Northside (Modified) #8
Northside, modified
Sunday, 10 November 2013
We had a discussion and decided to skip Berryman Walk #7 today. It’s very short. We’ll give it a go soon, in combination with another nearby walk.
It is definitely autumn this morning. 57F at the start of the walk.
We decided to modify the route set out in the Book. There is some duplication up on La Loma Avenue, and there is a staircase (Le Roy Steps) that are not mentioned. The yellow line is what we cut out. Instead, we went down hill on Hilgard Avenue and took a left at Le Roy Steps.
Up Hearst we went. The hill is steeper than it looks!
When we got to the corner of Highland Place, we noticed the apartment building has been spiffed up.
The flags at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute have had a lot of color bleached out since we were last up here.
We kept going, turning right and going uphill on Virginia Street. Then up the steps towards La Vereda Road. We were confident now about what to do with the instructions on page 59, “...continue up 13 wide wooden steps, across a driveway with a wooden bridge....” That is, we did not walk on the wooden bridge, and all was fine.
We continued up La Vereda, and turned left on Cedar Street, and then down Cedar Path. The steps were absolutely covered in fallen leaves, mostly oak.
At the bottom of the Path, we turned left and walked down La Loma Avenue.
The house at 1628 has had a nice upgrade to its garden.
The olive trees were there the last time we were by, but everything is nice and tidy now.
This is a good time to look over the map again. We are at the intersection of the blue and yellow routes, where La Loma Avenue and Hilgard Avenue.
Instead of swinging to the left on La Loma, we turned right and went down a flight of steps on the right side of La Loma (same side as the house with the olive trees). If you enlarge the map, you will see Google labels a length of walkway as Le Roy Steps. We are not sure that’s right, but the point is, go downhill, past Le Roy Avenue, and you’ll see the sign for Le Roy Steps on the left.
The top of the steps is also marked by concrete posts.
Today, there was a notice posted at the top of the steps:
“Le Roy Steps Work Party, Sunday, November 17, 2013. Those of us who walk up and down Le Roy Steps may not know that this area is not maintained by the City of Berkeley. It’s up to us, residents, to keep it beautiful.”
At the bottom of the steps, we came across a house we had not seen before (this is our first time on Le Roy Steps). It isn’t easy to photograph, but the color contrast is stunning.
We kept going on Le Roy until we turned right and went downhill on Le Conte Avenue. At Euclid Avenue, we turned left and kept moving downhill.
At the corner of Ridge Road, we noticed the Garden Court has been painted; it used to be off white. It looks sharp now. New landscaping must be coming soon. Take a look at the window over the front entrance when you get there.
We were back at the starting point in one more block.
Here is a link to the original blog post on Northside Walk #8.
Walking after work on weekdays isn’t easy now, with the sun setting at 5 pm. So we wanted a longer walk than Berryman, and moved up one chapter to Northside.
Next—Rose Walk. Maybe we’ll cover Berryman, too.
