Two long walks around Clyde, a small picturesque but sleepy town, surrounded by mountains that change colour, depending on the time of day or cloud cover. Always something to look at.
Clyde started in the 1870s as a gold mining town called Dunstan, and then became the administrative centre for gold mining in the surrounding areas.
Now it mainly contains holiday homes or homes for retirees. The area hospital is situated here, in a beautiful wooded area. Great place for recuperation. The Rail Trail also starts in Clyde so there is a thriving bicycle hire business.
Off we go, with Lucy, the dog.
A reminder of the past. An effective way of advertising the small cinema in Clyde! Where one can view all the latest movies from the comfort of an armchair.
The old Clyde Railway Station, now situated on the edge of a linear park. The old railway line has been pulled up, and a bicycle path, The Rail Trail, has been built. A very popular trail with 1000s of cyclists travelling along it each summer.
A pristine garden. How do the owners manage to keep all the schist stones in place on a sloping bank?
The town of Clyde viewed from the hill beside it. A stiff climb and some clambouring up but worth it for the views.
And on the other side of the hill, the Clyde Dam, built in the 1980s on the Clutha River to generate electricity. The dam involved flooding the ravine and establishing a large lake in Cromwell.
And what is this? A rabbit toilet! Not good as rabbits cause so much devastation. The lovely little bunny rabbit, so beloved in the United Kingdom, is an absolute pest here. Lucy the dog was very keen to disappear down a rabbit hole in order to catch one of the fluffy creatures.
Another introduced species in the Clyde area is the common thyme. A few plants in the ground, probably planted by the first prospectors in the 1870s, then spread rapidly into the surrounding hills. The wild thyme boosted a thriving dried thyme business in the late 1800s. Now the area boasts the largest area of wild common thyme in the world, apart from the Mediterranean.
Plastic mushrooms? No, they are septic tank air vents. A large area, landscaped using grasses and schist gravel, and with septic tank/s under the ground. All installed because of a new housing development nearby. I am not sure why the developers felt that a septic tank area was more efficient that the town sewerage scheme.
The local builder/undertaker, an appropriate combination.
A beautiful garden with plenty of fruit trees.
There are many beautiful gardens and old buildings in Clyde. Too many to fit into this blog. A really beautiful place.
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