Engineering on the road

Although it was discussed, Rowan and I decided at an early stage that neither of us would be even attempting to work on this trip. Nonetheless it is difficult, and probably not desirable, to completely leave behind the jobs we do even on a trip of this length. The continuing influence of our professions manifests itself in different ways: fortunately Rowan's medical skills have not really been required so far on this trip.

For me, practically every day leads to thoughts related to engineering. On waking in Rome and being told there had been an earthquake relatively nearby, the immediate question was obviously “how big”? On being told it was a magnitude 8 quake, the immediate thought was “nah, not possible – half of Rome would have been flattened”. It turns out the quake was around a magnitude 6.  More directly, now we are cycling everyday brings contact with Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering logoed drink bottles.

Also everyday the various engineering projects of Europe, both modern and ancient, have been catching my eye. As someone with a desire to build bridges, it is not surprising what has been most prominent in photos. Hence Rowan has put up with explanations of the Ponte Fabrichio in Rome;

the Ponte Vecchio in Firenze;

the Clifton suspension bridge;

the merits or otherwise of various bridges in London;

and the simplicity and cleverness of various footbridges.

Poor girl.  There are a number of other bridges marked on our big map as "must visits" for me as well!

Less grand structures have also been intriguing. Cycling through the east of Brittany (Bretagne) it became obvious that the French have a quite different solution to the situation where wires are unbalanced at a power or telephone pole – not using the guy cable methods common in New Zealand. Despite my well known interest in concrete, I am not sure that the French reputation for elegance shines through here.

Our time in Rome made it clear that engineers and builders have not always progressed in there abilities. The perfect condition of the Pantheon (~2000 years old) was a marked contrast to the various domes and arches we saw in the Vatican (~500 years old).

It has not always been structures that make me think. Cycling along beautiful canal side paths we have passed numerous locks and other works of hydraulics engineers. Near Mont St Michel there was also a partially complete and rather interesting looking tidal barrier. I have not got the skills nor had the time to translate the french on the sign, but believe that its function is to allow partial tidal ingress and thus aid in clearing silt from the river and restoring the environment.

By its nature geotechnical engineering should not be as obvious as the other branches of civil engineering.  However, I did have occasion to hope that Italian geotechnical methods have improved since the middle ages due to the number of leaning towers we saw.  I thought Pisa was unique, but clearly it is not as the tower on Burano shows.

Obviously while cycling the highways and byways of France, Italy, and England we have covered many miles of roads, along which a number of thoughts related to road engineering have cross my mind. However, these will have to wait for another post. I will simply close this one by pointing out to Dr Fassman that the monks at Mont St Michel seem to have the jump on us regarding green roofs!