Riding Around The Block

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Dave Noble

Now that the daylight hours are lengthening, its good to go for a late afternoon/early evening ride around the “block”. For me that is a ride out along the Cooks River Cycleway and then to Homebush Bay and a loop around the Bay from Silverwater Bridge to Moorbank. This loop is about 50km and is generally a very pleasant ride.

This evening when I was on the way home, I noticed that the M4 Motorway was converted into a long, thin parking lot. All I could see was stationary cars stretching far into the distance. This often seems to be the situation in the late afternoon. It certainly is a graphic case for more and better public transport and more people on bikes.

M4 - Looking west

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MTB Ride at Kentlyn

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Dave Noble

It was forecast to be a wet weekend – but the weather was not too bad and on Saturday evening Chris called up and suggested a ride at Mt Annan Botanic Gardens for Sunday with him and Clare. It sounded like a good plan. On Sunday morning we set off for Mt Annan, but as we arrived we found the track closed. It was too wet. I didn’t think of checking their Facebook page for track updates – something we should have done. But it is not too far to go from there to Kentlyn to the trails off Boronia Rd.

We set off on the main loop – which was relatively dry, and then did a circuit of Bob’s track, which is a 5km loop near the carpark. It was a good day to be in the bush.


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Grose River Walk

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Dave Noble

Last weekend I did a nice walk from Mt Victoria to Blackheath via the Grose Valley. This is a relatively easy and quite delightful walk that can be done utilising public transport.

View from Victoria Falls Lookout

I caught a train to Mt Victoria and then walked a short distance back down the Great Western Highway to the turnoff to Victoria Falls. Then it was a 5km fire-trail bash to the lookout and then a descent to Victoria Falls. The lookout offers a fine view, and would be a good place to camp. The falls are also impressive but what I found very pleasant were some small cascades not far downstream. The camera came out and I spent some time photo-pfaffing. Continue reading →

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The Caves of Narrow Neck

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Dave Noble

In the literature, both in books and online, a lot has been written on the many passes of Narrow Neck. I was wondering how many know about the caves found on the Plateau? Narrow Neck is a peninsula shaped plateau jutting south from Katoomba that separates the Jamison and Megalong Valleys. For many years it has been a natural avenue for bushwalkers who want to venture south into the Wild Dog Mountains and Coxs River country. It is called Narrow Neck because it has a narrow isthmus near the start that connects it to the main Katoomba Plateau and another thin section about half way along – the so called “Second Neck”.

Mt Solitary from The Second Neck of Narrow Neck

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Climbing at The Cathedral

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Dave Noble

The Cathedral is a crag located near the Woronora River in the Shire. The closest town is Bangor. I had previously been to the small but very fine crag at Bangor (known as “Bangor West). This was the first time anyone in our party had been to The Cathedral. Details if the location of the crag and the climbing routes are best found on the Sydney Rockies new online guide – and click here for The Cathedral.

I was climbing with Su Li and Albert. It was a quite warm winter day and we had a nice time on the climbs.

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Indoor Climbing

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Dave Noble

If you live in a city – then a good activity during the weekday evenings is indoor climbing. I am fortunate to live close to the Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym at St Peters. It is an excellent place to go for some exercise, some bouldering and also of course some climbing. It is also a good place to catch up with friends to see what they have been doing and a place to make plans for trips on the coming weekend.

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Wild Blue Mountains Calendar 2012

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Dave Noble

For nice images of the wild parts of the Blue Mountains – may I suggest Ian Brown’s calendar. His 2012 calendar will be available mid August. You should be able to get details from his website – www.windycliff.com.au. At the time of writing – there was no information about the 2012 calendar – but it has how to contact Ian. Cost is $35 for one, cheaper if you buy more. It is large format in size and very well printed and produced.

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A Solitary Walk

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Dave Noble

Mt Solitary borders the south side of the Jamison Valley. It is an easy bushwalk – and can be traversed both as a daywalk and a weekend walk. There are four passes onto the mountain – two are well known and well frequented – the other two are lesser known. More on these later.

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Yopyop

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Dave Noble

“Yopyop” was the name that, according to a story, either Olegas Truchanus or Reg Williams gave to the Southern Spur of the Prince Of Wales Range in Tasmania. Chris Cosgrove of SUBW tells this story –

At the southern extremity of the ridge ahead of us rose the evil dark green shape of Mt Yopyop. It was named by Olegas Truchanas after a Lithuanian swear word which was reputedly quite obscene but whose meaning was carefully kept secret by Olegas’ friends. Tragically, Olegas was drowned in the Gordon River while we were doing this trip, and the mountain has since been officially renamed Mt Olegas.

I have been along the Southern Spur on two trips, one in 1977 and one in 1981. Both were tough walks. The first one was the last part of a long trip from the Lyell Highway to Strathgordon via the King William Range and then the Spires and then finally down the Prince of Wales Range. I was joined on that trip by Ian Hickson and Peter Woof from SUBW.

Yopyop from the Hamilton Range

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Plastic Bottles!

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Dave Noble

Not too long ago, “The Onion” had a good headline –

How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?’ 30 Million People Wonder

What do you think? This afternoon was a nice time to ride home from work and there was some nice light near the Alexandria Canal Cycleway where it goes past Sydney Airport. The week before – there had been a lot of rain and lots and lots of plastic bottles had washed down the canal. They were soon to enter Botany Bay. A shame!


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