Day 196 Jenolan

 NSW Day 54 (196) Monday 6th December, 2021 16.8km

3949.6 / 1120.7 km

Today was a day of walking through pine plantations and in and out of fog and drizzle.

Not much to see.

Overcast but typical plantation

More

My foot and knee are behaving but I'm having trouble with my hip. I'm unsure what to do. I try the pack higher on my waist but it slips down after a while. Also for some reason my left leg goes numb after a while. I don't know whether I'm pinching some nerve.

little different

I wear it lower on the hip but that's no good at all. It seems to cramp my walking style and I get pains in my thighs and butt. It also pulls on my neck but I could fix that with an adjustment in the harness if I had to.

I enter the private forest group, Hume Plantations and I didn't do the induction I was supposed to. Hope I don't meet anyone that wants to see it.

I decide to walk around and stay the night at Jenolan Cabins. We've been talking to them at different times about leaving my car there. They even offered to drive me to Wallerawang and pick it up and pick me up from a town further south like Gundaroo so I could walk to it. At this stage I let that be. Public transport is cheap and easy to get round over here.

The only problem with the Cabins is the long steep driveway. Long I mean 100 metres. So not really long in the scheme of things.

This brings me to the end of Book 9 and now onto book 10. It also brought the demise of the lovely socks that Mal gave me in Townsville. I don't think Lesley could darn this hole for me. Lucky I have another pair just the same also a present from Mal.

A hot shower and warm bed. Sheer luxury.

Jenolan Cabins

From the cabin

I don't think Lesley Simpkins could darn these

Day 195 Boggy Creek

Watching for cars coming out of the fog

NSW Day 53 (195) Sunday 5th December 15.4km

3932.8 / 1139.9km

Not much at all to report today.

Got up and waited for the bistro to open. Has a breakfast then phone Belinda for a quick chat. The fog didn't lift and I walked all day in fog. Or as long as it took me to get to Boggy Creek.

It was wet and the first place I wanted to camp had a dead animal close by so I had to shift. Set up the tent and got in to stay dry.

Farthest I saw all day

Pretty typical

Sitting out of the rain

Day 194 Zero day Rydal

 NSW Day 52 (194) Saturday 4th December, 2021

The view

Not much today. Sat and relaxed. When the sun shone I enjoyed it. Threw a few darts in the pub. Had dinner enjoyed the relaxation.

I planned the next leg. Probably 14 or 15 days to Canberra. The leg after is into the Snowy Mountains and I want some of these niggles to go before I head up there. So shorter days and relaxation. Rain is due later in week but it looks like a cool week.

Storm moving in

The afternoon view

Day 193 Rydal

Walking out of Wallerawang

 NSW Day 51 (193) Friday 3rd December, 2021 29.1km

3917.4 / 1153.4

An early morning walk out of Wallerawang as I've got to go nearly 30km.

Going round the pine forest

At least it's cool clear skies and after initially climbing out of town I follow a pine forest to Rydal. I can hear the highway long before I get there but it's an easy underpass.

Looking over the valley

Under the Western Highway

Not too bad

They are setting up for some Mountain bike event at the Rydal Showground and I have a quick look around before taking the road out. Rydal's claim to fame was it was the end of the train line for many years and anyone or anything wanting to travel west was dropped off here to continue the journey.

It's a trudge down the bitumen road with a short bypass whilst giving me relief from the constant traffic dodge, slowed me down as the track was boggy.

Alexander Hotel Rydal

The day off hasn't improved my bruised hip but I've worked out the technique to minimise the problem. It's just a matter of stopping and undoing the belt and lifting the pack and retightening, not just hoiking it up. I have to do that every half hour but it saves some discomfort.

I drop down a side road to the hotel and they are rebuilding a lot around here. The motel rooms are small and not well set up but they are new and clean. I had to borrow a screwdriver to tighten the toilet seat. If I was paying the plumber there would have been a few things I would get them to fix. They haven't used the correct screws on the shower screen in about three occasions so they will rust and look ugly very quickly. The carpenter missed a bit of door furniture so the bathroom door doesn't latch closed. But the coffee, cake and meals are good.

Rydal Church

Rydal Train Station

I'll just stick to my 4 and a bit per hour

A side track took me off the road for a change

Day 192 Zero day Wallerawang

Thursday 2nd December, 2021

I needed to go to Lithgow to wash my clothes. Had a quick walk around waiting for the machines to do their magic in getting the smell away.

St John's Wallerawang

I also spoke to the new manager Adam and he has agreed to let me park the car out back for another 3 weeks.

I had enough food in the car to only have to do a small shop at the food land. The next section is 8 days to get to the next town.

A quick trip to the railway station coffee shop for food, they call it the Expresso Cafe. I don't know whether they made a mistake or it was deliberate as it is at the train station.

Bathurst weekend means I need to move. Rydal is hosting a mountain bike thingy, so I decide to move onto the Hampton Halfway Hotel for another zero day.

Expresso Cafe

Wallerawang Station

Day 191 Wallerawang

The road or the creek

NSW Day 49 (191) Wednesday 1st December, 2021 20.9km

3888.3 / 1210.6km

Tree down

Arose reasonably early and started the walk to Wallerawang. The niggles are annoying and I should probably slow down and let my body repair. Having discussed it with Belinda I've decided to keep going to the end and not going back to WA for Christmas. I'll spend Xmas and New Year up the Snowies somewhere.

4wd carve up

I got a bit lazy last night and didn't filter my water. I did get it from the creek, looked clean, but I'm not feeling good in the belly this morning. I should have been more careful here with all the rubbish around the camp spot. I've got to think better, especially when tired.

The first thing to do is walk up the track which is carved up and muddy by 4 wheel drivers and water running down the road like a river. The trail climbs up and passes through Baal Bone Gap. Now the only Baal I know is the God of fertility. Baal Bone???.hmm.

The track through Baals Gap

Then it's a climb down to a bitumen road and then the plod to Wallerawang. I got there just in time with my belly not liking the day at all and the best thing for me was a porcelain bowl.

I went back to the Commercial Hotel where my car is. I will zero here tomorrow and clean up. I have to talk to the managers that have taken over as of the 1st of December. I'm going to try and leave my car here for the next leg. 16 days should get me to Canberra. It will feel good to rest a bit.

Looking towards Newnes

Gardens of Stone

Day 190 Crown Creek

The 20k road walk had this as a backdrop

 NSW Day 48 (190) Tuesday 30th November, 2021 31.7km

3867.4 / 1210.6km

Today I had at least 20 kilometres of walking the bitumen before I get to turn off and go across country.

Getting closer

The actual walking is easy with the view keeping me enthralled for about an hour. The flies come out early. When I leave the bitumen there's a sign saying there is no access to the Gardens of Stone National Park down this road. This is where the National Trail membership comes in handy and generous property owners that allow us to access their private property to get through.

Walking through the paddocks at Dunrovin.

The gentlemen we rang was OK with us trail walkers and his property was called Dunrovin. Thanks to people like him this trail continues to provide access to magic spots.

The walk across the land follows the Crown Creek. I think the Crown is a hill called Pantoneys Crown. Named after a local colonist who was the son of a convict, born on Norfolk Island and one of the first settlers in the Bathurst area.

The entrance to the park

At the end of the day I had to decide whether to climb up the range or stay down and do it in the morning. I decided to do it this afternoon even though my legs were buggered. By the time I got to the top it was cold and drizzly again.

Crown Creek

When I got to the camping area I could see I was back in civilisation with rubbish strewn everywhere. Glass stubbies smashed in the fire pit. I like it when we get less traffic.

3rd long day meant I was very tired and went to bed early.

Up top looking back down the Crown Creek valley