Day 233 Dogs Grave to Talbottville

 VIC Day 9 (233) Thursday 13th January, 2022 76.9km with diversion

Early start for the long walk. The day would normally be about 31 k but with diversion down Jones road to get a bridge across the Dargo River it will take about 43 kilometres to get to the same spot.

Sunrise

The road heading down

Clouds down there

The day again is unremarkable just walking along Birregun Road. I pass the trail turnoff down Stock Route Sour Track and are seriously tempted to try my luck with the river crossing but the steep hill puts me off as it's a 1000 metre drop in height over 3.5 kilometres and I'm not willing to climb back up.

Drop off to Dargo River

So I keep plodding along. I had a joke with Belinda that if a car came along I would offer them a beer to get me down to Dargo Pub. But the Pub had shut down and I had passed two road closed sign but didn't expect to see any cars.

I was sitting down eating lunch when a car did pull up. Nick had talked to a council worker and had gone up the Upper Livingstone Road but had missed the second notice at the State Forest Boundary about the Jones Road Closure. We had a chat and since I had a photo of the diversion we decided he would give me a lift down to Dargo via the vehicle diversion. I think the whole diversion added about 60 kilometres. In the end he would have been fine as they did have detour signs at the track intersections and end up coming into Dargo from the south. It saved me the 6 kilometre walk down Jones Road.

In Dargo the pub and the Inn were shut but I picked up a coffee. We headed back up to the trail on the Upper Dargo Road and after having a discussion, Nick took me over the Dargo High Plains Road and showed me around Grant then took me on to Talbotville. A bit of a cheat for me. Half of it was Bitumen road to Grant which looked like it was ready to fall into the valley with the bitumen sagging dramatically for about a third of the width.

Nick also offered me a beer and we sat and talked about plans we have. I've invited him home when he visits Perth. Hope everyone I've invited don't all roll up together. Then I get some Vegemite and corn thins from him. Cheese would have made the ideal snack but corn thins and Vegemite are a good combination anyway. Puts a different smell in the tent at night though.

Grant

Brewery Creek

Fruit Trees at Talbotville

My Company

I set up beside Brewery Creek and contemplate staying an extra day as I've bypassed a days walk. Although I've added half the distance doing part of the diversion. We have cows for company so that lovely cow poo smell I'm used to returns. There are also fruit trees and I think it's a plum is in fruit though they are cherry tomato size. I have a few. There's also a fig that is going to heavy in ripe fruit soon. There are 4 camping groups including me along the river and I can see it would be very popular.

Camp at Talbotville