Marathon line up for Manly marathon walk with loony interludes

I led my third annual 42.2km marathon walk yesterday. This time there were ten of us, double the usual number of intrepid starters. I think I'm well and truly vindicated in putting these events on, originally in response to a comment by a new member of the bushwalking club, about not needing our walk grading system to cover anything over 25km, as we never walked those sorts of distances.

The good turnout was largely due to the location and terrain I'd chosen this time: all harbourside, often spectacular scenery, and no big hills or difficult bush tracks. We started at Manly (with most of us enjoying the ferry ride from Circular Quay first), polished off the Manly to the Spit walk in the first two hours, then proceded generally westward along the harbour foreshore, following bush tracks, streets and beaches, round all the headlands and bays. We lunched on the beach at Bradleys Head, then continued our circuitous perambulations, eventually passing under the Harbour Bridge at Milsons Point, then on like this to Balls Head, and north to our destination, which turned out to be St Leonards station (and pub!)

Sights and experiences included:

* hundreds of runners and kayakers doing a 20/20 race event

* a huge cruise liner cruising perilously close to our lunchtime beach

* historic fortifications still keeping Sydney safe after centuries on duty against French, Russian and Japanese invaders

* the modest but tasteful Sydney residences of our Prime Minister and Governor General. (Neither lady invited us in for afternoon tea though.)
* Luna Park, doing a roaring (and screaming) trade, and welcoming even us smelly bushwalkers

* the recently restored historic coal loader at Balls Head, from where coal from Hunter Valley coal mines used to be exported, and where you can walk through an eerie 200m tunnel

* the dismantling of the stage for the Harbour Bridge's 80th birthday celebrations held during the day

* the somewhat painful looking gait of one or two walkers towards the end, due to blisters, cuts, and newly discovered mortality.

Thanks to them all for fine company and an excellent day.

N

Photo credit (last picture): Helen