29th September 2017

4th Line EHS = 591km
Hockey Valley

Finally we get the weather we expected for this journey. It was cold and raining with a bitter wind blowing. For the first time this trip we both had our full wet weather gear on and it stayed on for most of the day, even chuffing up these hills. We were beginning to wonder if we had packed our cold weather stuff and were packing all that extra weight for nothing.

Started the day on a wild wet blustery gravel road and we were walking straight into a bitter wind. I had made a bad call, the forecast was for 13C so I thought I would not need my gloves, Wrong, My hands felt like blocks of ice until we finally left the road and entered the woods. Once again the volunteers and maintenance folks that look after this trail excelled themselves the trail condition today was superb. The mix of terrain we transversed was exceptional, Mixed hardwood trees, Conifers, Rural Paddocks, Golf Course and Ski slopes to name a few. The autumn leaf fall is fantastic and just what we came here to see.

The trail ran along cliff top then down through the trees, crossed many gullies and streams as well as wetland. The wetlands were well managed with boardwalks and  bridges. Then came the dreaded hills on the opposite side of the valley. The rain had stopped and the sun came out, so we stripped off our wet gear. Damned fickle weather decided to chuck it down about 5 mins after we had shed our wet weather stuff, thankfully we were able to quickly deploy our umbrellas and stay dry as the rain was coming down straight and it only lasted 20 odd minutes.

The last stretch took us down a beautiful gully but had a sting it’s tail as the ascent out of the gully was steep and with many stairs, I hate stairs. To insult to injury our departure from the trail was over a big stile. 

Trail completed for today we still had a 900m walk up a gravel road to get to our B&B where a very welcome hot shower waited. 

We found a fabulous Caribbean Restaurant for dinner tonight and the food was exceptional and different. Desert was very different with a hot Blueberry Cheese cake Samosa, yummmmm.