From Pottery Rd. No. 2

Today we're leaving on a walk from the end of Pottery Rd. in Lenah Valley, led  by Bob.

There's limited parking near the start, just enough room for three cars or three cars and a motor scooter on this day.

Weather is clear and not too cool so it looks like we lucked out once again.

We're almost off

Around the barrier gate and up the paved road for a short distance before turning off onto a path along the side of Noahs Saddle.

Easy walking

The bush is generally clear

 

There are few long views here, but Wellington does appear through the trees from time to time.

Good place for snow

We soon come to a large area with several tracks/trails coming together. We cross over and pick up another track.

We continue over this area onto another track

Evidence of times past

Despite all the rain we've had lately - our garden is awash at the moment - I'm surprised at how little mud there is. Certainly some of the downhill sections are slippery, but not difficult if you keep your mind on what you're doing.

We continue down a winding track until we cross over a dry creek bed.

As you can see, it's much damper down here

We come across a few fallen trees

I believe this was a Bob authorized corner cut

We continue until we come to a fairly large fallen gum tree which requires some negotiation to get through. On the other side we go up and start to look for a place for - you guessed it - Morning Tea.

The fallen large gum tree

Morning Tea on a sunny side track

 Our break finished, to my surprise Bob takes us back down hill ignoring the climb at our back, but promises to go uphill in a very short while.

Heading for the promised hill. Sounds almost biblical

I was a bit concerned when I heard Sally remark to Bob to the effect that when she led a group in this area, she avoided this hill. Sally also made a further remark to the effect of being "led up the garden path". This doesn't bode well.

Nearly at the top

The closest we came to snow was this patch just below our track

The hill turned out not to be too bad, and all our worry about not having enough rope was unwarranted.

We continue along until we reach the junction of a couple of tracks, where we turnoff onto the Newtown Trail.

I'm surprised we didn't take this one

Shelter hiding in the bush just off the Newtown Trail

We walk on this track until finally Bob declares an early lunch.

Ron spotted this fossil just off the track

Lunch spot ahead

We found a level spot in open bush with several convenient logs for our lunch.

View from my private log

Lunch

Artistic view of litter under the trees

 While having my sandwich, I looked down at this tiny plant growing near my boot. It appeared to have very tiny blooms, so I took a closeup.

I'm looking at the tiny plant just to the left of my boot

Yes, it's in blossom

After lunch, we head back toward the cars.

Turning off onto another faint track

A better view of Mt. Wellington

There's almost always colour somewhere in the bush

Regrouping before the short stretch to the cars

We had 10 walkers and covered 6.71km in 2:55hrs. A short but pleasant walk and don't forget to make allowances for all the uphill sections!

If you live close to the city, this is a good place to walk with numerous tracks and trails.

Click here to download GPX file

With the track animation, you can see where we dither about having Morning Tea and lunch.

Click here to view track animation