Saturday, October 19, 2019

Tasmanian Trail Hike - Day 001 - Dover to Geeveston

Day: 01

Date: Friday, 18 October 2019

Start: Dover

Finish: Geeveston

Daily Kilometres: 32.4 (+2.0 unintended detour)

Total TT Kilometres: 32.4

Weather: Partly sunny and breezy in the morning, then windy, cold and raining in the afternoon.

Accommodation: B&B

Nutrition:

  Breakfast: Cooked breakfast

  Lunch: Mars and Snickers bars

  Dinner: Meat pies and cheesecake

Aches:  For the past two months I have had (self-diagnosed) plantar fasciitis in my right foot and some right hip issues for even longer.  I'm hoping the hike will either resolve these issues or give me confidence that I can hike with them (with a much longer hike next year in mind).  For today, the hip wasn't too bad, but the foot became more painful as the day wore on.  It will be interesting to see how it is tomorrow.

Highlight:  It was really nice to be on the trail again.  With some notable exceptions, it has not been a great year.  Being on the trail and back in the bush lifted my spirits, though I'm still mindful of the travails of others.

Lowlight:  It was disappointing to see the amount of rubbish, particularly on the trails closer to civilisation, that had been dumped in the forest - tyres, cars, household appliances and furniture.  There were also many discarded bottles and cans along the way as well.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

I flew down to Hobart yesterday and then caught a bus to the tiny town of Geeveston, where I stayed in a B&B last night.  This morning, I caught another bus for the 25 minute ride to the tiny seaside town of Dover, from where I began hiking north along the 470km Tasmanian Trail, my home for the next 2.5 weeks.  The trail will be predominantly along rural backroads, forestry roads and firetrails, so not as hardcore as some others I have done, and I will often be staying in B&Bs, pubs, etc.

It was 9:20am, by the time I climbed away from the picturesque Dover on tranquil Port Esperance, passing by farms, apple orchards and fallow deer enclosures, accompanied by evocative agricultural aromas.  I was only carrying a daypack, since my day's hike would take me back to Geeveston via forests and mountains, but a "bushwalkers weather alert" issued last night encouraged me to pack it with warmer clothes, wet weather gear, and my emergency kit.  The early weather, however, was perfect for hiking and I thoroughly enjoyed the easy climb into the mountains.

Although there were glimpsed views to distant mountains and valleys, for most of the day I was surrounded by forest, with occasional clear-felled patches, burnt areas and a high swamp.  Light drizzle late in the morning, was followed in mid-afternoon by a sudden weather change which saw the temperature plummet, winds rage and rain fall.  I went from warm one minute to cold and shivering a few minutes later.  However, the weather change roughly coincided with the start of my descent from the mountains and the temperature became more tolerable on the leeward side.

After a long descent, I finished my day walking along another beautiful rural valley road occasionally bordered by lovely flower-filled gardens.  I reached my B&B around 5pm in light rain which continued into the evening.

Rather than trek another 500m to a pizza place for dinner, I opted for a couple of pies from an adjacent service station for dinner.  I could have had dinner at the B&B, but it was a bit pricey, and I knew I would sit there eating and thinking a couple of pies would have done just as well.

The bad weather is forecast to continue tomorrow, but may clear, if I'm lucky, by tomorrow night when I will be camping out.

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