Words About Things

This video is quite old but I decided to post it anyway for those who might not have seen it yet. It is filmed in a place in Spain called El Camino Del Rey (The King’s little pathway) which is near Álora in Málaga. The Camino is a a pathway along the edge of a narrow gorge, it was built between 1901 and 1905.

Wikipedia has the details about the Camino:

“In 1901 it became obvious that workers at the hydroelectric power plants at Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls needed a walkway to cross between the falls, to provide for transport of materials, and for the inspection and maintenance of the channel.

The walkway has now gone many years without maintenance, and is in a highly deteriorated and dangerous state. It is one meter (3 feet and 3 inches) in width, and is over 100 meters (350 feet) above the river. 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. One can latch onto a modern steel safety-wire to keep from falling, though it can’t hold much weight. Several people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years; after four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000[1], the local government closed the entrances. However, many adventurous tourists still find their way onto the walkway to explore it.”

Since this was written the pathway has been reopened although I’m not sure if it has been restored or not. Either way you wouldn’t catch me up their without being attached to the safety wire, just watching the video makes me feel a little bit sick. Having said that I would love to visit the trail, I have even looked into car hire in Spain and nearby hotels. If I do walk the trail I will film it and post it here although I might have to edit out the sound of me crying in fear…

I know it’s a bit old but this video still manages to amaze me. I’m not particularly scarred of heights but sometimes a video manages to make me feel nauseousness (for example this one of the El Camino Del Rey trail). The video in question features Roger Federer and Andre Agassi playing a game of tennis on top of the 1050 foot high Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.

The Burj Al Arab features a helipad on top of the 28 double-storey floors so that rich guests to travel to and from the hotel in style. The hotel in on a man made island 920 ft off shore and is otherwise only accessible via a purpose built bridge. You can see the hotel from some flights to Dubai, be sure to keep an eye out for any brave tennis stars.

Personally I wouldn’t be able to play Tennis in that situation, I would be clinging to the floor crying. As you can see from the video it can get quite windy on top of the hotel and there is no wall around the helipad. All it would take is a strong gust of wind and a misplaced foot and it would be game, set and match.