Sports Centre Towards Leslie Vale 2017

Today we're heading on a walk called Sports Centre Towards Leslie Vale which gives Bob plenty of wiggle room as to where he leads us.

It's a cool day to start, but soon warms up. First though, Bob takes us on a no pack circuit of the Sports Centre and Kingston High School to get us moving.

Hate to say it, but I missed my pack

Sports Centre

Off we go, strangely light on our feet

One of the Twin Ovals

Even here, in the cradle of Kingborough civilization, we can't get away from hazards.

We show we can tackle rough terrain

We make our way back to the cars, gear up and set forth on one of the many riding trails around the area.

One reason for riding trails

These, not so much

We have good views of Mt. Wellington

A nice clear day

Shortly after we pass under the Huon Highway, we make our way to Leslie Road.

Leslie Road

We're heading down to Summerleas Road, which we follow around to Hackford Drive then up to the start of the Picket Hill Track.

It's warming up so everyone takes this opportunity to make a wardrobe adjustment.

Wardrobe Adjustment about to start

I'm at the back, near the road when I see an old beagle walking down hill towards us. Greeting me with some interesting facial expressions, he joins us as we change.

This old gentleman joins us just to say hello, then continues on his way. He only looks unhappy in this photo. He was perfectly fine and happy until he saw the camera

 We start up the track into bush. It's a pleasant climb, but does pass near houses so sometimes we provide entertainment to bored dogs.

Picket Hill Track

Soon we find a sunny, level spot for Morning Tea.

Break finished, we continue climbing.

Some areas look like real bush

We cross Cades Drive, picking up the track again on the other side. This leads us down a steep slope.

Heading down

At the bottom the track joins an unnamed road that has quite a deep ditch we have to cross. It's probably about 1.3 metres deep in places. Getting across provides a bit of excitement.

Gail takes a leap...

...while Wayne makes it look easy

We turn to our right for a short walk along the road to a turnoff into the bush.

Looking up the hill

Unnamed road

Turning off into the bush

Just a word about this track. We went into stealth mode as it may be private land. However, if you look at the map below you'll see that the majority of it is public reserve. I think the part just to the left of our track is where we crossed a large drain that heads to the creek. This is the only point we crossed private land.

We walk down a gentle grade to Fawcett Rivulet, which we cross. A number of obstacles have appeared since the last time we were here.

Crossing Fawcett Rivulet...

...and climbing over the downed trees

There was a low, loud plane flying over

Fawcett Rivulet

Finally, we find ourselves on Cripps Road, heading for Summerleas Road. As we walk, the rivulet, which was on our level, quickly drops down until it disappears into the bush at the bottom of a very deep gully.
We reach the road, turn right for a short stretch, then walk up Old Summerleas Road.

Cripps Road

Beginning of the unnamed road we crossed. There is a gate at the top, just out of sight

We turn up here to entertain more dogs

I just liked the colours of the tree bark

Back to Summerleas Road to begin retracing our steps for a while

Roba Court where we pick up the end of one of the horse trails, heading back towards Kingston

We cross under the Huon Highway again, heading towards the large concrete water reservoir for lunch. We've done that several times in the past on various walks in the area.

Lunch finished we head towards Kingston View Drive to make our way back to the cars. But not before passing one more local.

Looks very much like a Thelwell pony. If you're English, and of a certain age, you know what I mean

 Thelwell was a British cartoonist who often drew plump ponies and their riders.

See the resemblance ?

We had 17 walkers and covered 13.31km in 4:18hrs. A good day through some interesting areas.


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