The Great North Walk/Run

Another weekend meant another long run......I would have been happy to skip it, but when your sometime running buddy is training for an epic rough 100K trail race, then it would seem churlish not to go along and join in.

 This week's plan was an out and back route along the Great North Walk (which runs, in its entirety, between Sydney and Newcastle). I have walked sections of it (but not the section we were going to "run") and "gnarly" can definitely be rather an understatement at times, especially if you're not blessed with excessively long strong legs for clambering up and down large steps/rocks!

Things to come...not bad...

Having left Sydney at silly o'clock again, we parked at Girrakool, donned headtorches and set off on the trail down towards Patonga (I do know the beach at Patonga....and the sign saying that it was about 24km away didn't make it sound too horrendous). The first hundred metres or so were down a nice runnable trail, but that's about where the "easy" part ended. We had a very steep descent down to a creek complete with pools and waterfalls (though I couldn't see them in the dark) and I was warned about the fact that as we were going out and back, we'd have to climb all the way back up again later.....eek! 

Loving the dawn light...

Every so often we'd stop the crazy rough descent and I'd think we'd reached runnable trail, but then just as you started to move at a decent pace, something would break your stride such as rocks or trees so there was no way of getting into a rhythm. There were stepping stones to cross the creek but it didn't exactly flatten out there, as we then had to climb up and down on the singletrack at the far side. I didn't think we were moving that slowly but it took us almost an hour to cover the first 5K (but on a positive note, it meant that I had time to digest the bananas etc that I was munching on!).

Runnable rock platforms

I was starting to wonder exactly how long the whole "run" would take, not just because of the time spent so far and the roughness of the terrain, but I was also finding it rather hard work, as I'm definitely more of an easy runner and so my quads weren't exactly over the moon at the work they were putting in and I was feeling rather tired already. Thankfully we had a few nice runnable sections of firetrail interspersed with more rough narrow singletrack, and I did really like running across some of the open rock platforms looking for the GNW fingerposts which which reflect back the beam of our headtorches.

Typical "trail"!!

Unfortunately we missed an important turning so added on another mile or so before realising we'd descended way too far on a fire trail, and so (thank heavens for google maps) about turned and marched back up to the correct route. By this time it was getting light and so there were lovely views of Woy Woy tip (!) as we wound down past it, but to be fair the trails afterwards were rather pretty in the morning light. 

Not bad views in the
early morning light

After crossing the main Patonga road (well the only road in and out of Patonga in fact) we had another flat section of firetrail befroe climbing up and down steps to Warrah Trig. From here on and down the steep singletrack to the sea, we actually started to see other people getting out and about for their weekend activities. Unfortunately there were no amazing views (it's whale migration season so i secretly hoped to spot some from Warrah Lookout) as the early morning mist we'd driven up through had not lifted from the coast so it was a rather eerie atmosphere. My body and mind were definitely not in tune with what I was making them do, as I really felt that I should be stopping once I got to Patonga (maybe that's because I've heard a lot about races on the GNW that start and finish there) rather than turning round and going back the way we'd come.

However, after a brief break in which I had a drink and ate several of my homemade choc chip cookies I found I had a bit more energy once we'd started climbing back up - it's funny, no matter how many times I go running, I always forget that I need to eat before most other people as otherwise I just feel as if I'm tired and need to stop, whereas all I need is to put more calories in the tank! 

Some of the big steps/rocks
to clamber up!

Loving the rock platforms

I hardly recognised the route back as it was now daylight and so I could see both the trails and some of the beautiful views (especially when running back cross all those rock platforms). I made sure that I ate and drank regularly on this return leg, and the distance did seem to pass more quickly (though I was no better at climbing up and down the massive steps/rocks!). Thinking back to how we'd started, I was almost dreading the final 5km but it was actually only really the last 2K back up from the creek that were horrendous (taking about half an hour!) though I did try to smile and be chatty as we passed families out walking in both directions. 

The final out and back route

There was an option of refueling at the car and then going for another 15K out and back in the opposite direction, and although I could probably have managed to carry on for a bit, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour....50+Kms was definitely enough for me (as it had taken about 8 hours) so if I attempted another 30, I would just regret it as it would not be enjoyable and I'd probably end up injured and grumpy, so I told my friend that unfortunately from there on in, he was on his own! I was very happy to sit by the car, eat and drink, and then go down to my rellies for a shower, chill and wine o'clock...pleasantly tired but with a lot more climbing in my poor wee longsuffering legs!