Short(er than planned) and Sweet(er than expected)!

With the same team that last week successfully 

completed ‘Apple Tree Bay’, TWO and WTW decided to return to CP3 and complete 3 sections of the track – the planned finish CP6, somewhere near the Kambora Public School in Davidson.

Similar logistics to last week, CP3 is in the heart of Ku-Ring-Gai national park and is subject to opening and closing times, be careful not to get locked in, and remember to purchase your $11 parking ticket from the machine (if you arrive as early as we did there is no one at the entrance kiosk).

CP3 – CP4 2hrs 800 calories(men) 1000; calories (women)

When you check out the trailwalker map book you quickly see that 

this section takes you from the car park back up to the entrance kiosk. Having just dr

iven down the long, steep and winding road to the water from the top off the hill this seems a little daunting, but turns out not to be all that bad!

The first bit of path takes you up into the bush and back to Bobbin Head car park, it 

would certainly be easier to stick to the level tarmac road you drove in on, but not being as brave as the numerous cyclists we encountered on the way down the hill we decided to avoid the other early morning motorists and stay true to the track.

In Bobbin Head car park there is a coffee shop attached to the information centre, we stepped in for a quick cuppa before hitting the trail. They weren’t officially open but the coffee machine had warmed up, and thanks to the chef who didn’t mind being distracted from his breakfast we were soon benefiting from a warming beverage as we trekked along to the start of the boardwalk, taking in the very picturesque morning mist hanging over the water.

It’s easy to see why the boardwalk section of the trailwaker is closed to night trai

ning, even with a headtorch one mistimed sneeze could see you over the edge and treading water.  According to our rough checkpoint timing plan though we could well be doing this bit in the dark – maybe we need to add lifejackets to the kit list?

We’d studied the map notes with interest and were looking for the

 ‘indistinct unsignposted track’ mentioned, turns out a few helpful walkers have marked the beginning of this trail with some charcoal markings on a rock at ground level. There are also small piles of rock along the path (which is indeed indistinct!). When you come to the rock wall that blocks your way look for the arrow chiseled into the rock (two of us missed it, the others thought it may as well be 6ft high blue neon!).

The remainder of the section is easy to find, easy to follow and very pleasant walking – enjoy! 

CP4 – CP6 (well, not quite) 4hrs 2100cals (men); 2300cals (women)

A few points worth noting along this section. The start is easy and it’s worth taking a few minutes to stop at the Sphinx war memorial, an unusual set up, but very striking.

The map notes are pretty good, but we managed to get a little unstuck at point 4. When you cross the creek (via the rocks or the path) go LEFT. We didn’t, it wasn’t long before we worked it out, but unless you like spiders and sawgrass………..

We followed the trail as marked in the map book as far as the signpost to the wildflower gardens, as we weren’t sure where the locked gate mentioned in the map notes was, and the hunger pangs were starting we decided to continue uphill towards Kitchener Road. This cuts out 2.5 to 3 km of this section.

On reaching the junction of Kitchener and Mona Vale Road you can chose to turn left on Mona Vale and walk about 300m to a small shopping centre. Here you will find 2 café’s, an Indian restaurant and a Nandos. If you follow the driveway between the Caltex and the shopping centre you’ll also find a tap to fill up your water bottles.

Rather than try to get back to CP5 we walked to Kitchener Road and headed on to CP6, this cuts out a further 5km (some of which is a repeat of CP4 – CP5).

Following the map notes the ‘Pump House’ is easy to find, but not very interesting! The ‘next vague intersection’ had us a bit confused and heading off into the bush every 50m! It turns out not to be very vague at all, the main track hooks sharply left, a very scruffy trail heads off right to the electricity pylon. Stay left and head for the cascades, once you get there take a few minutes to have a look, it’s a really lovely spot and worth taking in. Not far to CP 6 from here – where we bumped into yet another team. ‘Russell and the Crows’ were just heading out for their first night walk from CP6 out towards CP8. They were looking good and the weather looked like it would hold, hope it went well guys!

Summary

These 3 sections should have been 29km, with the changes we made it was more like 22km.

All of the team tried poles this week (singles not doubles), and all agreed that they were great on the down hills when it was tough on the knees, but the jury was out for the flat and the uphill, some swear by them, for others they are just another thing to carry!

We discussed checkpoint strategy, based on current experience the minimum stop time is around 10mins to do anything useful and a bit longer to take on food as well. So if we estimate 20mins per checkpoint that is 2hrs 40mins to add onto our estimate to complete. So we’ve got a bit more thinking to do……………………