Ridge Walking Richmond

This blog has been a boring place of late, and, that ain't gonna change any time soon. We are both working a lot. Doug's work makes money, mine makes fun. He programmes, I search maps and plan trips. Both are equally important. Money is of little use if you don't use it for experiences. 

 If I never did trip research, we would never go places like this

Truthfully, we also haven't been getting out that much of late due to a combination of not so great weather and the degree to which driving repels us. The ocean kayaking, particularly around the Tasman Peninsula, is spectacular, but the minimum one hour drive (each way) and the fact that kayaking requires sitting, means that we are only up for a kayak trip about once per week.

Luckily, our house sit is nicely situated for wandering around the surrounding countryside simply by stepping out the door and I spend a couple of hours a day roaming about the hills above the house. The days are short, and I am mostly out at dawn and dusk so I have been treated to an endless series of stunning sunrises and sunsets. 

Campania sunset

Grinding away in the background of each day, however, is my novelty seeking brain which is always looking out for somewhere new to go that is also close by. A long open ridgeline south of Campania attracts my attention every time I drive to Sorell and really looked as if it would offer a very pleasant ramble with good views. On the map, this nine kilometre ridgeline is marked as “Richmond Urban Conservation Area” so, although bounded by farms in the valley, it seemed reasonable to take a walk along it. 

Nearby scenic walking

The most challenging part of this walk was finding somewhere to park off the narrow Tea Tree Road, but, we did eventually manage to pull off, and, leaping a dilapidated fence, we wandered up lightly timbered grassy slopes to the ridge. 

 Doug approaches the second trig point

This walk takes you over three named hills each with a trig station and involves about 600 metres of elevation gain. The views are really quite pleasant as you are up above the valley the entire way. You can see the broad spread of the Coal River as it widens out into Pittwater, the Derwent Valley lies off to the west, but the higher hills were obscured by clouds. From the final, and highest hill along the ridge, we could see the hills above our house-sit and it seemed a relatively simple matter, albeit involving many pastures and fences, to walk back to Campania. But, we had the car with us, so we wandered back along the ridge the way we had come. 

 Campania sunrise