Hiking Hidden Lansdale

On Wednesday, June 17, we took a 6 mile walk through suburban Hatfield and Lansdale.  Our destination was Round Guys Brewery in downtown Lansdale, but on the way, we wanted to stretch our walking yet a little further as Dave continues his recuperation.  This turned out to be a 6 mile walk, punctuated with a wonderful lunch and a beer.

We've been travelling long enough to know that even the seemingly most mundane locations can give surprise and pleasure, if only you slow down and look around.  This walk was no different.

Who doesn't have childhood memories of sweet honeysuckle?  We stumbled on this oh-so-fragrant bush, enveloping a rural fence, as we tromped along the main road from our RV park:

Kathy spotted this old stone road marker hidden in an overgrown bush on a suburban property on Koffel Road.  It informs the vigilant traveler that it is 45 miles to Philadelphia.  We imagine this must have been a large highway running between Allentown and Philadelphia, along a route roughly parallel to current Routes 309 and I-476.

Across the road from the stone road market is the overgrown remains of an old railroad trestle as it spans a small creek.  This rail line is no longer used.  We couldn't get any closer because we would have had to trespass onto private property, but the mystery of its story beckoned to us.

A not-so-old boxcar, on a freight rail line just yards east of the old rail line shown above, boasts its own urban art, testifying to how long it has probably rested in this spot:

Having explored the hidden treasures lying in semi-rural Hatfield and Lansdale, we reached Main Street in Lansdale and found our way to Round Guys Brewing, where we ordered a well-earned lunch sampled their brews. Kathy liked the Cask Conditioned Amateur Hour, a bourbon barrel Russian Imperial Stout. David liked the Haymaker Wilkemon Strawberry-Vanilla Mead.  However, we both ultimately fell to a shared little snifter of Cardinal Hollow Whiskey Mead.  This is not to belittle the food itself, which was absolutely scrumptious though not vegan or particularly healthy in nature.

On our walk back to our RV in Hatfield, we passed the historic St. John's Church on Main Street:

So many churches molder for lack of re-use once they become too expensive to be maintained by the parishes or congregations.  In this case, we saw with pleasure that the smaller stone structure to the right in the photo above has been repurposed as a Montessori School.

Further along our route, on Valley Forge Road, we spotted what must have been one of the original farmhouses in this immediate area.  It was graced by a shock of ivy up one corner, and its old windows and doors were graced with coats of new red paint.  Very homey, it looked.

By the time we got back to the RV, the 90F temperature and hot sun had depleted us.  Even with the water we carried, we felt dehydrated by the time we got home, and sank into our recliners, soaked up the cool air inside, and fell to the task of serious napping.