A Walk In the Woods

I started training at the beginning of the week. I’ve procrastinated about if for far too long so with a little over 3 weeks to go at my job I figured I might as well leverage the ability to leave early and arrive late as well as the extra daylight on tap of an evening. I’ve wanted to start walking/jogging for ages, the problem has been getting into a routine. What’s helped has been the discovery of some awesome trails to walk that are in close proximity to our house.

My first run didn’t kill me, but man it felt like I was close to death, when I say it’s a steep hill its very steep, and long, I would guess from my front door step the first 2km is straight up the mountain. On night number 1 I got what could be only explained as a stitch in my neck, not the most pleasant feeling. I’m not sure if it was my heart trying to pass a cheeseburger of old into my brain of just the blood plumbing getting a good workout. Night number 2 yielded some ease in the breathing and stitch stakes but my calves burned the whole way up. By night 3 wI was able to complete this first 2km stretch without a break which I was very pleased with. My aim is to complete the circuit every night through summer. Lets see how I go.

There is an old aqueduct trail that runs along the mountain range I can access after about 2km up the steep mountain road, this serves as a great warm up. B & T my 10 & 8 years olds also tagged along last night, we walked for approximately an hour and forty minutes. It proved to be quite an informative trek. There are hundreds of wildlife trails up and down the mountain that converge upon bridges over the old aqueduct serving as a crossing for all manner of creatures. We have spotted trail from deer, wallabies, kangaroos & wombats. We have also observed wild cockatoos as well as rosellas.

What amazes me is how the bush changes from one corner to the next, some areas are thick overgrown rainforest style with tree ferms reaching 20 feet tall. The scenery then turns to open & more traditional aussie bush with mountain ashes reaching hundreds of feet overhead. Turn a corner to a “dark side” where light isn’t as prominent and the landscape changes again. The temperature drops and enormous dead conifers give an almost haunted look.

I’ve done the walk every night this week and always arrived home just after dusk so what I’m really looking forward to is doing it in the dark armed with a torch to really see some wildlife. Its proving to be an challenging and educational way to restore my fitness. I aim to do the walk Sunday morning armed with my camera to see if I can get a shot of a deer, if the tracks are anything to go buy there place is very well travelled.

Until next time………