We wanted our journey to round out to a respectable 30kms. Team organiser Dave had mapped out a beautiful route through the National Park for us to follow. It included an extra loop at the beginning to make up the distance; after we went down the Sphinx Track, we went up and straight back down the neighbouring Bobbin Head Track.After filling up on hot chips (the nutrition of kings) and feeding a school of fish at the bottom of the park, we headed along the river and all the way up to Berowra Station. This was meant to be 3kms. It was 8. I don't know how both Dave and Pete got this confused, but Pete naturally blames Dave. Anyway, by the time we reached Berowra Station, we'd already gone over 20kms. That meant 10kms from Berowra to the park entrance at Mount Colah to the other side of the park. Anyone vaguely familiar with the area and the concept of geography will realise it's a wee bit farther than 10kms. It was 20.
After losing Brendon to Berowra Station and Mick to Mount Colah Station, it was just Pete and Dave and our mascot left alive. Interestingly, Diana was the one with the most energy. In fact, we're still scratching our heads on this. Diana is a fit girl and does the odd 10-15km wander, but she hasn't been training for months like we have. Yet she was quite literally bouncing along, jumping from rock to rock like a spritely elf.
Darkness fell as we walked back down into the park and we even jogged for 10 mins! We moved onto the road and did our best to avoid being cleaned up by stoned rednecks, then went up the road on the other side to the finish line.
Towards the end of our 40+ kms, Diana was still trotting along with a bounce in her step. Dave and Pete were not faring quite so well.
So it might have been a little more than we'd signed up for, but the blisters and leg pain have taught us a good lesson about what we need to do to be prepared for the Real Thing in August. We'll be limping for another few days yet, but it's Toewards to Glory!!
Follow this link to see what we did: http://www.mapmyhike.com/
