On a Sunday morning in April 2016 I took my first steps on the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia in the belief that walking with a back pack was a simple process. I had an adventurous plan to walk from Kalamunda to Albany and believed that it was well within my existing capabilities. I was 72 years old at the time.
During that morning I made the rude discovery that walking was a bit more complicated than I had imagined. Instead of covering thirty kilometres in the first day, I got to the first Shelter some ten kilometres away. It was obvious that an enormous rethink was needed. Reconsideration has been a main ingredient of my walking experience for the past three years. Reviewing capacity and pace has being a constant task.
I went on to complete the Bibbulmun Track, becoming an “End to Ender” in 2017 after four attempts. Some 1004 kilometres. It took 58 days in all.
During the last three years I have walked on six Trails:
- the Bibbulmun (1004 kilometres),
- the Three Capes in Tasmania (42 kilometres),
- the Grampians Peaks Trail in Victoria (36 kilometres),
- the Overland Track in Tasmania (65 of the 82 Kilometres)
- the Goldfields Track in Victoria from Mount Bunninyong to Bendigo (200+ ks)
- I have walked 80 kilometres on the Larapinta Trail in 2018. (234 kilometres).
My writing tries to explain my motivation, the great experiences I have enjoyed and what I have learned as a “late bloomer” walking. I write as a rank amateur in the experience and the purpose of writing is simply to share those experiences. I am aware that some who read will be far more experienced in such matters and they might be tempted to offer all manner of advice. The purpose of this blog is simply to explore what it means to take on such tasks at a later age and to share some of the blunders and successes, the joys of discovery and the jangle of being spreadeagled on the ground rejoicing that the bones are still intact. And, in the midst of ones singularity of the bush there is the discovery of a community: the bush itself, its wildlife, fellow walkers and others who support you in towns or in the maintenance of the track and its safety.
Incomplete Trails, Meaningful Communities. 