Keith and Chris had organised a walk from Wisemans Ferry up Devines Hill on the Old Great North Road. The party, as well as Keith and Chris was Rosie, Bob and myself.
The meeting time at Wisemans Ferry was 12 noon. I was heading up with Bob so we decided to leave early and visit some Aboriginal sites close to the Wisemens Ferry Road. We visited two sites and they both featured engravings – and they were both very good. Here is some art from the first site –
And some art from the second site –
At Wisemans Ferry, we parked on the south side of the river and met up with the others.
We then travelled over the Hawkesbury River on the ferry and walked to the start of the road up Devines Hill. We then walked up the gentle slope of what used to be the Great North Road. I had been up this hill many times before on mountain bike trips, but it was good to walk up slowly and read all the signs and take in a bit of the history.
A lot of hard work went into building this road. There are quite a few places where rock would have been blasted out, and other places where extensive stonework has been put in place. Chris knew a lot of this history very well and kept us informed as we ascended. We also enjoyed good views of the river below.
Along the way we spotted a nice Yellow-tufted Honeyeater.
At the top of Devines Hill, we decide to make the walk circuit and descend via Finches Line. This follows the route the actual first way the Great North Road was built. But after it was constructed, the work was inspected by Governor Darling, and he declared that it was too steep with bends too sharp, so work was commenced on the Devines Hill alternative.
Finches Line does however offer far better views than Devines Hill. There are several great vantage points along the way.
The last part is quite steep –
At the bottom, we had to walk a kilometre or two along the Spencer Road to get back to the Ferry.
This was a very pleasant day out with some old bushwalking mates. Thanks to Keith and Chris for organising it and suggesting the route.