Last week, we teamed up with the girls from team Silver Spoons to complete a distance half the length of the Trailwalker itself: 50kms. We went from Berowra to Hornsby to Thornleigh to South Turramurra to Lane Cove to Chatswood to Artarmon to North Sydney to the Bridge to the Rocks. Phew! We started with 7 and ended with just Rosie and Pete having a kick-arse meal at Pancakes on The Rocks, with Dave and Sal from the Silver Spoons making it across the bridge. Mick was keen to finish but it was 9pm and time for bed (soft!), so he bowed out at about 44kms.
The most notable achievement was the sun going down while we were still in the bush. Only a few of us had lighting and it was a bit of a dodgy scramble out of the Lane Cove National Park. No one fell in any rivers though.
8 Big Toes and the Silver SpoonsGiven that this is the greatest distance any of us had walked in one go, we were all quite happy to say we came out of it feeling pretty much fine. A couple of days of soreness but nothing a few bath bombs and stretches couldn't fix. The thought of doing it again was a little daunting but we're ready to smash it up.
Last night, or this morning, we went on a nightwalk. We looped the Bobbin Head/Sphinx Track, then headed through St Ives to the St Ives Showground.
Being our first team night walk, we didn't quite know how fast we would go and how we would shape up, but it was all a breeze of fresh air. The walking itself was easy and one amazing thing we saw was the tide recede by literally 2m along the river! We were scrambling up on the rocks on the way there and wondering where the water had gone on the way back.
Pete and Rosie made a quick toilet stop at Bobbin Head National Park, passing through the Marina and going to the park's loos. On their way back, they had to jump a fence and were suddenly confronted by a security guard. "Excuse me, you can't be here," he said. Pete and Rosie didn't miss a beat, "No, it's okay, we came from here." "Uh, excuse me. Sorry, you can't go this way." "Nah it's all good. We're just heading through to the trail." "Um, how did you get in here? Did you jump the fence?" "Yep!" "... okay." "Have a nice night mate." "... You too!"
Poor guy. He was way out of his depth.
We continued onwards and climbed a mother of an uphill, then set a dog barking and heard it echo through the valley for the next hour. We saw possums, wallabies and the glinting eyes of mini spiders, and also ran into another couple of Oxfam walkers. The Fernwood Foxes were doing 50kms wearing funny hats, one of which we found many hours later and are keen to return.
Next week we will rejoin the Silver Spoons for one last large walk of 40kms, then it's just 3 weeks until the walk itself.
Bring it on, I say!
8 Big Toes
Last night, or this morning, we went on a nightwalk. We looped the Bobbin Head/Sphinx Track, then headed through St Ives to the St Ives Showground.
Being our first team night walk, we didn't quite know how fast we would go and how we would shape up, but it was all a breeze of fresh air. The walking itself was easy and one amazing thing we saw was the tide recede by literally 2m along the river! We were scrambling up on the rocks on the way there and wondering where the water had gone on the way back.
Pete and Rosie made a quick toilet stop at Bobbin Head National Park, passing through the Marina and going to the park's loos. On their way back, they had to jump a fence and were suddenly confronted by a security guard. "Excuse me, you can't be here," he said. Pete and Rosie didn't miss a beat, "No, it's okay, we came from here." "Uh, excuse me. Sorry, you can't go this way." "Nah it's all good. We're just heading through to the trail." "Um, how did you get in here? Did you jump the fence?" "Yep!" "... okay." "Have a nice night mate." "... You too!"
Poor guy. He was way out of his depth.
We continued onwards and climbed a mother of an uphill, then set a dog barking and heard it echo through the valley for the next hour. We saw possums, wallabies and the glinting eyes of mini spiders, and also ran into another couple of Oxfam walkers. The Fernwood Foxes were doing 50kms wearing funny hats, one of which we found many hours later and are keen to return.
Next week we will rejoin the Silver Spoons for one last large walk of 40kms, then it's just 3 weeks until the walk itself.
Bring it on, I say!
8 Big Toes
PANDA; we'll save you, just sit tight and we'll have you back walking the trails with the right team soon!
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