Trains, Trails and Travels

This is the story of a solo walk on the Overland Track, a well-trodden wilderness walk through central Tasmania. The plan was to take 10 days to walk from Cradle Valley to Cynthia Bay with a number of optional side trips en route. In the event I diverted from the plan right at the start, for reasons that will become abundantly obvious.

Having completed the first of our 2012 walks, through the Rhine Gorge (Wandering Down the Rhine), we set forth on what was expected to be a relatively simple but longer walk in the Loire and Cher River area – relatively flat and easy walking, or so we thought. Flat it may have been, but we still got a few surprises along the way.

After the Rhine Gorge and the relatively flat Loire and Cher River walks we set off for a navigationally immaculate stroll along Voie Verte (Green Track – a Rail Trail) from Cluny. This walk sounded like a shoe-in, but it had its moments of make it up as you go.

In March 2000 I had the opportunity to take part in a three week visit to Nepal, the major part of which was a trek around the western and southern side of the Annapurna region. Getting to Nepal and the days before and after the actual expedition were an experience in their own right.

In mid 2004, towards the end of our first European tour, we realised that we had a few days where the Walking in France pair (my sister and her partner) starting their time in Europe overlapped. What better way to spend those few days that a joint walk through a portion of the Premier Cru region of Burgundy. From our point of view it had interesting consequences – albeit it wasn’t until 2012 until we got into some serious walking holidays.

Having done a couple of very pleasant day walks earlier in the year, the time had come to stretch things a bit. The plan was a four day circuit from Langford Gap, taking in Fitzgerald’s Hut, Johnston’s Hut, Edmonson’s Hut, and back to Kelly’s Hut.

For some time Ben and I have planned to visit The Island — not the Phillip version which really is surrounded by water but the landlocked version which stands mesa-like between the gorges of Werribee River and Myrniong Creek at the western end of the Werribee Gorge State Park.

In late 2003 I did an extended trek in Nepal. The trek was 36 days out on the hoof, most of which was camping, even in snow and ice, covering 240 km horizontally but also nearly 16,500 metres (54,000 ft) vertically.

After around four continuous months of Covid detention in mid 2020, and double that since our last amble through the bush, parole was a fairly definite invite to a day out in the bush. That is how I managed to make my first ascent of Mt Rosea — located in the middle of the Grampians. Never underestimate the Grampian’s ability to turn on an entertaining day out walking.

There was a time, within living memory, when several railways survived in the western part of Tasmania because there were no roads. The railways that served these remote areas were not main lines as we understand them but rather artefacts from another era. In early 1961 several of us visited the area, just prior to the construction of roads that soon afterwards eliminated most of these fascinating remnants of earlier times.

New Zealand, in the eary 1960’s, had a very interesting and capable railway. Buried in the middle of the South Island was a big time operation using a small but capable group of powerful steam locomotives. Our month-long travels in NZ around the end of 1963 brought us into contact with this wonderful railway operation, resulting in memories that will never be forgotten. This story tells of that time.

Back in late 1983 we did a train trip from Echuca to Balranald over a two day period in a strange little one car train that was engaged in radio reception tests. Given that the line is to all intents flat, and the scenery is more or less absent, prospects were for a rather boring journey. It was anything but.

Mt Clear is located around 20 km south east of Mt Buller, in the middle of a skyline traverse of the Great Dividing Range from Mt McDonald through to Mt Howitt and beyond. It is easily accessible, or so it appears, but it was only on the third attempt that we actually stood on its summit. How did we do it?

Having enjoyed a four day walk through Burgundy back in 2004, we made the brave decision to go for something rather more demanding, although still largely a make it up as you go type walk, in 2012. The first of these was a week-long adventure through the Rhine Gorge, which also happened to be our first venture into Germany.