A Bridge Too Far

I am not a novice when it comes to walking on bridges.  I've walked the Brooklyn Bridge (between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn), the Rainbow Bridge (between Niagara Falls, NY and Niagara Falls, Ontario and the Alexandra Bridge between Ottawa, Ontario and Hull, Quebec, among others.

But today I met my match.

My head hangs in shame.  My arthritic right knee and a steep (to my knee, that is) incline did me in.  (memo to self:  lose weight).  I had the physical fitness otherwise and the will.  And the morning was beautiful and sunny.

I did not complete the walking of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge that spans the Cooper River between Charleston, South Carolina and Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina-if you count the long approaches on both sides.
I did do about 3.2 miles (round trip) and I did a bunch of walking afterwards (on flatter paths).  But the bridge defeated me, mere days before the Cooper River Bridge Run where participants will do a lot more than the bridge.

The entire round trip, I figure, would have been about 5.4 miles.

 The approach to the bridge from the Mt. Pleasant side.

This is a very popular bridge.  On this Tuesday morning, there were a variety of walkers and bikers:  mothers with strollers, college students, senior citizens.

One of the many sights from the bridge is the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots Point.

After we finished our walk we still had parking time left (you have to prepay, estimating how much time you will need) so we took a walk on the 1250 ft. Mount Pleasant Pier.  Not only was there walking, fishing, and a very nice playground, but there were benches and porch type swings  Here is some detail from a swing.

Hopefully my knee will be better tomorrow, and I will be off to more adventures. (Tomorrow's Spring Things will not be a Charleston post but I promise, you will get to see some of the many flower pictures I've been taking another time.)  Sadly, one of the places I was thinking of visiting, Folly Beach County park, is closed, having been dealt heavy blows by nature - including the same Hurricane Irene that did in parts of upstate NY - but there is so much to do in Charleston, one could spend months here and not run out of things to do.