4 January, 2007 14.5km | Easy On the way back from Coffs we stopped off at my Dads at Umina Beach for a few days. That gave me the opportunity to head up and over Mount Ettalong to Patonga and back. I ran the steep Patonga Drive past the Pearl Beach turn off and followed the steady climb through Brisbane Waters National Park. There were only a few cars to speak of at that time of the day, which allowed me to run on the road rather than the uneven shoulder. A glance at my watch revealed that I had been running up hill for over 25 mins before I got relief of any sort. It was starting to heat up a tad and the fuel belt was getting a work out big time. I reached Patonga in 50:45 and found the Great North Walk track at the south end of the beach. Kudos goes to the GNW100 guys who ran this goat track for a day or two. The climb from Patonga was mainly stairs cut into the dirt/rocks and it snaked its way up the mountain for about 2kms until it turns left towards Girrakool (sp) and I took the fire trail east to Pearl Beach. I gotta say that running down to Pearl Beach into the rain forest was a real pleasure. The canopy covered much of the trail and I came across a huge cave which soared at least 20m above the fire trail. Awsome stuff. Once in Pearl Beach I asked a few locals the way around the rocks to Umina and ran it around the headland. Actually I ran it QUICK because of the signs posted by Gosford Council announcing that I do so at my own peril as falling rocks will result in severe injury or death ! LOL. Happy Days. Mood: --->

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 06, 2007 at 3:43 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.