Long Point to Walpole

It's not a small climb to the campsite with almost 200m of vertical distance to cover but with the promise of a dry shelter and a chance to dry off somewhat ahead of me I powered on. The campsite sign was a welcome relief and I arrived to find the place empty. Stripping off all my wet clothes apart from my pants, I hung it all up hoping (a fool's hope) that it would dry out. Waiting out the rain I eventually became quite cold so dug my thermal top out of my bag and paced around trying to keep warm. With 10km still to go it wasn't like I could just run into town (although the thought crossed my mind). In the end I packed everything up, put my wet gear back on ventured out into the rain. I left my wet socks on because I figured that a dry pair would quickly get soaked through anyway and so the sound and feeling of squelching was going to be with me all the way into Walpole. With my camera now in a dry sack deep within my pack, the photos you see are from when I hiked this section with my brother-in-law back in 2016. Passing the awe-inspiring Tingle trees around the Mount Clare summit, these giants of the forests brightened my mood a lot. Very rare and endemic to this region of the South West, they have claims on being the largest tree in the world, girth wise. The iconic bell shape at the base is a sight to behold and I wish I could have spent more time enjoying them. I skipped the side trail to the summit of Mount Clare because in this rain I wasn't going to get any views and I don't remember it being that fantastic in the first place. With nothing but downhill to go I set about powering down the track at a decent pace, figuring I'd be in town within a couple of hours. The pleasant forest leading all the way down the hill was lovely in the rain but my shoes felt like they were filled with water (they probably were).

I ticked off the John Rate Lookout and every little road crossing in my memory from my last trip until I was on the outskirts of town near the golf course. With the end in sight I crossed the lovely bridge over the Walpole River and joined the 4x4 track leading past all the holiday homes. With Walpole so close, this section seems to go on forever and my memory of it had it a lot shorter than this. I soldiered on in the rain and reached the bridge over the paperbark lined creek and rejoiced at the sound of cars from the nearby highway. I decided to take the proper route into town and cross the highway to finish at the Visitor Centre. I got several strange looks from people driving by as I must have looked like a crazy person to the casual traveller through town. I stopped at the bakery for something warm to fill my stomach to find they were out of vegetarian options. Figuring I would get dry and come back to find another option, I forgot that my accommodation at the YHA was at the other end of town and required a further walk in the pouring rain to get there. Given I was already drenched to the bone I sucked it up and was soon at the hostel. Turns out I was the only one staying there the night so put my wet boots in front of the fire and went off for a much needed and very welcome hot shower. With no spare pants I had to dry my hiking pants out a little before going into town and wouldn't you know it, the sun had come out finally. 

I eventually found a small café attached to the BP that had warm vegetarian food (a Turkish roll) so enjoyed that before checking out the dinner options for later on. Much to my disappointment, the place I had been dreaming of since the previous night, the Top Deck Café, was closed while the owner was on holiday. I headed down to the Visitor Centre and had a long chat with the man who worked there (Mike) and he said the best option would be the pub. Literally on the other side of town I hobbled down there a bit later to find the restaurant empty and only the regular bar flies in the main area. I ordered my dinner (spinach cannelloni and chips plus some garlic bread) and a wine and sat there all alone. After seeing good reviews in the log books I was a little disappointed. Being somewhat of a garlic bread connoisseur, this was pretty doughy bread with minimal garlic taste and the cannelloni just tasted like something they had reheated and whacked grated cheese on top. It was probably my fault for ordering it and not something like the veggie burger but it was an unsatisfying meal that I had built up as this reward for hiking through the rain all day for. I left pretty quickly and retreated back to the warmth of the fire at the YHA, catching up on the NBA Finals that I had missed while being out on the track. A very restful sleep was had that night and I departed on the bus for Northcliffe the following morning.