Neika to St. Crispin's Well 2014

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Just to check how many people really read this blog, I made a deliberate mistake in the article on the Lea walk (that's my story, anyway). The only person to pick up that I wrote 'orchard' instead of 'orchid' was Peter. The rest of you are going to have to pull your socks up! Questions will be asked in the future.

Today we parked on the Huon Rd. just across from the start of a section of the  Pipeline Track. Tas was our leader and had arranged for us to have perfect weather - perhaps to make up for last week.

This is an out and back walk along a vehicle track that is popular with walkers, runners and cyclists, as we saw today. The cyclists that passed us were older blokes and thankfully weren't wearing Lycra. The walkers included a school group of teenagers who managed to take up the entire track. We were going to St. Crispin's Well, but the track goes much farther.

There were a couple of places where we had good views, but most of it was in the cool of the bush.

St Crispin was the patron saint of  cobblers, curriers, tanners, and leather workers.

I was a bit worried when researching the good man to find he had a Facebook page, seeing as he and his twin brother were tossed into a river with millstones around their necks. Surviving this, they were beheaded by the local Roman governor, so you can understand my concern. Turned out the page belonged to be a shoe firm, which is fitting.

Most of the detail of the walk I'll cover with captions on the photos.

Usual gathering at the start.

The Pipeline Track. Yes, there are pipes under and beside it.

If you want to go off track, good luck.

Several little creeks run under the track.

Turn off for the Snake Plains Track, you can see it on the centre of the map.

A nervous local.

Looking south.

New growth on a man fern (Dicksonia antarctica)

Among the trees.

Is it a bird? Plane? Superperson? I suspect a bird. I thought I heard someone mention the word  'emperor' as I walked up, but I can't really believe it was a penguin in a tree.

Fargus or Deciduous beech (Nothofagus gunnii) the brown parts are new growth.

Cathedral Rock

We've climbed that - from the back.

Taswater again, different blokes and truck ( I checked the rego against the one we saw at the Lea).

Grimly determined to take a selfie.

Morning Tea

I'll stick my neck out and say
Tasmanian waratah or
Telopea truncata

St. Crispin's Well. Water is collected here and taken by pipe to flush the toilets of Hobart. Just joking.

"Everyone smile as if they're enjoying themselves"

It took two goes as some people weren't and others kept moving.

An old giant.

Just off track for lunch

One of these two was just about to strip off as I took the photo. I'll leave it to your imagination.

I'll take a punt. Cheeseberry or Cyathodes glauca

It was a good walk and good weather, we had 14 walkers and covered 11.26km in 3:15hrs.

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