This Saturday the harriers head for the Ida Valley and Merino Ridges. Bus will depart corner Walton & Thompson streets at 12 noon with M-Zs duty pack this week. Your chance to wander among the Sarsen stones or fall into an old gold mine
There are two ways of knowing when a walk is popular , a big turnout (mid 40s ) , or heaps of photos sent in
On Saturday 16 walkers took the opportunity to wander through the Manuherika water race under the hill at Chatto creek. After crossing the road , up the pipeline and following the water race , they eventually got to the tunnel entrance by the viaduct.
Stories abounded about the 1.7km long tunnel , of giant spiders dropping onto walkers from the roof , giant eels nibbling on any exposed toes and great stalactites hanging above exposed heads ready to fall . Or it could just be imagination getting the better of some folk.
It just doesn’t sound as good, with no eels , tiny little spiders and stalactites that still need a millennium or two to get to a decent size.
It must be hard work checking out the tunnel , as there were Speights bottles lining the tunnel in case of emergency. And they had been emptied, so that race work must involve a lot of emergencies.
Susan had brought along a couple of ladders to assist members getting in and out of the race. Then apparently there was some great hill to climb,
Tiger hill ,which Joe was keen to get to the top of , so he could say he has summitted both Tiger Hills. All this made for a late return , so cars were sent to pick them up and return for a very welcome cuppa.
Meantime the remaining walkers drove out to Chatto Creek at 12:30pm. The select W3 group stuck to the rail trail.
The remaining W1 & W2 walkers, 28 or so of them, followed in the footsteps of the earlier walkers along the water race.. There still appeared to be quite some confusion about which gate to go through , but eventually they got onto the track under the viaduct, then went cross country to Castle Hill , before dropping down to the rail trail and return.
This walk seemed to attract some new walkers , as well as some faces not seen for a year or two. Thanks to Susan for organising the tunnel walk
And next time we will submit the necessary funds and photos , so she knows which ones we want dropped into the eel pit.
This Saturday is another popular outing , out to Merino Ridges and the giant Sarsen stones. M-Zs on afternoon tea duty , with the bus leaving at
12 midday. Although we have been getting some sunshine ,the thermostat seems stuck on low ,but August is traditionally the time of year when things finally start to warm up. But not this Saturday.
Hope to see you there
Gary