Yesterday’s route took me from Tranmere to Bellerive on the Derwent River’s eastern shore of the Greater Hobart Area.

1. I caught the Number 615 bus to Camelot Park and got off at bus stop 31 in Tranmere just before 9am. The bus continued onto it final stop 31, while I crossed the road to look down on the rocky foreshore, before striding out along the concreted Clarence Foreshore Trail (CFT) back towards the city.

2. When I reached bus stop 29, public toilets were located next to the Trail. I continued along the Trail to the left on a gravel path separating the rocks and water from the back yards of houses lining the river. Fifty odd minutes after leaving the bus, and after passing Punch’s Reef and Anulka Park, I arrived at a significant curve in the Trail. At that point it seemed to be returning up to the roadway for continuation on a concreted pathway next to Tranmere Road.
3. Instead I walked on northwards, next to the river on a grassy terrace but was eventually forced down onto the rocks of Howrah Point. Fifty minutes later I arrived at the southern end of Little Howrah Beach where I sat and ate some of my lunch. I would not recommend followers take this route because when the tide is in, some rocks will be impassable. At other times some uncovered rocks will be slippery with moss. In addition, there are overhanging prickly bushes which will scratch if you follow this way. I suspect staying on the Clarence Foreshore Trail would have taken half an hour or more off my walk.

The photo below shows the tranquillity of Little Howrah Beach.

4. Half way along the road next to the Little Howrah Beach is bus stop 21. Close by are public toilets.
5. It took 6 minutes to walk the length of this short beach, a minute to walk over a tiny rocky shoreline, and then 30 minutes to walk the long Howrah Beach. The photo below shows the Howrah Beach. Second Bluff is the treed area at the end of the beach.

6. From Howrah Beach, I walked up and around the Second Bluff headland on a well-marked path (the rocks below would be impossible to walk around) and arrived at the start of the Bellerive Beach approximately a quarter of an hour later. The leisurely stroll along Bellerive Beach took about 30 minutes. The photo below was clicked looking back along Bellerive Beach after my walk was completed.

Near this end of the beach a large football and cricket ground is evident through the trees.  Between this ground and the beach you will find public toilets.

7. I took the stairs at the northern end of Bellerive Beach up onto Victoria Esplanade, turned left and followed the road around Kangaroo Bluff to Bellerive Bluff where this fourth stage of my walk along the Derwent finished.

This Bluff marks the point where the small Kangaroo Bay opens off tto the east of the Derwent River. Northwards across the water I could see Rosny Point which will be the starting point for the next leg of this journey.

On the other side of the river, the city centre featured prominently below Mount Wellington.

A number 608 bus runs through this part of Bellerive and continues onto Hobart. Alternatively, if you continue walking along the edge of Kangaroo Bay, then through the Bellerive Village onto Cambridge Road, buses can be hailed to stop at Bus Stop 8 for travel into Hobart city.

How much of the Derwent River have I walked?

I strolled very slowly for almost five hours. If followers choose to stay on the Clarence Foreshore Trail and are not as engaged as I was in making notes and taking photographs, I believe this walk will take a comfortable 3 and a half hours including snack breaks. In total, I probably walked about 10 kilometres because of the convoluted nature of the Howrah Point rocks and other non-Clarence Foreshore Trail pathways which I followed from time to time.  In relation to meeting my goal to walk the 249 kilometre length of the Derwent River, I gained another 4 kms; the total distance covered so far is now 19.5 kilometres.