Day: 03
Date: Sunday, 20 October 2019
Start: Stony Ridge Conservation Area
Finish: New Norfolk
Daily Kilometres: 30.6
Total TT Kilometres: 101.0
Weather: Overcast and windy with persistent drizzle in the morning, partly sunny with a cold wind in the afternoon.
Accommodation: Motel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Trail mix
Lunch: Trail mix
Dinner: Spring rolls, honey chicken and rice.
Aches: Very tired again and feet still problematic. Hopefully, a day off tomorrow and then an easier day to follow will allow the body to adjust.
Highlight: Although overcast and drizzling, I enjoyed the long climb onto the Wellington Range in the morning with the wind roaring in the tree tops and no-one else about.
Lowlight: The first 10km of descent from the Wellington Range which followed an over-used, heavily-rutted, muddy and massively-puddled 4WD track. I did my best to keep my feet dry, but slipped once and got both feet wet.
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
I slept quite well and was tempted to stay in bed longer, but got myself up at 6am, and was packed (with a very wet flysheet from overnight rain) by 7am. Happily, my feet were tolerable, and I continued on up the mountain under cloudy skies with light drizzle. The wind was roaring in the treetops, but it was relatively calm at ground level. It was one of those climbs that seemed to go on forever, with each bend rounded revealing another ascent. Eventually I reached a ridge which the very stony/rocky trail then followed for some time.
When it did start to descend, the geology seemed to change and I encountered very rough trail, mud and huge puddles (see above). A few kilometres down the mountain I joined another 4WD track which seemed to be the venue of choice for every Sunday 4WDer in the region. There were many vehicles negotiating the muddy rutted track with varying degrees of skill and confidence (not always matched to each other) and it became a bit tedious dodging them and the massive puddles.
After some time, the trail reached civilisation (occasional houses) and the surface and scenery improved. It was still a long way down the mountain and my feet and legs were complaining, even before I reached the sealed road in the Lachlan valley which became a plod. I had hoped to get some food and drink at a shop in the hamlet of Lachlan shown in the TT guide, but it was long derelict. I still had a little trail mix and water left, so had some and set off for the last 7km to New Norfolk. The road was busy and narrow, not making it very pleasant to walk along, but I survived.
I reached the motel, which I was later told was formerly some kind of institution (and looked it) at 4pm, very glad to have finished. After a shower, old running friend, Ian, who had driven up from Hobart, picked me up for dinner, which proved easier said than done. New Norfolk on a Sunday night could not be described as vibrant! We finally found a Chinese and ate well.
On return fo the motel, I began to try and load my blog from yesterday and found that the app had deleted it (for the second time, counting last night)! Curses! I have changed the system and hope to do better in future. Looking forward to a day off tomorrow.
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