Assateague Island National Wildlife Refuge

Assateague is an uninhabited island off the coast of Chincoteague (itself an island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia).  Assateague is managed by the National Park Service and is home to a herd of 150 wild ponies who graze the salt marshes.

The last Wednesday and Thursday in July is when the pony swim and auction take place.

In order to keep the herd to 150 the ponies are penned, rested and then herded to the water channel between the two islands for a 4 minute swim/wade to Chincoteague where they are again rested before selected ponies are sold at auction.

This ritual began many years ago as a fundraiser for the Chincoteague Fire Brigade after several major fires in the town.  It is now a week long carnival.  The pony swim was made famous by a children's book 'Misty of Chincoteague' written by a woman who bought a foal at auction.

Whilst watching the ponies from the road, this creature caught David's eye.  A black rat snake..

Our day clearly wasn't going to be spent sitting on the beach and so we followed a trail to 'Tom's Cove' a stretch of water between the islands.


These smaller black-headed gulls are prolific on this coast.

The snails were each holding tight to a piece of weed.



These tiny crabs were scuttling in and out of the water.  Each had one enormously big claw.. probably necessary to fend of all the seabirds for whom they would be a tasty morsel!

And so on to the beach .. miles and miles of unspoilt sandy coastline of white and black shell sand ( we realized why the black sand when we inspected some of the shells)

To say that it was blustery on the beach would be an understatement.  We were sandblasted by the wind whipping the sand and throwing it at us.

This abandoned octopus sand sculpture was rapidly disappearing and the clouds were gathering.

Which probably explains why there was no competition for the picnic benches!



The sea was very lively and great to watch but despite the warm air and reasonably warm water it wasn't tempting to get into the boiling bubbles..

This video may give you an idea of the beach on such a day..

Duck Crossing!

 

This evening we are staying in a small motel  in the Main Street of Chincoteague  Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore.  

Having started our day at Virginia Beach (where our hotel was beside this very large statue of Neptune - photographed last night) we travelled onto the peninsula - which is sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay - via an extraordinary feat of engineering - the 17 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel which enables crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

It is hard to convey the scale of the bridge in a few photos.  It comprises two bridges alongside each other - the original bridge was built in 1966 and carried two way traffic, the second bridge was added some thirty years later so that there is now one bridge in each direction.

The only place that you can stop on the bridge is just before the first tunnel where there is a visitor centre and restaurant.  So we stopped to look.  There is something rather disconcerting about standing at the end of the bridge and looking across a wide, deep shipping channel to the start of the bridge the other side of the tunnel.

The need for adequate shipping channels was evident from the size of the ships passing through.

The tunnels are two way, well lit and most importantly, dry!



It really is a magnificent feat of engineering and no doubt if the weather had been better the views would have been quite spectacular.

It has been raining since we arrived in Chincoteague, unfortunately.  This line of ducks suddenly appeared from a side road and headed straight across the road..thankfully at that moment there was little traffic!

PS

In the several days that we were staying, we several times saw the ducks crossing the road to and fro.  David photographed them again stopping the traffic on Sunday morning...

Thank you for all my birthday cards, wishes and gifts.  It has been a lovely day, even if a little more grey and damp than I hoped.

Hummingbirds (and Virginia Beach)

I took short videos of one of the hummingbitds in the garden at Agecroft Hall yesterday to see whether I could add to this blog.  I think that it has worked!

On to today...

After David finished work in Richmond today we drove to Virginia Beach.  Our hotel is on the ocean and the view is good - David was a little over-dressed for the beach initially!

It has been hot today but not so sunny!

Virginia Beach has miles of boardwalk and many large hotels.



We felt the need to add some graffiti to the beach!

We walked along to the fishing pier..

On our way back, the sky was looking rather threatening..

That did not deter us from ice cream...

Agecroft Hall

Agecroft Hall is an 'Elizabethan' mansion on the banks of the James River in Richmond.

The original Agecroft Hall was built in Lancashire in the early 1500's and it was passed through the Langley and Dauntcey families with additions and renovations until the early 1900's, when it fell into disrepair and was put up for auction.

It was bought by Thomas Williams of Virginia who arranged for it to be dismantled and the building materials shipped to Richmond to be rebuilt in Elizabethan style but as a 'modern' family home.

Many of the original features including huge leaded windows, carved oak panelling,  fireplaces and original paintings of members of the family were brought over and incorporated into the design of the new house.

No photos were allowed inside the house but since it has been made into a museum it is presented as it would have been lived in during the 1600's and the tour was very interesting and informative.

The tiny door in the large doors into the courtyard is an original feature.



Outside are beautiful formal and informal gardens including this sunken garden which was very quiet and peaceful today.

There is a summer house with a view over the James River.

In the garden quite a bit of activity amongst the flowers..

A hummingbird moth, and then the real thing (in fact three of them, more of them another day)..

Many dragon or damsel flies flitting around the pond..



Huge bees enjoying the flowers..

This handsome resident ginger cat, optimistically named 'Rocket' finally settled in the shade to sleep after following me around, meowing, the whole time that I was trying to stalk the hummingbirds with my iPhone !  

Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg is situated midway between Washington DC and Richmond - established in the early 18th century it has a historic downtown area, on the banks of the Rapahannock River.

Today, instead of speeding past on the i-95 as we normally do, we had a little time to stop and explore.



David was very taken with this fully restored brick house dating back to 1776.  It was a cool $1.5m but beautiful.. and large.

There were many other lovely old houses..

I particularly liked the arch supporting the steps here.

The Baptist Church caught my eye - partly I think because the spire is so similar to Beechen Cliff in Bath.

Fredericksburg was the site of terrible battles during the Civil War including the one commemorated here ..

The text at the foot of the wall is the wording of a letter sent from Abraham Lincoln to a woman who had lost five sons to the war.  The tragedy is almost unimaginable.

On a lighter note, the Rapahannock River was beautiful in the sunshine and several paddleboarders were out on the water and making the most of it