Parasites, heights and windy frights
A couple of “Oh my God!” links that I’ve been meaning to post for a while, and one I’ve only just seen:
El Caminito del Rey is a 200 meter high walkway that runs along the walls of a gorge in El Chorro, Spain. The one meter wide walkway was constructed between 1901 and 1905, but has long since fallen into disrepair.
Nearly all of the path has no handrail. Some parts of the concrete walkway have completely collapsed and all that is remaining is the steel beam originally in place to hold it up and the wire that follows most the path.
After numerous deaths, the walkway was closed by the authorities. That doesn’t stop some insane people exploring it…. (the video is over 6 minutes long, but well worth watching to the end).
Living in the UK really pisses me off sometimes, but then I see stuff like Top Ten Bizarre Parasite Photos and it makes me quite glad I live where I do. Not even David Attenborough could convince me the Bot Fly maggot has any redeeming features. [via]
We don’t have to deal with tornados like this either:
Lori Mehmen… looked out her front door and saw a funnel cloud bearing down — and evidently had the presence of mind to grab her digital camera and capture this shot before taking cover.
Clearly they don’t scare easily in Orchard, Iowa.
Thanks for the link. I’ve just been watching the video of that path - heights terrify me, and that is somewhere I have no intention of going anywhere near.
Pleasure, Martin - I’ve been enjoying The Lay Scientist since I stumbled across it a few days ago.
I’m not very good with heights myself. Some I’m fine with - the Eiffel Tower for instance - but others scare the pants off me (like the Norman keep in Cardiff castle). The path in the video is definitely the stuff of nightmares for me.