I had Sally’s Ride in my diary for Sunday, so headed up North today, planning to do the last section of the trail I hand’t previously completed up this way: Caves Track from near Bracknell up to the top of the Tiers near Poatina.
I bypassed this section when I cycled the Tasmanian Trail all those years ago, as the guide recommended against it for cyclists, and after having just walked it I would have to say that the top half, from the Caves upwards, would be a long slow nightmare of pushing if you had a fully laden bike, but I will also say that it was a beautiful walk and if I were at Bracknell deciding which way to go … well if I was feeling fresh, or had an unladen bike, I’d go this way every time.
The trail was pretty easy to follow, though there were one or two junctions where I had a moments hesitation about which way to go.
Here’s a bit of a photographic essay of my little walk. It took about 4 hours return from the end of the road.
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| Starting out … the ford would be a better option, but I couldn’t resist the bridge. |
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| The hills to come … |
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| Heading up alongside paddocks. |
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| Pretty flowers. |
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| Spring’s such a great time to go walking. |
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| Entering the lower slopes, open bushland, great walking (and riding) |
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| Track passes through some lovely wet forest areas as well. |
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| Getting near the caves. |
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| The caves, really just a sheltering overhang. |
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| Gulp. |
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| This is typical upper track, rough, rocky and steep. |
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| Return journey, sheltering from rain in cave. |
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| Everything’s soaked now. |
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| The end. |
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