boost the inventory”.  However, the Glen Rose formation is famously prolific for dinosaur tracks throughout Texas including Dinosaur Valley State Park. 

I, for one, will continue to imagine this huge creature lumbering down what is now the river bed, looking for a tasty herbivore for dinner.

 Getting there is easy.  

• Set your GPS for this street address:  601 S Gabriel Dr. Leander, TX 78641.  https://goo.gl/maps/vXVDy95Ux2Aw1Hk36
• Park in the obvious space between the north and south 183 carriageways.
• Walk down to the river on either side of the parking lot.  Turn left (west) and walk upstream for about 0.6 miles
• The theropod tracks are here: https://goo.gl/maps/ft419fUVZqk or 30°37'01.1"N; 97°52'05.8"W. 
• If the river is flowing fast or the water level is high, don’t bother going. It could be dangerous and the tracks are in the river, so you would not be able to see them anyway.
• The river bed and banks are public but the property on either side is private.

Enjoy !!!!

The Birds Have it Made

When a certain someone visited the hummingbird festival in Fort Davis, she began to have ideas for a Cadillac bird perch. .  All she needed was a dead one of these:

Once a dead Century Plant is obtained, the next step is to dig a hole in the back yard, pour in quick-dry concrete and stick in a cut piece of rebar. Allow to dry.

Now wack a piece of aluminum tube into the trunk:

...... using a special drill bit + extension if the trunk has not yet rotted away:

If the stalk is cracked or broken it can be secured with hose clamps and/or zip ties:

Lastly, up-end the stalk and slide the aluminum tube over the rebar:

And Bob's Your Uncle (whoever Bob was).

The Giants of Continental Drift & Plate Tectonics

Some of milestones in the development and acceptance of the theory of plate tectonics. Note that the dates may represent a period rather than one specific year. Also, the work may have been carried out at more than the one location given.

1858. Antonio Snider-Pellegrini (American geographer living in Paris).  Constructed maps that demonstrated how the American and African continents once fit together and later separated. Based on plant fossils in both Europe and America that were identical.

1914.  Joseph Barrell (Yale).  Developed an earth model based on the presence of gravity anomalies over continental crust. He inferred that there must exist a strong, solid upper layer (the “lithosphere”) above a weaker layer which could flow (the “asthenosphere”).

1915.  Alfred Wegener (University of Hamburg). Hypothesized that the continents are slowly drifting around the Earth, based on the observation that the various large landmasses almost fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

1919.  Arthur Holmes (University of Durham).  Proposed that the earth's mantle contained convection cells that dissipated radioactive heat and moved the crust at the surface.

1935.   Boris Choubert (French Research Institute for Development).  Published a reconstruction of the relative positions of America, Africa and Europe, based on the 1000-meter isobath which produced a better representation of the limits of the continents.

1951.  Keith Runcorn (Cambridge) & P.M.S. Blackett (Imperial College).  Compiled paleomagnetic reconstructions of the relative motions of Europe and America which revived the theory of continental drift and was a major contribution to plate tectonics.

1953.  Maurice Ewing, Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University).  Carried out detailed mapping of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge using seismic surveying, coring etc.

1962.  Harry Hess (Princeton). Proposed that the seafloor itself moves, carrying the continents with it, as it expands from a central axis.

1963.  Frederick John Vine (Cambridge).  Showed that magnetic reversals frozen into the sea floor rocks can be seen as parallel strips as you move perpendicularly away from the ridge crest.

1965.  John Tuzo Wilson (University of Toronto).  Proposed the transform fault, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally (e.g. the San Andreas Fault).

1968.  Xavier Le Pichon (Collège de France, Paris). Developed a complete model based on six major plates with their relative motions, which marked the final acceptance by the scientific community of plate tectonics.

The elusive ibex in the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia

Nearly twenty years ago, it was our good fortune to spend time with our friends Michael and Maricella in Addis Ababa in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia has been a Christian country since the 4^th century and evidence of this is seen in the many remarkable churches which we visited.  Better yet, we were able to embark on a trekking expedition to the Simien Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Ethiopia is home to the world’s only population of Walia Iibex, which is only found living on the high, steep cliffs of the Simien Mountains. Would we get to see one?

A pious man studying his texts

A wizened face that suggests the wisdom of a lifetime

Fortunately, all our bags were transported by mules on our expedition

In the early miles, our progress was watched by curious onlookers

Some of us took full advantage of the mules

Given Ethiopia’s hostile relationship with Eritrea and our proximity to the border, our guide doubled as a guard

Along the way, we also saw the herbivorous Ethiopian Gelada, the last surviving species of ancient grazing primates (and no, its not a baboon)

The Gelada as described in 1835

The intrepid trekking group at our highest point

The Simien Mountains consisting of sequences of basaltic lava deposited on the Precambrian crystalline basement.

The Walia Ibex as described in 1835

When we reached the top of our climb, we still had not seen any ibex. Then, gazing across a wide ravine the guide excitedly pointed out one lone animal far, far away on the opposite cliff.  We searched and searched in vain but sadly failed to see what he was looking at. We wondered if his claims were for our benefit only; after all, his eyes were much older than ours.  

Months later, I printed my photos of the cliff and scrutinized them with a magnifying glass.

And guess what?

Obvious when you know what you are looking for