Bridges

Primitive bridge over the River Sangskar in Ladakh

Man is our planet’s only species which concerns itself with lasting architecture. Certainly beavers and termites are engaged in building structures, but their designs are biodegradable. Sometimes our building passion is a tribute to great love, sometimes to great faith. And often it is simply a manifestation of immense ego. But mostly, it arises from practical need. The bridge is in that category.

Wooden Bridge in Bhutan

During the 20th century, most of the building which will stand the test of time are bridges. Of course, in times of war, the bridge becomes a priority military target, so many of them are destroyed. For example, of the 43 bridges that spanned the Rhine River in Germany before the Second World War, not one has survived. But new ones have been built, bigger, better, and stronger.

Bridge on the River Kwai

A sojourn, for a traveller, is a personal thing. Some people have a thing for islands, hopping from one to another around the world. South East Asians love shopping tours. Other individuals scorn the art and culture of Europe and instead eat and drink their way across the continent, that bastion of fine wines and cuisine. Some of the more fit and robust collect mountains, others, national parks. I once travelled through the Himalayas with a friend who had a passion for firehouses. It seems he hunted them down in the manner of a true connoisseur. I still have his photo, posed wearing a fireman’s hat, standing in the firehouse of Kathmandu.

San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Bridge

A bridge, to the romantic with a passion for structures, can be a living thing. A bridge lover rarely wants to drive across a massive suspension bridge, for example. He must pass under such a bridge, as a boatman or a rower, if he can. All those piers, and pylons, roadways and cables produce a physically flowing and floating sensation. Some bridges which cross great spans, the older ones, are amazing structures of riveted steel or stone, solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. New ones which cross water over islands have cables which produce whole cacophonies of sound. But not all bridges are built for motor traffic. Some are primitive, and are simply there for people to get from one side to the other. Variety is the spice of bridges. I often wonder just when in our historical development the human race decided not to get its feet wet.

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