Wet Socks

Meh, not such an interesting day, walking with wet socks through too much farmland on the Lavender Federation Trail

Pyms Rd to Tungkillo

A 4.45am alarm. Beep-beep--beep-beep. A nasty noise, I'm sure you'll agree. I hiked today, like last Sunday, with Graham and Steve. They're both nuts, this can't be disputed. I already knew this before agreeing to walk some of the Lavender Federation Trail with them. Last week, we met on the freeway at 6am. I was smart that time, I helped Tim and Kate with their kitchen on Saturday, and slept over at their house in Nairne, so I could get up at reasonable time. The early start was allegedly to avoid the heat of the day. However, neither day got hot, and it rained on both days (although was not cold).

So I planned to walk a third day with them too, which would finish the trail in Springton, the current end of the trail (the trail currently starts in Murray Bridge, and is planned to finish in Clare, a distance of some 550km). Anyway, yep, that third day, meeting at 5.30 am in the morning on a pretty average hike, nah, I'll skip that thanks. I'll do it with the Friends of the Heysen Trail when they walk this section on 3 August.



Yeah so today included some spectacular views from Mt Beevor, definitely the highlight of this section. Although... starting so early... there perhaps wasn't as much to see as the sign claimed. Beyond that to Tungkillo the trail was very much average, just farmland and fences. Although a quick tip for you, don't dress up in your favourite hay-bale costume, the cows will charge after you. Ok so I don't have a hay-bale costume, it's true, but that bright yellow backpack rain cover certainly attracted some unwanted interest - thankfully we were all armed with trekking poles. Otherwise I don't think I would be here to type this now... those cows were menancing.



We had lunch near a creek, quite nice. A bit of a surprise. And we argued about how come we had already walked some 22km or so, and how come the walk was only meant to be 23km yet the car was still at least 7km away.



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Stats:

• Distance: 29km
  
• Start time: 6.50am
  
• End time: 1.22pm
  
• Moving duration: 5h 31m
  
• Stationary duration: 1h 01m
  
• Moving average: 5.2km/h
  
• Overall average: 4.4km/h
  

Rainbow in a Sunrise

I've never seen a rainbow in a sunrise before. It was beautiful. Though I'm ashamed to admit it didn't occur to me it would rain.

Preamimma Mines to Pyms Road
Lavender Federation Trail

And rain it did. For the record though, the four of us walkers - Graham, Steve and Krystina - not one of us expected rain in early January. The weather forecast didn't include rain, so none of us had even the most basic rain protection. Thankfully, it wasn't very cold. And of course, by the time we finished and were driving back in the car, it was bright and sunny. As expected.



I think this is my favourite section of the Lavender Federation Trail. The first two sections I did, were ok, not great (Murray Bridge to Monarto, Monarto to Preamimma Mine).



Lots of water around too, which was a nice surprise. And lots of rocks too. Pity to see so much moss rock mining occuring, the pot-marked landscape wasn't so great to see.



View photos as full screen slideshow



Stats:

• Distance: 23.5km
  
• Start time: 7.20am
  
• End time: 12:51pm
  
• Moving duration: 4h 27m
  
• Stationary duration: 1h 04m
  
• Moving average: 5.3km/h
  
• Overall average: 4.2km/h
  
• Max speed: 11.9km/h