29 August 2021
Distance 22.7 km
After 3 days of glorious weather, the morning dawned misty and cold. Not unexpected really as it was still winter, although spring was on the horizon. Still we hauled out the warmer gear, including gloves. Fortunately it didn’t rain.
Today I was lucky to have Andrew for company – its definitely more fun when you can have a shared experience. Our starting point was at the junction of Busch and Julia roads (both unsealed), about half way between Marrabel and Tothill Gap, and we ran north to south. Despite it being my fourth consecutive running day, after some initial grumbling from the legs, I felt pretty good. Of course, our route went uphill immediately. As is tradition.
Our path then tracked along the base of Tothill Range for about 4 kms before turning left and climbing up and over the range. The trail here became quite rocky and steep and we had to concentrate on our footing, however the view from the top was worth it. There is a camp site here, with water available, but as it was pretty cold and windy, we only hung around to take a couple of snaps before heading off again.
After descending from the top of the range, we ran along a flat section next to a paddock of sheep, all of whom seem to take exception to our presence and despite the fence between us, ran about bleating madly. The sheep were all ages, so the cacophony of differing and loud bleat pitches sounded like the warming up of some bizarre orchestra.
Eventually (and thankfully) we left the sheep behind, and followed a series of unsealed roads to our finishing point in Marrabel. Ostensibly this part was downhill overall, however there were plenty of undulations that didn’t seem significant according to the map, but let me tell you there were a few rises that bit. The cracking headwind every time we faced west didn’t help. Only the last stretch along Tarnma Road was truly downhill.
A good 4 days running came to an end with the mandatory bakery stop on the way home.
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