Author: John Cruse

We made our way east of Stornoway to see one of the most important archaeological sites on the Isle of Lewis. This is St Columba’s Church UI (Eaglais na h-Aoidhe in Gaelic) which is believed to be the main church in the medieval period.

Archaeological finds showed that the area around the church had been settled by farming people in the Neolithic period up to 6000 years ago. Evidence of later occupation close to the church was found in 1937 when the remains of a small late Iron Age or early medieval stone building with a hearth on an earth floor and traces of iron objects were uncovered.

Under the Norse kings and later, until the 14th century as part of Scotland, Lewis was held by the Nicolsons who had strongholds at Flesherin and Stornoway. They may be responsible for the building of an early church on the site, a fragment of which is retained, embedded in the north wall of the building.

The Macleod dynasty, reputedly descended from Leod, a Norseman, obtained control of Lewes through marriage to a daughter of Torquil Nicolson, the last of the Nicolson chiefs. Torquil MacLeod was a son of this marriage. After the Treaty of Perth, when the islands became Scottish, they were first given by the King to the Earl of Ross and then to John, Lord of the Isles. Torquil MacLeod was confirmed as a vassal of the Lord of the Isles and probably died around 1380. The nave and chancel of the present church may have been built at the start of this period.

During the 14th century most of the Hebrides was brought together under a single Lordship. John of Islay was Lord of the Isles from 1354. The Lordship became virtually independent of the control of the Scottish Crown with Lewis continuing to the held by the MacLeods of Lewis (Siol Torcuil), the descendants of Torquil MacLeod.

This was a golden age of medieval society and Gaelic culture in the Western Isles. Justice was administered through the Council of the Isles and although warfare was a way of life, within the Lordship itself, peace was generally maintained.

The MacLeods of Lewis retained control of Lewis for 250 years or more with no fewer the 19 of their chiefs said to be buried at the church. There are two carved grave slabs commemorating Roderick MacLeod VII (died 1498) and his daughter, Margaret MacKinnon (died 1503).

We then returned to Lews Castle to have a look inside at the rooms and museum. When we were there the day before, it was late and the museum was closing for the night.

Lews Castle was completed in 1854 following Sir James Matheson’s purchase of the Isle of Lewis was taken over by Lord Leverhulme, of Lever Brothers/Unilever fame, when he bought the Isle of Lewis in 1918. In 1923, he gifted the Castle and grounds to the people of Stornoway. During the war, it was used as a naval hospital and latterly was the first home of the Lews Castle College until 1988. After many years of disrepair, the castle was renovated and now houses the museum, cafe and accommodation.

The Museum – Museum nan Eilean – is located in a purpose-built extension to Lews Castle and opened in 2016. The galleries look at the stories of the islands and islanders. Significant loans from the National Museums Scotland and the British Museum include the world-famous Lewis Chessmen.

The eleven medieval chess pieces were part of a large hoard buried on the Isle of Lewis. The hoard contained 93 gaming pieces including at least four chess sets as well as other games.

It is thought that the chess pieces were made in the late 12th century or early 13th century in Norway. Chess is a very old game originating in the Islamic world and by the medieval period its popularity had spread across Europe. It was believed that it became an important part of medieval society, a way of practicing and demonstrating skill and strategy in a war-like setting. Boards for playing the games have been found by archaeologists at medieval sites in Scotland including monasteries like Whithorn (in Dumfries and Galloway). At Lewis, the hoard also contained pieces for playing the game of tables, a game similar to backgammon.

The style of the carving links the chess pieces to Norway. There is a similar chess piece in Trondheim. The Lewis chess pieces are mostly made from walrus ivory but some are made from sperm whale teeth.

After another enjoyable day we returned to the Royal Hotel in anticipation of our moving on to the Isle of Harris the next day.

Words and photos: Copyright John Cruse 2024

To start our second day we headed west to Callanish (Calanais in Gaelic) to visit the Calanais Standing Stones. The standing stones are one of Scotland’s most magnificent and best preserved Neolithic monuments.

The Calanais Standing Stones are an extraordinary cross-shaped setting of stones erected 5,000 years ago. They predate the famous Stonehenge monument and are believed to have been an important place for ritual activity for 2,000 years.

It is not known why the standing stones at Calanais were erected but one theory is that they were a kind of astronomical observatory. As with many of these Neolithic monuments we will probably never be able to know what was in the mind of their builders.

Our next visit was to the Bostadh Iron Age Village on the island of Great Bernera. Bostadh means farm in Old Norse. The story of the site tells that during a severe storm in 1992, the stone walls of an ancient village were exposed that had lain hidden under the sand dunes of Bosta Beach for hundreds of years.

In 1996, the site was excavated to reveal a well-preserved settlement of houses that dated back to the Late Iron Age (or Pictish Age) of 400-800AD. Located in a small valley with streams, a beach and rich fishing waters it would have made a perfect home for these early people.

The excavation was recorded in detail and the footprint of the village was laid out. However, the vulnerable structures themselves could not be preserved due to the process of erosion and sand build up. Therefore, they again lay underneath the sand and a life-size construction of a period home was made as we see in the photos above.

We then drove back to Stornoway for a visit to Lews Castle that sat on the other side of the water from our hotel.

In 1844 wealthy businessman James Matheson, a Scottish Opium Trader and co-founder with William Jardine of the Hong Kong based trading conglomerate Jardine Matheson & Co, bought the Island of Lewis for more than £190,000 from the bankrupt estate of the Mackenzies of Seaforth. Shortly afterwards he demolished Seaforth Lodge, the dilapidated home of the Mackenzies, taking on Glasgow architect Charles Wilson to design him a magnificent new island base – Lews Castle. A building this grand needed grounds to match and Matheson completely reshaped the landscape around his new home.

Matheson funded his grand scheme with a fortune that he had amassed following the first Opium War with China. To expand his business interests he had helped to persuade the British Government to wage war on China which had rejected proposals to legalise opium as it had become a problem for their people. The British Government used its naval power to defeat the Chinese in the first Opium War of 1839-42. This enable Matheson to expand his business empire into mainland China.

That said, Matheson provided employment, funded famine relief and engaged in many other social and economic projects to the benefit of the islands community, spending some £320,000 in 1850 (roughly £36 million today)

Lews Castle these days provides luxury accommodation, is a wedding venue, has a museum, cafe and shops and one can stroll around the extensive gardens.

After a short walk back to our hotel, we again visited the Boatshed restaurant, part of the Royal Hotel, for an excellent dinner.

Words and photos: Copyright John Cruse 2024

We arrived in Stornoway about 9.30pm and drove less than five minutes to our accommodation, the Royal Hotel that faces the harbour with Lews Castle on the other side of the water.

Our first day dawned and we planned to go north to visit the Port of Ness (Port Nis, in Gaelic) and Butt of Lewis lighthouse at Lewis’s most northerly point. The plan was to then come back south visiting places of interest such as the famous, Blackhouses.

There are not many roads on the Islands so getting lost should not be an issue even if you are not using some form of satnav. There are many road signs which are in Gaelic with English underneath. The many Gaelic speakers on the Islands keep the language alive, although they also speak English so one does not encounter any issues when out and about.

Port Ness is a small community with a harbour and because it faces into ‘The Minch’ (the sea that separates the Islands from the mainland) at the very north of the Hebrides, its small harbour has been designed to deal with the worst storms.

In autumn, the men of Ness still make their traditional journey to Sula Sgeir to capture young gannets, a tradition that is believed started before 1549 when the gannets were collected for food. Sula Sgeir is now uninhabited, lies 70 kilometres north of Lewis and is one of the most remote islands of the British Isles. We didn’t see any gannet on the menu so perhaps the trip to Sula Sgeir is purely symbolic these days.

A short way from the Port is the Butt of Lewis lighthouse that has been mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records as the windiest place in the UK.

The lighthouse was built between 1859 and 1862 by David and Thomas Stevenson on the cliffs, some of which reach 80 feet high. The Stevenson family’s involvement in lighthouse engineering began with Robert Stevenson whose grandson was the author, Robert Louis Stevenson known for works such as Kidnapped, Treasure Island and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The cliffs comprise ancient rocks known as Lewisian gneiss which date back between 2.6 billion and 1.6 billion years. We were lucky that the wind was benign on the day we visited so our experience of the windiest place in the UK was positive.

We then returned south and visited the famous Blackhouse at Arnol. We understood that this particular house was still being lived in up to the 1960s when the occupants were moved across the road to a small conventional style house. For hundreds of years people were living with their livestock in Blackhouses which had advantages as it made the dwelling warmer and meant fewer buildings were needed.

For authenticity, the peat fire was burning during our visit and you can see from the pictures that the smoke from the peat fire must have been a real health hazard. We understand that the fire was going all of the time so living with that every day and the animals in close proximity must have made the environment of the Blackhouse challenging.

That said, as there was no chimney, the smoke from the peat fire rose up into the thatch of the roof and killed bugs. It also made the smoke-laden thatch a good source of fertiliser for the fields.

We then visited the Gearrannan Blackhouse Village in the Carloway district which is a costal crofting village. Since 1989, the Garenin Trust has painstakingly restored the once-derelict properties and croft land to recreate an authentic settlement. Visitors can stay in the properties overnight on a self-catering basis.

Some of the properties in the village are open to the day visitor so that they can see the different interiors as well as some demonstrations of traditional crafts such as weaving the famous Harris tweed.

We then moved on the short distance to the Dun Carloway Broch. Brochs are among Scotland’s most impressive prehistoric buildings and these stone roundhouses date from about 2,300 to 1,900 years ago, and are found mainly in north and west Scotland. Probably built to reflect the prestige and status of their inhabitants, brochs were primarily dwelling-places for the principal family in the area. They would have provided some protection against sporadic raiding, but were not purely defensive structures.

After a full day of blackhouses and brochs we returned to the Royal Hotel, that just happened to have one of the best restaurants in Stornoway, for sustenance and a good night’s sleep.

Word and photos: Copyright John Cruse 2024

Having travelled on many trips to Scotland over the years – including Orkney, Shetland and the Inner Hebrides – the Outer Hebrides, or Western Isles as they are alternatively known, was the last part of Scotland that we had not had the pleasure to visit.

The Outer Hebrides are made up of many inhabited and uninhabited islands, the principal ones being Lewis, Harris, Uists, Benbecula and Barra. Our intention was to drive up to Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland and take the ferry across to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis to start our trip. This was a drive of 636 miles with an estimated drive time of around 11 hours, so we decided to make a stop just outside of Glasgow for the night, at Motherwell which was a mere 400 miles.

The drive to Motherwell was virtually all on the motorway but from Motherwell to Ullapool the roads were very good, but mainly single lanes so the last 200 miles were slower. Part of the route we took from Inverness was on the NC500 – the 516 mile scenic route that goes around the North Coast of Scotland. The NC500 is a nice trip to make as it takes one to parts of Scotland not normally visited by most tourists. We made this trip many years ago before it became the tourist event it is now.

After reaching Ullapool we caught the ferry for the voyage across to Stornoway which takes circa 2hr 40 minutes. Before travelling we had engaged a local travel agent in Stornoway to book us accommodation in the Outer Hebrides as this is limited and in the peak season can be difficult to find. The other peculiarity that travellers to the Outer Hebrides need to be aware of is that, on a Sunday, most shops, petrol stations and restaurants close all day, so if you want to eat you need to book in advance in the few restaurants that do open. It was just like the rest of the UK used to be in the 1950s. Also there is no public transport on a Sunday.

The structure of our trip was to start on the Isle of Lewis and drive down the islands, visiting various historical and cultural sites including the World Heritage Site, St Kilda (Hirta), finishing on the Isle of Barra where we would get the ferry from Castlebay back to Oban on the mainland of Scotland.

Words and photos: Copyright John Cruse 2024. Map courtesy of d-maps.com

Our route from Tahiti to Valparaiso (courtsey of Silversea Cruises)

Our final trip of 2022 is fast approaching. Yet another trip booked pre-Covid and shelved for a couple of years. As can be seen from the route map above, it is an exploration cruise from Tahiti, French Polynesia across to Valparaiso, Chile, visiting the many islands that are situated inbetween. Our friends in Australia, Eric and Diane, alerted us to this trip and we could not miss the opportunity to visit such a remote British Overseas Territory, the Pitcairn Islands, which were the main thrust of our interest in this trip.

I am sure that many of you will have read the books and seen the films about the Mutiny on the Bounty which happened in 1789. The reason I mention this is because some of the mutineers and some Polynesian men and women hid on the Pitcairn Islands (Adamstown) and remained undiscovered from 1790 until 1808.

For those unaware of the story of the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, it was captained by Lieutenant William Bligh and was engaged in transporting breadfruit from Tahiti to the British colonies in the West Indies. The expedition, which left England in October 1787, was promoted by the Royal Society and its president Joseph Banks who believed that bread fruit would grow in the West Indies and be a cheap food for the slaves in the sugar plantations. After sailing around Cape Horn and into the South Pacific Ocean, the mission was to pick up bread fruit in Tahiti and take it to the West Indies via the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans.

The crew consisted of 46 men, 44 Royal Navy seamen and two civilian botanists. This included a 23 year old Fletcher Christian, Master’s mate, who came from a wealthy Cumberland family descended from Isle of Man gentry. He had twice voyaged with Bligh to the West Indies and served on the Bounty without pay as one of the “young gentlemen”.

Bligh enforced strict discipline on the ship and when men stepped out of line, punishment was dealt out. There were clashes between Bligh and his officers on the trip down to Tahiti so when they reached Tahiti, the 5 months stay to collect bread fruit must have been a relief for Captain and crew. It seems that many men were not happy to leave the attractions of Tahiti, particularly the promiscious women, as they had enjoyed their time there. It seems that Fletcher Christian’s mood was not generally good and it did not help when, back at sea, Bligh accused him of stealing coconut from Bligh’s personal supply.

A mutiny ensued on 28 April 1789 and Bligh and some of his loyalists were cast off in the ship’s largest open boat. Bligh and his loyalists finally made it back to England in March 1790. The mutineers returned to Tahiti and some stayed there but Fletcher Christian and 8 others mutineers, along with 20 Polynesians (6 men and 14 women) left finally arriving in the Pitcairn Islands.

There is a lot more to the Mutiny on the Bounty, a true story, which is well worth reading as the above is only a very short precis. I would not suggest watching a Hollywood film on the Mutiny as Hollywood tends not to let the truth get in the way of a good storyline.

The above story tweaked our interest in this trip but I am sure there will be much else to report on as we visit French Polynesian and the Chilean Islands on our way across to Valparasio. We have visited Easter Island before so it will be interesting to go back and see what may have changed in the last 22 years.

Copyright: Words John Cruse 2022

We are back and as expected wifi was in most places non-existent so we were not able to post daily updates.

That said, for this trip, we have decided to post on various topics rather than specific days. The trip was split into two sections, a circular drive from Ulaanbaatar (UB as it is known to the locals) through mid-Gobi, down to South Gobi and the Sagsai Eagle Festival which was held in the far west of Mongolia in the mainly Kazakh province of Bayan-Olgii Aimag.

Mongolia is not a country I knew much about before going there so I though I would set out a few facts. It is nearly 6 times the size of the UK and has a population of 3.2 to 3.4 million with half of those living in and around UB. UB is a sprawling city with many new apartments being built as more Mongolians desert the nomadic life and move to the city for a different style of existence. Those still out in the vast countryside do continue to embrace a nomadic lifestyle and their wealth is measured by how many sheep, goats, camels, cows and horses they have. Fellow travellers of ours were asked by a nomadic family how many animals they had, and when they said one dog and two cats, they were asked, “are you poor”.

So a very different way of life for many in Mongolia compared to the western world. That said, all the nomadic families have mobile phones and satellite tv so are not as “cut off” as one may think from the outside world. Those who follow the nomadic life live in “gers” for the summer and nowdays move to a small house in the winter when it can get down to -50 centigrade. Living in a ger in those temperatures would be harsh as we found out to a lesser extent when we visited the Eagle Festival.

As you would expect, Mongolia’s history is linked heavily with its two big neighbours, Russia to the north and China to the south. Mongolia had been ruled by the Chinese Qing dynasty for circa 300 years until 1911 when a revolution broke out and on 1 December 1911, Mongolia declared independence. This ushered in the Bogd Khan era (Emperor of Mongolia) which lasted until 1924 after which Mongolia became a socialist state until 1992 under the leadership of the Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party. During this period Mongolia had close ties with the USSR. Today Mongolia is an independent country although we were told that many Mongolians are not happy with the current Government, who have a stranglehold on politics in Mongolia. It seemed that people were very sceptical as to how the Government was using tax payers’ money, so nothing new there.

Most Mongolians are Buddists and the Kazakh’s over in the west of the country are Muslims. There were many Buddist monastries dotted around the country, usually at the top of a hill, and in the west many mosques. Islam seems to be much more relaxed in the west with the Kazakh people – no head scaves or other dress code and many people preferred to worship at home rather than go to a mosque. For those muslims living out in the wild as nomads, worshipping at home seemed very sensible.

Mongolians drive on the rightside of the road but I have never been to any country that has so many cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side ie the right side. Also, I have never been to a country where the majority of vehicles are Toyota Prius. We were told a politician in the ruling party was able to purchase a vast amount of Toyota Prius’s directly from Japan and sell them on to the populus. It was very interesing seeing Mongolian drivers trying to overtake lorries and having to get the whole car out on the wrong side of the road.

Coming to roads in Mongolia, those who had seen the Top Gear special would probably have got the impression that the road system in Mongolia was very underdeveloped. It certainly is and 95% of our travel was off road on varying levels of rough terain. Lucky our drivers had the UAZ Van, a Russian vehicle that can still be bought brand new today, that is good off road but not so good on tarmac.

More to follow.

If you have any problems seeing pictures on the e-mail you receive, please go to the actual website where they will be in glorious colour.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022

The route map – courtesy of Goyo Travel

Our next trip starts this week and we are off to Mongolia for a journey into the Gobi Desert and then to see the Eagle Festival which is held in the west of the country.

As can be seen from the map above, Mongolia lies between Russia to the North and China to the South and I understand it is roughly the size of Alaska. Mongolia is the 19th largest and the most sparsely populated independent country in the world, with a population of approximately 3 million people. It is also the world’s second-largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan.

The country contains very little arable land, as much of its area is covered by steppes, with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Approximately 30% of the population is nomadic or semi-nomadic, and 45% live in the capital Ulaanbaatar. There are no other major cities in the country with the next largest, Erdenet and Darhan, having populations of 100,000 and 80,000 respectively. The highest point in Mongolia is Nayramadlin Orgil (also known as Mt Khuiten), at 4,374 meters (14,350 feet).

I am sure that many of us have heard the term Outer Mongolia. Interestingly, Inner Mongolia refers to the northern portion of China that borders with Outer Mongolia which is actually the country of Mongolia as we know it today. This division, I understand, was formed in the 1600s during the expansion of the Qing empire. In 1911 Outer Mongolia declared its independence after the fall of the Qing dynasty.

The life expectancy is 65 for men and 73 for women, the major religion is Buddism and the official language is Khalkh Mongolian.

After we leave the capital, Ulaanbaatar, and head south to the Gobi Desert we will be staying in ger camps which have 2-4 beds each and a traditional wood burning stove. No doubt this is 5 star luxury Mongolian style. We will find out soon.

As there will not be good, or possibly any, internet connections outside of Ulaanbaatar, our postings will most likely come at the end of our trip, so stay tuned.

Copyright: Words John Cruse 2022 (route map courtesy of Goyo Travel)

After our visit to the Inuit community of Artic Bay on the northern part of Baffin Island we were called down to the ship’s lecture theatre for what we were told was a mandatory briefing for all passengers. This sounded ominous but when you go on any expedition in the Arctic seas, plans change all the time due to ice and weather. We had ice along the west coast of Baffin Island resulting in the first part of our itinenary being changed but we had now sailed past that and, whereas the wind had got up as we sailed north, there had been no more mention of problematic ice.

The Expedition Leader, Christian, took the microphone and told us that Quark Expeditions had advised him that our return charter flight from Resolute would not be happening as the airline had cancelled the flight due to a combination of unexpected aircraft technical issues and crewing challenges. We also received a letter in our cabins from Quark explaining that due to Resolute’s short gravel runway which is only suitable for specially-equipped aircraft, and aviation industry-wide COVID and suppy chain challenges, we would be returning to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland for our charter flight back to Toronto. This meant we would be losing 3 days of our trip. Had disaster struck again in our quest to visit the Northwest Passage?

Our Expedition Leader went on to say that we would sail overnight along the coast of Devon Island and go directly to Beechey Island so that we could visit it before making our way back along the Lancaster Sound and through Baffin Bay to Kangerlussuaq. Hurrah we cried, as at least we would be able to visit the most important place in relation to the Franklin story.

As we said in the prologue, our main reason for joining this expedition cruise to the Northwest Passage was not to see Polar Bears, Walruses, Belugas, Narwhals or visit remote Innuit communities, although all of these would add to the experience. We had ticked all but one of these off our bucket list in our trip to the Hudson Bay in 2014. It was the historical narrative that had attracted us to this trip in order to see the remoteness of the area and to get a feel for the challenges that the 1845 ill-fated Sir John Franklin expedition endured with 129 men losing their lives.

For us, the most poignant moment in the trip would be to sail down the Lancaster Sound and land on Beechey Island where 3 of Franklin’s crew were buried along with the grave of another unfortunate sailor who died and was buried there on a later mission in the 1850s to find out what happened to Franklin and his crew.

The dissappointment of losing 3 days of our trip would be negated, for us at least, if we finally got to Beechey Island. So when the boat set off overnight all looked positive. That night the wind got up and the sea became very rough but Quark’s newest ship in it’s fleet, the Ultramarine, dealt with the conditions very well.

After a good night’s sleep we woke to find the wind had subsided but the ship was stationary. The Expedition Leader came on the tannoy to advise us all that due to 100mph winds overnight the Captain had decided that his only option was to rideout the storm in a stationary position. This meant that we were still at the eastern side of Devon Island near Dundas Harbour and 70 nautical miles (roughly 80 miles) from Beechey Island. He also advised that this meant that our schedule did not allow us to get to Beechey Island and make it back to Kangerlussuaq. Instead we would cruise up to Croker Bay and make a landing at Dundas Harbour that had a Royal Canadian Mounted Police post, which finally closed in 1951. This site had also been used by the Hudson Bay Company in the early 1930s until fur prices collapsed. Dundas Harbour also had the remains of some settlements of the Thule people who are the ancestors of the modern day Inuit.

Yet again so near, but circumstamces beyond our control have scuppered our completion of this bucket list item.

Three days at sea now with not much to view as even the sea birds seem to have deserted us on this trip. The expedition staff are giving some lectures, which have been very interesting and informative but do not remove the disappointment of not reaching Beechey Island.

We have been lucky that we have two historians on this ship, both whom we have met before. Laurie Dexter who was part of the Expedition Team for our Hudson Bay trip and Ken Burton who was part of the Expedition Team on our last ill-fated trip to the Northwest Passage where we ran aground. Both have given excellent lectures on the Franklin story from his start in the British Navy, being govenor of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) to his last expedition, death and the many expeditions that followed to find out what happened. They also talked about the Erebus and Terror being found and the theories as to how the ships moved to their final resting places. The investigations are still ongoing and as bodies may still be on the ships, they could be declared British war graves. Time will tell on this aspect. Ken had even sailed the Northwest Passage in his capacity as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship’s captain and took Michael Palin onto Beechey Island when Michael was there researching his book, Erebus – The story of a ship.

Therefore, apart from a few lectures, we have to look forward to a charter flight from Kangerlussuaq to Niagra Falls, New York State, with a coach ride across the border to Toronto where we overnight and then home to prepare for our next journey, details to follow.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022

We had an uneventful 300 mile drive from Kingman to West Hollywood. There was not much to stop and see on the way although the town of Barstow that we passed through was mentioned in John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath.

We decided, on our first full day in Los Angeles, to drive the last 12 or so miles from West Hollywood to Santa Monica Pier which is the official end of Route 66. The traffic in Los Angeles was heavy most of the day so a short 12 miles took 30 minutes and we witnessed some dreadful driving particularly on the Interstate. So, after just over 2,800 miles, we reached the end of Route 66 although we had had a couple of detours to Monument Valley and the Hoover Dam which increased the usually quoted mileage of 2,448 for Route 66.

The tribute to Robert Waldmire is outside of a memorabilia shop at the end of the Santa Monica Pier. Robert (Bob) Waldmire was an American artist who is well know for his artwork of Route 66 and won the National Historic Route 66 Federation’s John Steinbeck award in 2004 for his contributions to the preservation of Route 66.

Sanata Monica had a nice long beach which must be very popular in the summer months and on public holidays and it featured its own version of “Muscle Beach” which they claimed was the original. There were no muscle men there the day we visited and it looked to me more like something a local council in the UK would set up in a local park that would equally not be used.

We asked a policeman, who happened to be at the end of the Pier, if there were any other “End of Trail” Route 66 signs and he thought there may be one in Santa Monica Boulevard so we took a walk around the downtown area.

Santa Monica seemed a pleasant part of the Los Angeles sprawl and had many restaurants and bars including an “English pub” which, in the usual American style, looked nothing like UK style pub. It has a homeless problem too, although it is not as visible as in Hollywood. As we could not find any other End of Trail signs we returned to West Hollywood and the delights Sue has already reported on.

Route 66 was completed and whereas we had driven 2,800 miles in less than 3 weeks, the driving had not been challenging for me but enjoyable. We had only spent just over £300 on petrol (or “gas” as they say) which was at a record high in the US, as it is in the UK, but was still only roughly 60% or less of what we pay in the UK.

Our epilogue will follow with some observations made along our road trip.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022

The reason for our stopover in Kingman was to make a visit to the Hoover Dam which was only 75 miles away. A short drive in US terms. We had been there when we visited Las Vegas in 2018 but did not had enough time to vist the Dam museum or go on the powerplant tour.

A bit of trivia before the history: who is the Dam currently named after and what was its original name? The options for who the Dam is currently named after are; 1. J Edgar Hoover; 2. Herbert Hoover and 3. Henry the Hoover. No clues for the original name but it relates to a city close by.

The Hoover Dam was built in the Black Canyon on the Colorado River between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and straddles the state line between Nevada and Arizona. It was inaugrated on the 30 September 1935 by President Franklin D Rooseveldt.

Since about 1900, the US Government had been invesigating whether Black Canyon, Boulder Canyon or other spots along the Colorado river had the potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. The US Congress authorised the project in 1928 and a consortium of six companies won the bid to build the Dam and with great imagination called themselves “Six Companies, Inc.”

The Museum gave a good overview of the construction of the Dam and the challenges that such a big project gave, as nothing had been done on this scale before. New building techniques had to be trialled. For instance, to aid the non-stop construction they built with concrete in block sections which also hastened the drying of the wet concrete.

Workers from all over America and beyond came to try and get employment during the Great Depression although only circa 6,000 were working on the Dam at any one time. Boulder City which is near the Dam was built to house the workers as the site was remote in the 1930s. Some of the jobs were extremely dangerous and there were fatalities from various causes: falls from the canyon side, explosions, carbon monoxide poisoning and pneumonia, to name a few.

These days we are used to hearing how major infrastructure projects are over budget and running late but Six Companies turned the Dam over to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule.

Once the Dam was built, the body of water above the Dam took six to seven years to reach its final height and was named Lake Mead. It is the largest reservoir in the United States by volume when full although, due to the current drought in the southwestern United States, is dangerously low near to the level where it would not give enough water to turn the turbines for electricity generation.

The Dam’s generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona and California. As the road over the Dam was being used heavily, a bridge has been built nearby to take the Interstate 93 traffic. The roadway on the bridge is nearly 900 feet above the Colorado River.

The Dam is operated by the US Bureau of Reclamation and is 726 feet high and 1,244 feet long. At the base it is 660 feet wide but only 45 feet wide at the top. It cost apparently USD 49 million to build.

One interesting consequence of the water levels of Lake Mead dropping so low is that 2 bodies have recently been found which police believe could have been in the lake since the 1970s or 80s.

If you are in Kingman or Las Vegas the Dam is worth a visit, but if you go on the organised tours from Las Vegas you don’t get much time at the Dam, so self-drive is best.

The answers to the trivia questions above is firstly, Herbert Hoover (unfortunately not Henry the Hoover) and secondly, The Boulder Dam.

Copyright: words and photos John Cruse 2022