These last several weeks have been unseasonably warm.  I enjoy walking during lunch for my exercise and thought you might like to see Brown’s Island and the canal off the James River in downtown Richmond.

This is the bridge I take across to get to the island, shown from the far end.  Click here for a close up picture of the bridge from last year.

Of course, I like to check the sky and see what the clouds are doing.  It’s one of my favorite things about taking pictures.  They’re all different too.

The trees have started budding, which I don’t think is a good sign.  Our maple and oak trees in the backyard are waking up.  So are the mosquitoes and the flies.  My herbs never died back.

Instead of crossing on the bridge, I can also go down these stairs instead and walk on the near side.  I usually don’t as it’s just benches and concrete.  Some days if if I’m not walking and the weather isn’t too nasty, I’ll eat my lunch on one of the benches just to get away from my desk for a while.

This is the view from the left of the bridge (looking east).  There are several restaurants down that way and I can cross back over the canal and walk on the sidewalks into Shockoe Slip.  To see some pictures I posted last year of walking along the canal in that direction, click here and here.

This is the view from the right of the bridge (looking west).  I posted pictures from when that white bridge was put into place here.

This cool sculpture is along the walking path.  It’s called “The Headmen” and is a tribute to the African-American boatmen who were part of the development of commerce in the city.  The city has other sculptures around it and I will post those a different time.

This beautiful building behind the sculpture is actually a corporate headquarters.  Several times a year, tourists try to get in, thinking it’s a museum.

The trains still run along here.  This one rumbled by as I was walking.

Here’s a view of the river.  The water was very sparkly the day I took it, but my camera didn’t quite catch it.  Along with the warm days, the humidity has come back.  My distance pictures have a fair degree of haziness because of that.

Shortly after I took this picture, a kayaker came through.  I thought it was a bit fast and choppy in this section, but he made it through without a problem.

There are some interesting things to see during my walk, although when the leaves are down it’s pretty barren.

While everything has a beauty to it, the winter makes it more difficult to find the beauty.  I have to work hard to make it look pretty, by being selective about the angle of my shot and cropping closely when possible.

This is what I see from the far side of the island.  My employer is in the far building to the left.

The river is full of seagulls.  These were so big that I thought they were turkey vultures until they took off.  I took several pictures as I walked until I got one where they weren’t so black against the sky and I could see the gray coloring of the gulls.

I took my walk about 1:30 pm.  The sun is angled low at this time of the year.  I miss the endless summer days of living in the Midwest, but I do not miss the endless winter nights.  The sun may be low, but it is light longer at this time of the year.

From here, I can either go back through the island to get to the bridge or I can continue up the sidewalk.   If my time is getting short, I’ll just take the sidewalk back.  I’ll sign in at the health club that I worked out on the outside trails.

A lot of people are used to seeing me come back into work with the camera.  It’s a great conversation starter as people are curious what I took a picture of during my walk.  All kinds of things, I’ll say.  All kinds of things.

Virginia Walking boatmen sculpture bridge Brown's Island canal clouds James River New Market The Headmen Virginia walking work