The Waverton Ones

Thats what it's all about!

2009-08-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

The Waverton #1's and Walk this Way are proud to say that we have hit our targets - with the funds arriving daily.Both teams are now striving to raise as much as possible to help fight poverty across the world.

We'd like to say a huge thanks to BRI, and ELGAS two of our main sponsors who have provided equipment as well as generous donations. Please see the side bar for more information on these two great companies.

We have alsos been supported by a number of our employers -both financially and through time out during the day to go and see the physio - again!. Thank you for your support.

We wouldn't be here without our friends, family and 'personal' supporters. You guys have been excellent. Thank you for your very generous donations and for spurring us on and being interested to hear about our latest injuries!

All quiet on the western front - but we're still going!

2009-08-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well it's been kinda quiet here for a few weeks - but despite the silence the teams have been making some amazing progress. Read on to see what we have been up to....

Support Crew: We have a 'full compliment' crew who have agreed to step in and see us at our worst! - Our inaugural support team dinner and drinks was a mass of questions, maps, spreadsheets and had a fantastic feeling of organised chaos! From the food and resupply lists travelling 'round on email it looks as though we will be the best fed team on the track.

Thanks to all our crew! - and we promise once it's all over we'll find 'normal' topics of conversation again!

Kit: We're pretty much there as far as kit goes. A few final tweaks to inner soles for more support and backup kit for if the weather turns arctic and we'll be done! Skins, water bladders and walking poles are the common factors across nearly all team members. Knee tape and ice packs also play a lead role.

Walking: Yep, we've been doing a bit of that also! A couple of big ones including Ottford to Bundeena and another long stint on the trail have been backed up with a few 'short' walks to keep the muscles tuned. We are dropping our weekly KMs right down duringth last couple of weeks - attempting to hit top form for the real thing.

Once More unto the breach........

2009-06-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

The thinking about it was done.... it was time for action.

Muscles were tensed, sinews were stiffened and whatsits were girded. It was time to tackle Brooklyn to Apple Tree Bay in one hit.

On the whole, we've been having a blast training for the walk, but it seems that everyone on the team has their 'least favourite bit' somewhere in these sections of the Trailwalker, the bit you build up mentally to mountainous proportions!, so we thought we'd share:

The never ending fire trail: y'know the one, you've started out, keen as mustard and glad to be off the tarmac. The first of the hills is out of the way and you're ready to get into the winding trails through the bush that make the start of the trailwalker what it is....... and that bloody fire trail outside Brooklyn goes on and on and on.... can we start please? can we? oh good - here's the turning onto the trail - oh no it isn't, bugger.

Crossing the Rubicon: yep, that little stream, that tiny unimposing blue line at the bottom of the valley after Cowan, the chuckling brook with its gentle rippling water.......... until, of course, it rains. Then you watch 50 billion gallons of water accelerate down the hillside as you are making your way down the valley and about half way down you start thinking 'my, that's quite a bit of water, wonder where that's all going?' - In your shoes son, that's where it's going, and up your trousers. We walked this bit after an intense but short rainfall - take walking poles to help you across, and if you can manage it, a kayak.

The Berowra Burn: yes folks, it's graded a '5' for a reason! Just when you thought you'd got your sanity back after the fire trail and the Rubicon. You've dropped down to the beautiful Berowra Waters, had a much-needed pee in the little white facilities building and a stretch on the railings just opposite, now the burn to Berowra starts -and we're going up, and back down, and back up and now we're starting to sweat, and now back down...... I don't actually remember much of this bit - which means it must have been horrible.

The Gully: But then you hit Section 3 and it's gorgeous* - the beautiful Lyre Bird Gully and its still silent pools of water with a meandering track, hey this is what it's all about!

*except when it's dark (which it will be unless you're running), or it's been raining (which it will have 'cos it'll be August) - then it's more like being in a washing machine.

Heartbreak Hill: The climb out of the gully is, in short, a complete bastard. No amount of hot sweet tea is going to make this look nice. The road is tarmac, which should help but doesn’t, and it goes up at an insane angle, forever.

Generally we felt OK after Section 1, buggered after section 2 and surprisingly alright through section 3, which just shows you how amazing at recovery the human body is. We were all encouraged by our condition after tackling these, the three hardest sections of the Trailwalker and I think on the day we'll have crossed a significant mental hurdle once all eight of us hit the carpark at Apple Tree Bay. With only another 57.5km to go.....

Thank You

2009-06-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

The Waverton Ones and Walk this Way would like to take a minute to say 'Thanks' to all of our sponsors:

The Waverton Ones have raised in excess of $1,500 with your help

Walk this Way have raised in excess of $1,800 through your generous donations

We appreciate you all - Thank You

Night Hike - CP4 - CP6

2009-06-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

What possible better way to spend a friday night that bush walking in the dark?

Armed with headlamps. glow sticks and thermal underwear all eight of the team headed out for our first walk with everyone present. This was more of an opportunity to test our kit (and our resolve) than put in serious Kms, so we followed the same route as our previous attempt on this section of the Trailwalker.

The headlamps went well, but a fair few off us experienced the drop in performance that you sometimes get with LEDs after an hour or so - a few sets of spare batteries will be needed to get us through on the actual day. We took additional torches but didn't use them, we'll continue to carry them though as most of our headlights, while great at close range, don't cast much of a beam and aren't so good for checking out the far side of streams looking for a soft dry landign point!

It was colder than expected - we noticed that warming up to the point of the usual stop to take off the top layer took longer, and cooling down when walking on the flat seemed almost instant. I'll be taking acouple more layers next time. Some of the team traded shorty skins for the full length version for extra warmth which worked well.

I was also lighter than expected - even under the forest canopy there seemed to be enough moonlight to make out the potholes and puddles - although you need a bit more than the ambient to check the depth... None of us managed to stay out of the water completly - wet feet all round be the end of the section, so we'll be packing a few pairs of dry socks and a small towel in our personnal gear.

'Washed Out' or 'All in for double fours'

2009-06-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

Intense training was planned for the weekend of 22nd May - The girls are heading out to retackle CP1 - CP3 and the boys are off to play poker and drink beer in Kangaroo Valley!

First - the girls update:

It rained, a lot, all week - but it didn't rain on the weekend so our intrepid team headed out to take on the track.

It was wet, ridiculsously wet. The sort of wet that seeps into every seam and floods your shoes without even thinking about it.

Damp but undaunted the girls completed CP1-CP2 despite the conditions, however, on looking to start CP2 - CP3 they came across a group of walkers who had to turn back at the bottom of the valley.

Mindful that training walks don't have to be that nasty, and not having packed scuba gear the ladies called it quits and headed for a wine bar.

Second - the boys update:

It rained, a lot, all week - the traffic was crap, but on the upside the beer was cold and 'The Brothers of Matt' were playing the Friendly Inn and they were very good.

It wasn't just the walking team knocking the froth off a few cold ones, we were joined by one half of one of our major sponsorship partnerships - The Reids. James and Lesley have donated very generously to our fundraising (thanks guys!) and are also expecting a bub at allmost the same time we'll be walking the event - (congratulations!), either that, or its a very complex and expensive ruse to get out of walking 100km........

After 17 beers, half a bottle of Shiraz and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps James dazzled us all with his mathematical ability and godlike poker talents - 'betting the lot' on 'double fours' and a nine of diamonds(?) and losing magnificently. In a desperate scramble to recoup his stake James lost the only thing he had left - the naming rights to the newborn.

We are expecting little 'Maxx Danger' Reid in late August.

The Final Sections - Part II (and somewhere for lunch!)

2009-06-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

CP8 – Finish! 3hrs

OK, here we go, the most anticipated section - The last one!

The first bit is easy (both to find and to walk!) a hop skip and a jump across Ararat Reserve and you're on to the track that runs parallel to the Wakehurst Parkway. Boring and a bit noisy, but blessedly flat and even this 2.5km yomp has a significant redeeming feature - the sausage sizzle at Seaforth Oval.

We all perched on the hill overlooking the footy game (with an excellent view of the city in the

background) and settled in to replenish some serious calories, 2 cups of tea, a sausage and bacon sandwich and a muffin later and all was once again right with the world. With the team well fed and ready to roll we departed the oval and headed for Spit Bridge - our next mental milestone.

From the top of the hill at Seaforth we could see the bridge as it opened and watch the sea of traffic build up on the north side, it looked like the best way to get across the road was while everything was stopped so we picked up the pace and headed for 'Galipoli Stairs'.

The stairs are the quickest way from the top of the hill down to bridge level, keep your eyes open or it could be a very quick descent, the stair treads are narrow and the whole thing is impressively steep. There is also a hous

e next to the stairs that has been painted a shade of blue that defies belief, not unpleasant, just... very blue, and quite distracting for the unwary walker!

The traffic was still stopped when we got to the road so we threaded our way across the lanes and onto the bridge, our timing was spot on - the bridge finished closing just as we got half way across so we were able to walk on without breaking stride!

The steps down to Chinamans beach are just past the Rosherville lighthouse, this light, along with Grotto Point lighthouse forms a leading light system that helps ships navigating into the harbour from the ocean. The team was still moving well, but a few people mentioned that they were starting to feel their knees a bit - I imagine we'll all be feeling them after the full 95kms that will get us to this point on the event - or maybe they will be comfortably numb!

Once you've rounded Wyargine point and crossed Edwards beach your onto Balmoral - and the finish is so close you can almost taste it! - Skirt the back of the beach, circle round the oval and you hit the last challenge that Trailwalker throws at you - Balmoral stairs.

To say that these are going to be uncomfortable after 98km is an understatement, they were pretty uncomfortable after 29km. About 200m long (I'm guessing) and allowing you to climb the final 72 vertical metres (I'm not guessing - I felt every metre) to the top. The stairs are constructed from wood and a specially designed metal grating system that eats walking poles, the top end of the staircase has a boot scrapping grid on it to clean off any nasties before you go into Georges Heights reserve, we'll probably be crawling at this point so we'll try not to fall though the gaps.

Fantastic views of the harbour and the heads greet you for the last km, then you hit the tarmac and head up the incline to a successful finish at Georges Heights Oval - well done all, last section completed - now all we have to do is put it all together!

The Final Sections! - Part 1

2009-06-06T18:27:00.002-07:00

This weekend the team decided to tackle the final stages of the TrailWalker. Once completed members of 'The Waverton Ones' and 'Walk this Way' will have completed the entire trail!

Fortunately the team have quite a few drivers and cars, as moving upto 8 people around the stages without having to leave the team by the roadside while ferrying drivers back and forward requires a bit of thought and planning! Fortunately parking at Davidson and at Georges heights is very easy (plenty of onroad spaces at Davidson and 2 big car parks at the finish).

6 walkers this week, as 2 are still overseas, starting at Davidson and heading for the finish!

CP6 – CP7 2.5hrs (forgot to do the calories this week!)

CP6 - CP7 is a fairly short stage at only 10km and is graded at a 3. The start is an easy but steep drop on a wide firm track, from the road down towards the cascades

(repeating the final section of CP 5 - CP6). Having been through this section a couple of times we've seen a big difference in the amount of water here, from almost none to fairly fast moving (and cold!) the concrete weirs that you cross the creeks on are convenient for getting across but are a touch slippy underfoot and wide enough for second thoughts if you are considering jumping.

Once you've reached 'the cascades' themselves you are going to be down by the water for a while - its a nice track, similar to the one that runs along Lyrebird gully in CP2 - CP3, well marked and easy to navigate. There are a few changes along intersecting tracks in this section, all are in the trail notes and easy to spot. There are some nice easy markers to gauge progress in this section, the track intersections and the pipeline at Davidson track, Carroll creek and the service road near to the finish.

Partway along past Governor Philip Walk is a tempting rope swing that some local daredevils have set up on a convenient tree limb, it's a really nice spot, well situated over inviting looking water and (fairly) soft looking mud (if you are unlucky enough with your flying dismount!). It being a cool day we decided not to try it out (although there was much 'encouragement' some 'coaxing' and then firm 'sledging' of those that thought they might give it a try!).

We encountered our first running teams while on this section. being overtaken by one team just before the stepping stone bridge and then caught by another just before the finish. Apologies to the nice chap who stopped for a natter, despite his team legging it off without him! (We didn't get your name) but many thanks for the encouragement and valuable insight from previous trailwalker experiences, hope you managed to catch your team back up before they crossed the finish line!

The final section of CP6 is really easy - flat, wide and firm all the things one could want in a track but would avoid in a noodle. Bathrooms are available at CP7, there is also a car park if you want to start or finish here, but sadly -no where for lunch (unless you are happy to hike on under the bridge and head for Echo Pt. fine if you are finishing here, there's a pretty good pub, but a bit out of the way for through walkers.

CP7 – CP8 3?hrs (in the excitement I forgot to reset my watch or do the calories!)

CP7 - CP8 is even shorter than the previous section, at 7.5km and graded

a 2. Having said that, once you've been walking for 89km you might quite like a flat bit..... and given it's only a '2' you might be expecting one, don't get your hopes up!

The first bit of this section takes you under the bridge and up onto the cliffs, once across the road and out of the car park you are quickly treated to some great views of middle harbour - this is a really lovely bit of walking. You'll be wanting to stick to the track notes for points 1,2 and 3 as there are a few side tracks and choices and getting the wrong one means that you end up on the lovely Flat Rock beach - but then have to slog back up the hill once you've had a paddle!

Magazine track takes you on past the military site at Bantry bay - again check the notes, there is a barbed wire fence here that runs along the track (which is thin and overgrown in places, get ready to duck trees and jump logs!) This part of the walk is pretty exposed, we got caught by surprise having been in the shade for most of the previous section, apply sunscreen early!

The final bit of this seems to go on for a lot longer than expected! - Once you've past the end point of Bantry Bay its up-up-and-away, a longish slog uphill across a few intersecting tracks to the junction of Natural Bridge Track, then you loose all of your hard gained height on the descent back to the water! - But it's worth it (and according to L'Oreal, so are you!), because after the descent you get to see why the track is named as it is, if ever there was a bridge for a troll to live under - this is it!

Right - now the science bit - once you've got all your billygoats over the bridge you'll be looking for the turn onto the bluff track, it is not, repeat, not the turn with the small trail marker that has been propped up with rocks - If you do turn here you get to see an excellent view off of a rock plateau and then you end up at Forrestville park, and have to go all the way back. So go on another 50m and you will see a big sign that says 'The Bluff Track' and from there its an easy saunter into CP8!

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

2009-05-10T03:18:00.000-07:00

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……………………

Apple Tree Bay

2009-05-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

By mid week, the 9 to 5 had lost its lustre and the teams were planning to walk again. The the mid range weather forecast looked pretty pleasant so 'The Waverton Ones' (TWO) and 'Walk this Way' (WTW) again called for volunteers to put one their boots and take on the track. This week the full complement of 'TWO' were able to take part, WTW lost a member to oversease travel, but still managed to field a strong half team.

With last weeks success still front of mind the teams chose to revist CP1 - CP2 (Cowan to Berowra) and continue on to compete CP2 - CP3 (Berowra to Apple Tree Bay), this would ensure almost all the team members had experience on the toughest section of the track (CP1 - CP2, Grade 5) and give the returning walkers a new section to consider.
First, the logistics. CP3 is in the heart of Ku-Ring-Gai national park and is subject to openeing and closing times. With track work planned for the North Shore Line easy public transport was out, so the team planned to travel by road. Bobbin head (the main section of the park adjacent to Apple Tree Bay) is advertised as opening at 6am and closing at 5:30pm so the timings needed to fit around this 11.5 hour window. The plan was to drop a car at Apple Tree Bay ($11 for a day ticket) then drive the team to Cowan station, walk back and transfer back to Cowan by car.

We met up at 6:30am, similar to last week, three cars this time headind to CP1.

CP1 - CP2 3.5hrs 1900cals (men); 2000cals (women)
As this was a re-cap from last weeks walk most of the detail is the same. Worth noting is that the weather was very similar and so was the calorie count. The observant will notice that the girls burnt more than the boys this week. This is due to loading up the team gazelle with all the water bottles in an attempt to slow her down a bit, the result? - same speed, higher calorie burn due to the extra weight! (next week we'll try concrete!)
Also worth noting is that we tackled this section of the walk 30 mins faster than the first time, knowing the trail helped with planning the rest stops and the walking tempo.

Imagine, 30 mins off per section is 4 hours off the total time! (I don't think we'll realistically get a 4 hour advantage for having walked the track before the event, but there is clearly some benfit).We stoped at cafe Boccelli in Berowra (Berowra Waters Road, near Pacific Highway) for a spot of lunch (great lasagne and bacon and egg rolls!), and, of course, a cup of tea.

CP2 – CP3 4hrs 1500cals (men); 1800cals (women)

The first part of this section is on tarmac roads, quickly dropping you back down to a service trail that leads down into Berowra Valley Regional Park. We were refreshed and full of warm food so made quick progress following the track back to the turn off for ‘crosslands

’. We dropped down to the water and began to make our way alongside the mangroves and the gorgeous waterways – the track is fairly flat and easily managed.

This section really comes into its own once you reach the ‘meadow’ a wide flat expanse of reeds at the head

of the creek. A boardwalk cuts through here leaving you with a feeling of being suspended above the veget

ation and making a great contrast of straight lines and sharp angles with the curves of the landscape. At the end of the walkway an interesting looking bridge is suspended above one creek, inviting exploration but alas! the trailwalker track heads off in another direction.
Lyrebird gully is the nicest section of the trail we have found so far. The track stays close to the stream, crossing it in numerous places (watch out for the hash marks cut into the rocks to give you a firm footing) and precariously hugs the stream banks offering a short but exciting slip into chilly water for the unwary!There were a few nervous comments about ‘doing this bit in the dark!’ and we replanned our strategy for illuminating the night time sections yet again.
Lyrebird Gully allows you to forget your blisters for a moment – whilst the walking requires concentration it is not steep, and the team wondered aloud just why this section is graded a ‘4’.

The climb out of the gully is, in short, a complete bastard. No amount of hot sweet tea is going to make this look nice. The road is tarmac, which should help but doesn’t, and it goes up at an insane angle, forever.

Once you’ve conquered it, a quick hop over the footbridge takes you across the freeway and railway – then onto some sealed paths through suburbia for 20 mins or so and you are back into the national park.

The descent to Apple tree bay is lovely (not as nice as Lyrebird Gully, but a lot nicer than that bloody hill). Before you know it you are in CP3

Summary

These 2 sections were about 27km we completed the walk in 7.5hrs which left us 90mins in case there were gates that were locked at Bobbin Head (we didn’t see any but they may well hide during the day time).

We burned between 3400 and 3800 calories (depending on how much water you were carrying!).

Many team members used walking poles (1 each, we haven’t experimented with 2 yet!) and they really help – particularly for those with sore knees. A couple of us also tried gloves (fingerless cycle gloves worked well) these were of some use in the day, but could prove important in the dark when grabbing for hand holds you can’t see.

Brooklyn - Berowra

2009-04-26T22:52:00.000-07:00

The Waverton Ones and Walk This Way hit the trail

Determined to get stuck into the TrailWalker challenge members of teams ‘The Waverton

Ones’ and ‘Walk this Way’ decided to hit the track on Sunday 26th April. The initial plan to walk the Start to CP1 (Brooklyn to Cowan) and back - the plans changed on receipt of the Trailwalker information packs. Berowra is only 1 station further south on the same train line – why not head for CP2!
As well as looking forward to exploring some great sections of the Great North Walk the team had a few other objectives in mind: testing out new shoes, boots, packs and clothes and taking on a long walk to check our fitness against our preconceptions and plan the next 18 weeks of training. 2 team members (1 male & 1 female) were wearing heart rate monitors that usefully also show the calories burned.
The day dawned clear and bright (well it was actually dark when we got up!) and the team headed up Berowra station to drop off the cars and catch the 07:30 train to Brooklyn (Hawkesbury Stn). (Good free parking at Berowra and a quick train journey from platform 2).

Start – CP1 3.5hrs 1800cals (men); 1600cals (women)

We skipped the first road section of the walk and headed directly to the trailhead. The first section is steep in places but easy walking on a wide smooth fire trail. We were making great time (over 5km/hr) for the first bit and then the fire trail gives way to single track and the broken ground starts! The rest of the leg is a series of ups and downs through some great countryside – excellent views of the ocean and the Hawkesbury and a really nice section around Jerusalem Bay. The final climb up to Cowan was steep, watch the potholes in the creek – some are more than 3ft deep!

After waiting for a freight train to go through at Cowan station we crossed the line at the marked point and went looking for lunch! Turning right out of the station and heading up the Highway brings you to a café and shop (corner Fraser Rd and Pac. Hwy). Toilets here, as well as a

tap to fill up water bottles. The food was fine and reasonably priced.

We didn’t walk into Cowan to see CP1 but went from the café back to the trailhead (almost opposite the station).

CP1 – CP2 4hrs 2200cals (men); 2000cals (women)

A nice flat intro section from the trailhead to Glendale road lets you find your feet again before heading west across to Berowra Waters. A steep up and down here (similar to the first leg) through great countryside on a single file track (no wide fire trails in this bit!), the climb puts you on a short ridge that feels like the middle of nowhere a great viewpoint off the top to get a team photo and then onto the descent to Berowra Waters. Most of the team found the downhills tough on the knees by this point, a few of us were regretting forgetting the walking poles and others vowed to purchase them before the next outing, one team member was still leaping around like a gazelle, so she’ll be carrying all the water bottles next time!

Once you get into Berowra Waters you hit sealed road for a few hundred meters through the car park and along to the ferry crossing (there is a toilet here, set back from the road just before the ferry. A girly scream probably indicated there were some spiders!)
Rejoing the GNW you are quickly into the ascent up to Berowra – this is the toughest ascent so far, it is constant and there are lots of stairs (time to engage the glutes and ignore the knees!), a bit of a ridge, then a drop down into the valley (lovely and cool in May, not sure about August!). On the way up some navigation is needed – it’s simple but it was the first time we noticed having to make a choice of route. Check the map, make your turn and the next stop is the lookout – lovely view and a good place for another photo!

Keep going and follow the signs to the station, you’ll be out on the road before you know it and heading for the checkpoint. Worth taking note of the warning in the Trailwalker map book – the crossing point on Berowra Waters road is a bit odd, half the cars did stop for us, others zoomed right through so it’s important to tune back in to reality for this bit!
CP2 is an easy find – and Berowra station is just beyond it if you’ve left your car there. There are a couple of service stations and some shops just beyond CP2 if you need some choccy and a cup of tea!

Overall we walked about 25km in about 8hrs and burned about 4000 calories. We learned that walking poles certainly have a place in the TrailWalker and that gloves might be a good idea to protect the hands from the rocks!