Posted by Today was supposed to be a very easy paddle (less than 2km) across Lake Barrington to Forth Falls from where I hoped I would be able to join the walking track and explore the rest of the forth waterfall tiers on foot.
None of that happened.
Again, my ‘research’ was sadly lacking and I had assumed that the road section that I saw on my map just across from Forth Falls was the international rowing course, so that’s where I drove to. I unloaded the kayak on the boat ramp, and got all ready to launch then I started up the GAIA GPS App on my phone … and suddenly noticed that I was actually 7 kms further down the lake than I thought.
Doh.
Still, it was a nice sunny, calm day, so I turned on a podcast (the final every FontCast as it turned out!) and paddled across the rowing course and started to make my way back up the lake to the falls.
It was wonderful paddle, made interesting by all the weirdly shaped stumps along the bank. Before I knew it I was sitting off Forth Falls thinking this is a pretty special place.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any way to climb up the surrounding cliffs. There was a path with a rope on it just north of the falls, but there was no way for me to get out of my kayak to see where it went as the water directly below was very deep (my paddle disappeared below the surface without touching ground when I tested the depth) and I couldn’t actually get close enough to shore to reach the rope due to the way the rope was positioned between two rocks.
So, I decided I’d return on foot another day, and I continued up the lake as far as a little boat ramp, then crossed back over to where I thought I was originally launching (by this accompanied by friendly jet skis and jet boats) and then paddled back to where I launched from, but on the other side of the lake.
All up it was just over 14kms of paddling and took just over 2 hours.
Not a lot more to say really, but a nice way to spend a morning.