Tag Archives: walking

These boots were made for walking

Leave a reply

When I started my walk from the mouth to the source of the Derwent River, my Teva walking boots hadn’t covered many kilometres – maybe only 20.  They were already comfortably worn in and I loved wearing them.  Not too heavy. Not too rigid. Providing all the ankle support I needed.  Giving me confidence I could walk anywhere.

20160310_083703.jpg

Not so long ago these boots had to be retired. The uppers kept their good condition. The insides remained intact. But the soles … well, there wasn’t much left of them.  I kept walking despite almost no tread. I kept walking despite the ground eating into a shoe through the sole.  I began to slip on mossy rocks. I began to feel the points of rocks.  I knew my wonderful boots would no longer keep me safe.

20160310_083759.jpg

20160310_083741.jpg

I fervently wanted to complete the walk in these friendly boots but it wasn’t to be.  I hunted through the shops, I tried the TEVA manufacturers, and I browsed through Gumtree and Ebay sites in the hope of finding another pair. Alas. These excellent boots are no longer produced and it seems not a soul in the world had a pair to sell.

With sadness I searched for a new pair of walking boots. From experience I knew I had purchased many boots over the years and after not much time found I could only wear one shoe in and not the other, or the boot stayed too rigid and did not provide the flexibility I needed – such expensive boots were then sold as second hand. I didn’t want to waste more money. Regrettably boots are not a commodity that can be taken away and tried and then if they fail you can return and swap for something else.  So it was with delight, and quite quickly, I found a Mountain Design pair of walking boots which, in the shop, had all the characteristics I wanted.

20160310_084039.jpg

20160310_084125.jpg

20160310_084155.jpg

I walked out of the shop wearing them and, after only a few successful short strolls in my neighbourhood, I decided to test them out on a day bushwalk.  You may smile, but I carried my old walking boots in my day pack – just in case.  But they weren’t needed. That day and since then my new boots have carried me across all sorts of terrain safely with comfort.

Silly, I know, but I still haven’t been able to ‘bury’ my favourite boots that were there for me through thick and thin.

Walking between Gretna and Lake Repulse Dam – 1 of 3

2 Replies

I no longer believe that walking the Derwent River from the mouth to the source is possible as a normal public option. The reasons why others should not follow in my footsteps and expect to walk the length of the River include:

  1. Private landowners will not grant access permission to cross their land for a range of very sound reasons.
  2. There are no public pathways, roads or tracks near most of the River.
  3. Fences and gates make forward progress difficult or impossible.

Let me explain by focusing on the situation in one inland section.

The Derwent River winds around mostly cleared hills between Gretna and Lake Repulse Dam, and on two occasions its travel is impeded:  by the Meadowbank and Cluny Dams. The Derwent between these two locations measures approximately 52 kms.

As a result of privileged access and after a series of recent walks, I have covered the majority of these kilometres, sometimes walking on one side of the River and sometimes on the other.  I expect to finish this section by filling in the few small ‘gaps’ in the near future.  Once the 52 kms are completed then I will add the details into my blog under USEFUL ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. Weather (not snowing, raining, excessively windy or hot – I’m not fussy!) and the availability of chauffeurs will influence when and where I walk in the future.

Some of the many landowners along the way have granted me permission to walk on their land with the proviso that specific details which allow identification of them and their properties will not be provided.  I understand the reasons for their positions and will not share the information. Unfortunately, so many of my glorious panoramic photos of the Derwent River feature rapids or other indicators such as hills, dramatic cliffs and distant properties which show the side of the River on which I walked. As such, these would help locate the properties on which I walked.  Therefore, for the first time, I am disappointed to include only a couple of River shots in my blog posts.

20151128_155033

Many blog followers have enjoyed the details of what I see and experience in each walk.  Without providing identifying information, I will do my best to present some of the ‘flavour’ of the River between Gretna and Lake Repulse Dam in the next couple of blog posts.

Thanks to blog follower Jeanette, I was chauffeured to some starting points and collected from destinations in the section between Gretna and Lake Repulse Dam.  In addition, she walked with me on one occasion. At the time we tried out hand-me-down walking poles (my doctor says they will support my knees) but since they were no longer collapsible, we soon discarded them.  For blog followers wondering how my knees are holding up – very well, thank you.  Now that I wrap and support them, walking has become so much easier.

Brilliant bird’s eye view

12 Replies

Thankyou blog follower Ju.  Recently Ju connected me with a woman with a husband who has a Private Pilot’s Licence.  Once I made contact, Michelle and Dave were delighted to fly me in their four seater plane, a Cirrus SR20 which Michelle referred to as the BMW of the skies.

Today we flew.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Clean blue sky. Hardly a breeze.  The landscape rich and varied.  The Derwent River sparkled from start to finish.

The experience was stunningly magnificent.  I love words but I find it difficult to express my excitement, my pleasure, and the sheer joy of the flight in the depth which I felt.  There below me was the river I have come to love and know a little more. There below me were the tracks, paths, roads and landscape over which I have walked – and I laughed occasionally remembering certain experiences during my walks. There below me were logging tracks, dam roads, and fading vehicular pathways.  And then we were flying over impenetrable sections which may not be walkable.

We left Hobart airport and flew to Storm Bay by rounding the Iron Pot, then we followed the river upstream to the source. Dave flew on until we reached the northern most point of Lake St Clair. The return journey was equally as beautiful and engaging. The light had changed presenting us with a ‘new’ landscape.

Of the hundreds of photos taken by Michelle, friend Chantale and myself, I include a tiny selection here.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The photo above taken by Michelle caught me totally preoccupied by the view.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

MIchelle’s photo above shows the Derwent River snaking around the Claremont Golf course with Cadbury’s Chocolate Manufacturing buildings in white to the left.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The photo above shows a straight section of the Derwent River before the township of New Norfolk on the upper left.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The photo above shows the Derwent River circling part of Reid’s cherry orchards.

IMG_3864

Chantale’s photo of the Pumphouse Point accommodation projecting into Lake St Clair, also shows the dam across the Derwent Basin where the water enters St Clair Lagoon.  The source of the Derwent River starts to the right of the photo.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Michelle’s photo above shows part of sprawling Hobart set against the Derwent Harbour.

Those photos taken while flying over the river westwards of Gretna will be incorporated into the stories of my walks from Gretna onwards, in future posts.  From now on, you can expect both ground-based and aerial photos to enrich the stories.
I feel like the luckiest person in the world for the opportunity to travel in a smooth flying small plane, to see the Derwent River winding through the landscape in glorious blueness, and to be reminded Tasmania is a superb place. A truly wonderful and memorable day. Thankyou to all concerned.

Fruit trees further than the eye could see

Leave a reply

After enjoying the river edge for a short while, I arrived at a demarcation line. From that fence, I could see a tiny portion of 700 acres of cherry orchards before it extended over hills and was lost from my view.  While the fences were impassable an ordinary gate fastener made it easy for me to enter the paddock.

20150917_120701 20150917_120706 20150917_120856

Soon I arrived back at the river edge; in the photo above the river was flowing on the other side of the prominent evergreen tree. After walking a short while, I rested in the deep shadows of a giant wattle tree for a lunch break and enjoyed the smooth rush of the water.

20150917_113621 20150917_122225

This was the property of Reid’s Fruits. The Reid’s family’s website proudly announces they grow ‘undoubtedly the best Tasmanian cherries!’  What I saw were trees still dormant, others beginning to bud and a few showing their first blossom. It will be near Christmas and into the New Year before the bountiful harvests reach our tables and make it overseas.

20150917_124443

Another Special Anniversary

2 Replies

Implementation Milestone remembered:

22 August 2014 was the date when I made the first walk and commenced my long journey from the mouth of the Derwent River on the northern side, in the South Arm area.

On that first walking stage I recorded the weather as: “The sky was blue and cloudless but I was rugged up and beanied to avoid the early morning chill.” At the start of stage 2 on the 5th September the blog recorded:  “The sun is shining. Air is crisp.”  I recall that on both occasions the day warmed so the walking was very comfortable.

Perhaps walking has similarities with cycling passions

6 Replies

As an avid spectator of professional international cycling (despite never having ridden a bike), when I watched the short video Pleasure in Pain – A Cycling Movie filmed in South Australia, I felt so much of what was said was true for me when I walk.  I listened to well-loved race commentator Phil Liggett’s dulcet tones as he explained the aspects which cyclists enjoy.

For ‘once cycling is in your blood you cannot get rid of it’, I would substitute ‘once walking is in your blood you cannot get rid of it’.  One of the quotations used in this movie reads ‘Sometimes I ride my bike to nowhere, to see nothing, just so I can ride my bike.’  Sometimes as I walk, I look down at the ground without seeing, and enjoy the sense of my body moving, feeling the air pressing by, and noticing the day heating or cooling my body, but all the while moving my feet one more step at a time. Walking just to walk. Being directly connected to the environment through which I am passing. Thrilling!

I suspect Phil’s sentiments also hold true for all manner of other athletes and sportspeople who push themselves outside their comfort zones, but love it despite the pain and go back for more.

The Santos Tour Down Under race will be held again next January in South Australia; information about the race and more about the video can be read at this link.

Shelter for the walk

6 Replies

In future months I will be sleeping out on a few nights when I head off from New Norfolk towards Lake St Clair trudging beside the Derwent River. In the past few days I have outlaid outlandish sums of money when I purchased the lightest sleeping bag and tent.  Collectively they weigh 1.99kg.  We all have our priorities and mine is clearly to walk to Lake St Clair with the minimum of discomfort.  For others who might follow in my footsteps and expect to seek the lightest gear, as an example here is what I bought.

  1. The tent, a Marmot Force 1P, has a bright lime green shell supported by slim ‘Featherlite’ steel rods. In this one person tent I will be able to sit up (head zone is 91cm high), load the contents of my backpack at my feet (length less than 2 metres), and sit my backpack outside in the triangular vestibule.  It has a full coverage fly. The documentation with the tent indicates the package weighs 1.06kg.

20150802_173401 20150802_173814

Yes this is the tent set up in the comfort of my loungeroom!  It was a trial installation; first the tent and then the fly.

  1. The sleeping bag is a Mountain Design Ultra Tek 470 with a black 20 Denier shell, a vivacious orange coloured zip defining one edge and the inside of the bag is aflame with more brilliant orange fabric. Pertex Quantum is the windproof fabric used to reduce the weight without sacrificing strength and abrasion resistance. IApparently the fabric’s softness allows insulation in the sleeping bag to have more loft. A special feature is the water repellence of the 750 Duck Down Tek fill. The sleeping bag, including the stuff sack, weighs a mere 0.93kg.

Sleeping bags are temperature rated in 3 different measurements:

  • Comfort (C) is based on a standard adult woman having a comfortable night’s sleep
  • Limit (L) is based on the lowest temperature at which a standard adult male is deemed to be able to have a comfortable night’s sleep
  • Extreme (E) is a survival only rating for a standard adult woman

The temperature rating guide for my sleeping bag is C=1, L = -4, and E = -21 degrees.

20150802_171904

I still need to obtain one further comfort item; an inflatable mattress which weighs next to nothing.  More research required.

Food for the walk

6 Replies

I have been planning for overnight camps, which I will need to make when I continue walking into the wilderness along the Derwent River.  On many occasions, the highway, byways and back roads will be far distant from the River making it necessary to pack shelter and supplies for one and two overnight stops. I know I won’t be able to carry much weight and so all things feather light are being researched and sought.

As part of my preparation, recently I purchased an Ezidri food drier.

Ezidri Ezidri mesh layer Ezidri ordinary layerDried food

Over time I have sliced spring onions, carrots, beetroot, capsicum, garlic, leaves of silver beet and mushrooms, and reduced them to tiny dry twigs and flakes. In addition, I have dried pulled slivers of precooked chicken legs and turkey mince.  During the process four bananas were sliced and dried. Can you identify all the shrivelled remains in the glass jars above?

Yesterday I experimented with reconstituting some of these foods and making a meal – albeit on my kitchen stove top.

Firstly, I added a small portion of all the vegetables plus a small quantity of the turkey mince into a small zip lock bag.  Then I sprinkled a little cayenne pepper, ground a few fresh back pepper corns and sea salt crystals, and added a small teaspoon of chicken flavoured powdered stock into the zip lock bag.  After closing the bag I shook it to mix the ingredients.  Into my billy I poured these dry contents and then added a 600ml bottle of cold water.

I was curious to learn how long it would take for the meat and vegetables to swell and soften.  After 15 minutes I could see that full reconstitution had not occurred. However, I was bored with waiting and I imagined that in the bush I would be ravenously hungry.  For the sake of the home experiment, I decanted the ingredients into a normal saucepan and cooked the meal on my kitchen stove top for 10 minutes.

I am delighted to say this was one of the best tasting meals I have had in a long time.  The liquid was gloriously coloured by the beetroot and despite many of the vegetables not being fully reconstituted, all the food was soft and full of original flavour.

When still in the zip top bag before cooking, I weighed the meal: only 100grams.  This low weight is very encouraging. My next experiment will be to cook a meal using the dried chicken. I can only imagine that should be equally successful.  But more research required.

Searching for my place in history

10 Replies

When I talk with strangers about my project to walk from the mouth to the source of the Derwent River, people often ask why. I trot out a range of reasons but, in truth, it is never clear to me at a deep level why I am making this walk.

My experiences over the past few days have given me new insights.

Earlier this year I began immersing myself in family history searches, with the view to knowing something of family members who were born and had died before me.

When I realised that the 150th anniversary of arrival in Melbourne Australia from England of the first family with my surname, from which I am a directly descended, will occur next year (2016), I decided to find and see where they lived in Victoria. Last Friday, I walked the Melbourne suburban streets of Carlton and the areas governed by the Boroondara City Council in Hawthorn of Glenferrie, Auburn, Deepdene, Kew and Camberwell.

I found all the streets in which my great great grandfather lived, however his houses have been replaced with various vintages of newer architecture. The landscape was changing while he lived in Melbourne when massive land sale and building booms wiped away acres of farmlands. And, of course, since he died in 1889 ‘development’ has progressed.  Nevertheless, because homes built in the 1880s still exist with their facades intact, I developed some understanding of what an original streetscape might have looked like during that decade.  Unfortunately late 1860s and 1870s buildings are no longer in evidence.

Throughout my-day long walk, I felt very much attached to the areas where he lived. A weird sense of belonging.  Albeit transient. And I was profoundly happy that in every street, one or more magpies warbled as they watched my progress.

My father’s family home, located in rural central Victoria, has always been special to me. It was during my early childhood visits that the music of the magpies perched on trees above nearby gold-mine slag-heaps, caught my attention. I have loved their intelligence and beauty ever since. Therefore, I should have not been surprised when I made a trip to the family home on Saturday and the wonderful sounds of magpies made me weep.  It seems the melodic notes of these black and white beauties provide me with a marker of family places, and also to other places where I gain so much pleasure.

Throughout my blog postings following the walking stages along the Derwent River, I have recorded my observation of magpies, and my delight in their song.  Rarely do magpies fly through my part of suburbia, so now I realise that part of my purpose for walking the Derwent is to hear the glorious communications of magpies. I guess it is my way of finding my place, as I make my own history – which becomes part of my family history.

The Comfort of Water – a River Pilgrimage

2 Replies

Maya Ward’s story of walking from the mouth to the source of the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia (The Comfort of Water – a River Pilgrimage, Transit Lounge Publishing, Yarraville, Australia) was published in 2011. Maya Ward says, ‘There were many reasons to start where the river meets the sea. We knew where the sea was, but we didn’t know the location of the source, so we needed to follow the Yarra to find it. We’d start from where we live and what we knew to walk into the unknown.’

The Comfort of Water book cover

This was a continuous walk over three weeks made with a changing collection of friends, backed by a support crew, and with an assortment of accommodation pre-arranged for the end of the each day.  Maya Ward undertook preparation prior to departure to the extent most of the landowners along the length of the River were contacted for permission to walk across their land.

The two main themes of the walk, and therefore the book, were the environment and indigenous practices and history (Birrarung in the Wurundjeri language).  Intertwined, were the author’s personal reflections and philosophy as well as some of her life story in which she seemed devoted to cultural and ecological political activism at a community level.

From time to time, the author offered simple ideas which I found very attractive. For example, ‘I liked the wind – it stopped us talking.’ … ‘A story is like the wind – it comes from a far off place, and we feel for it.  So says the Kalahari Bushmen …’, ‘Grandma knew, I think, of the comfort and the intimacy to be found among trees.’, and ‘The watching is just the start of something.’

I am pleased to have discovered this book because Maya Ward’s approach has made me consider that the history of Tasmanian indigenous peoples has not been evident in my posts during my walk along the Derwent River. In fact, I have been remarkably ignorant of the nature and practices of the original inhabitants prior to European settlement on the edge of Tasmania’s Derwent River in 1803. I am now interested to know more and it occurs to me that blog readers might also be curious.  To rectify this gap in my knowledge, I have set myself a new project (I do like projects) to find out if I can discover information relevant to the Derwent River that is reliable and authentic.

Bear Grylls guidance

2 Replies

Barely a newspaper or magazine doesn’t publish a story about Bear Grylls, so it seemed only reasonable that I find a way to incorporate him into this blog. His is a life of extreme adventures and fighting for survival in tough environments, so a peaceful walk along a placid river seems a long way from his favoured pursuits.  And none are documented.  However, it is Bear Grylls guidelines for daily life which are useful for me to recall even if the going is easy.  Some of these ideas are recorded below.

  • Make the first step – that should empower you to take more steps. ‘There’s great power in just beginning and committing to action, even when you don’t feel like it.’
  • Challenge yourself – ‘I believe we are like grapes and it is only when we are squeezed that we can see what we are really made of.’
  • Try something you’re afraid of – ‘My Dad inspired me not to be afraid to go for things and take a few risks.’ ‘Failure is never failure rather it is a stepping stone to success.’
  • Energise your day – ‘a little fresh air can do the world of good.’ ‘Almost all cities have some great iconic open spaces and parks. Use them.’

After reading this list, hopefully blog readers will be inspired to get out and about. I found another blogger at http://cdeanblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/derwent-river-flows-and-present-people.html referenced Bear Grylls when she faced her fears and descended the cliffs into the Blowhole at Blackmans Bay, located a few kilometres short of the mouth of the Derwent River near Hobart.  Good for her!

Reasons. Pleasure. Walking.

2 Replies

My world of blogging has allowed me to ‘meet’ fellow bloggers with all their different projects, ideas, aspirations and enthusiasms. Today’s posting in the blog titled ‘100 years walking’ expresses so vividly the reasons for walking in a posting titled ‘Why do you do it to yourself?’

I felt sheer joy reading it.

Please read the post at: https://100yearswalking.wordpress.com/  To access the story click on the top left photo which is headed with the title I gave above. Then sink back into the photos and the theme, and enjoy.  Perhaps even be motivated to get out and go somewhere: around your block, around your town, or further afield.

Walking Home-the Pennine Way

Leave a reply

During Tasmania’s current winter days I am using my time to read books with a travel theme, and mostly those involving a significant walk.  These books both inform and inspire me so that I eagerly look forward to the warmer spring weather when I will be able to continue walking to the source of the Derwent River.

I am thankful some local followers of my blog have alerted me to titles and, in some cases, loaned me their books. Thanks to Ma, my current read is Simon Armitage’s book Walking Home (Faber & Faber 2012).

Walking Home Simon Armitage

In this easy-to-read record, Armitage offers anecdotes and describes his reaction to the walk, the dramatic terrain, the endlessly misty, ferociously windy and inclement weather, the people who walked with him on occasion, the animals, and much more. Through his very entertaining writing style I have come to understand the 256 mile long Pennine Way in England via each step he took as he tramped from the northern to the southern end during 19 days of continuous walking.

The logistics of this walk were well-researched and involved pre-arranged poetry readings each night when he reached each day’s destination in villages, farm cottages, churches, people’s houses, hotels and all manner of other buildings. One of his dry unused walking socks was handed around at the end of each reading and the audience was asked to contribute funds. Simon set out to survive only on the income he could generate in this way. He was so well received that around the journey’s half way point, his wife and daughter came and relieved him of a heavy weight of coins: at the same time they took away a load of very wet and muddy clothes.

I live in a part of the world where rain is not so common, and impenetrable mist is rarely a feature. By contrast, when in summer Simon Armitage walked the higher hills and ridges of the Pennine Way, they were often shrouded in mist and, when the tracks sometimes petered out Simon, would lose his way for a while, become thoroughly drenched and, while trying not to become demoralised, persist in finding his way even if unnecessary miles were covered.  This was an arduous adventure taken one step at a time and I felt a real sense of joy coming from the author as he met each challenge, and as the miles passed. He became both physically and mentally stronger.

Whether or not, you enjoy walking, if you like to be carried along by a book and feel an immense sense of pleasure from reading something which is well written, then add Walking Home to your wish list for reading material. This book made me laugh and certainly lifted my spirits.

Walking from Australia to London

2 Replies

I blinked and blinked again.  Walking from my home to London? How would this be possible?  Yes it will be possible … but in 100 – 200 million years’ time when continents reconnect with each other, according to a recent news story: http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/australia-on-path-to-join-uk-as-part-of-supercontinent-amasia/story-fnjwl2dr-1227331780435?sv=1e2848859e5b4afa30b76819882202f0&

I reflected that the Derwent River might no longer exist and its beautiful ribbon-like pathway through our landscape might only be remembered in the fault lines of rearranged rocks.

Considering the geological and weather upheavals likely during those intervening years, I imagine the footsteps of human kind will not even be a distant memory.  My guess is that the ant and cockroach populations will have mutated strangely and may be the only lively fauna roaming the planet. If water remains on the Earth then possibly some creatures who can survive in highly acid waters may be in the ascendancy in some regions.

It is rather strange to sit here tapping on my computer and to consider that not only do I expect the human race to become extinct, but all the artefacts of mankind will be obliterated over the millennia.  Having held a career in the museology industry for much of my professional life, I retain the urge to collect and conserve the artefacts of our histories. Nevertheless, these collections and preservations will probably only be valued for a few more hundreds or thousands of years.

On this basis it seems that walking and discovering what we have around us is a much more worthwhile thing to do – at least at the personal level. In an earlier posting I referred followers to the blogsite of a man who took 11 years to walk around the world. Even if I should set myself a similarly outlandish goal, it won’t be possible now to walk from home to London in my lifetime except by using some water or air based technology to move from land to land. What a small dream this is in relation to the expanse of the history of the universe.  But then, humans are not so great when compared to the scale of the universe.