Granton-Bridgewater 2019

Today Bob is promising us a new walk at Granton. So we set off from Kingston, full of excitement, wondering where he'll take us.

We arrive, park, then Bob drops the bombshell!

We're parking in Granton, but the walk is actually in Bridgewater, over the River Derwent. 

So off we set, heading towards the river and left up the railway line, our destination is the Bridgewater Bridge.

Parking. Innocent, unsuspecting walkers

Setting off. The river showing just under the road bridge, we're clued up now.

As Bob said, I suspect none of us have ever walked over the Bridgewater Bridge. Something new.

On the way we come to the old highway and a colonial sandstone building I've driven past for years. I may have known some of its history in the past, but I've forgotten it by now.

So here it briefly is.

There was a ferry inn on this spot from around 1811, the present building dates from 1833 and I've read this is the earliest Ferry Inn in Australia. Now it's a private residence.

Just as a matter of interest, there is an interesting web site giving more photos and history of the inn. CLICK HERE to have a look.

I was interested to read that George William Robinson who built this inn in 1833 was from Massachusetts in the USA. See, you had to put up with us even that long ago.

Back to George. He was a seal hunter and whaler and had a short but adventurous life. Left with one other person to hunt seals for almost two years on a small island in the southern Indian Ocean. Finally picked up by the ship General Gates and taken to Hobart Town, he received one Spanish dollar and 10 gallons of rum for four years work. He married here and died in 1839 at about the age of 39 years. He had a variety of occupations during his short life.

Black Snake Inn

On we go, heading up the railway line with almost no chance of being run over by a train.

Distant view of the Bridgewater Bridge

Mount Dromedary in the distance

Black Swans in the
Derwent Marine Conservation Area reserve

The swans in Tasmania are black.

We're getting to the lift span now. It had been raised as we started walking towards the bridge, stopping traffic in both directions, evidently for a small yacht.

Remains of an earlier swing bridge

At the end, we turn right to head along the shoreline.

Marked on the map as a ferry access point

A sign giving history of the bridge

Bridgewater Bridge

The history

The bridge is about 70 years old now. I would say that for the last, oh 50 years, a politician comes along and says it's going to be replaced. In fact, only about a week ago another came along and promised a replacement.

Don't hold your breath.

We walk along, passing signs reminiscent of an earlier age, such as this palm.

Looking a little out of place now

Soon we reach an earlier house that was here when this was sheep raising country. It dates from 1885 and includes a heritage listed cottage and a, quote "genuine shearing shed with other buildings."

Offers over A$500,000.

Property for sale on the water

Old cottage next door

Mount Faulkner over the river

Mount Direction down stream

We make our way along the coast until we come to a hole in a fence that lets us into a reserve complete with sheltered table for Morning Tea.

Bob has gotten us here spot on time for our 10:30am break!

Morning Tea

Tea finished, we continue on, enjoying the views. And the swans.

The track is a wide gravel track heading south towards Hobart.

Typical track

A bit of colour

More waterbirds hanging about

 The weather is quite changeable with threats of rain, but I think you could count the number of raindrops we had during the walk on one hand.

We're walking down and around Green Point which is a reserve. We round the point to enter Herdsmans Cove and the mouth of the Jordan River.

Herdsmans Cove

The distant bridge is over the Jordan River on the East Derwent Highway.

Lots of swans here also

We have a way to walk yet

Blue sky and it's warm, but not for long

Bob's waving at me. Not sure how many fingers he's holding up

Jordan River

 We cross down and to the right when we reach the other shore.

Mount Wellington

Soon we reach our lunch spot with another sheltered table and plenty of supplementary rocks for seating.

 I can confirm that the cheque has cleared my account, so I can now point out that Bob reached our lunch spot exactly on time.

There are a number of these sheltered tables, I can see another quite some distance farther on which we'll not reach today. More tracks also.

Lunch finished, we continue on. It's not far before Bob heads bush, taking us into the tall grass and brambles.

It's rough, but we're up to it

Looking back at Green Point. We walked down the hidden side and up this side to the bridge over the Jordan, out of sight on the right

 It's not long before we decide to start back, bypassing Green Point.

Very unusual, a Bob led shortcut

Back over the Bridgewater Bridge and back to the cars

A very interesting walk, many more tracks than I imagined, more for another time in another area. Maybe farther south.

We had 19 walkers and covered 17.32km in a moving time of 4.03hrs.

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