Northern Beaches Hill Fest

Hard work today. In many ways the wetter conditions made the ride more tiring than last time.

The day started a little later than originally planned with just Jos and myself riding. Started off with a run down to the Cascades and up the other side, then back into Cascades and up to St Ives. Drop down along Warrimoo and back. Then off to Wildflower Garden before heading up along the sniggle that runs from the Pistol Club along side Mona Vale Road. Noticed that the sniggle is a continuation, perhaps it can be accessed from the showgrounds? Drop down onto Rylands and then onto North To Sandy and the slog up out of the ravine and into Duffys. The first signs of fatigue starting to show now, so soon? Headed down through Duffys to the sound of gunshot and had quite a scary moment passing through seeing Roo's running for their lives. A quick look on Google Maps uncovers a shooting range, and not what we thought was some gun-toting red-necks fired up on a Roo hunt. The ride up to the end of Long Trail was pretty uneventful, except for nearly rolling over a Goanna on the otherside of a water bar. Thankfully he slinked off into the bush. The ride back down things started to get more interesting. The weather took a turn, thunder and lightning, all pretty cool, then came the rain, and the rain, and then more rain. Perimeter trail became messy and we were soaked to the core. Tired, wet and feeling pretty beaten we headed back down Mona Vale Rd and The Forestway in absolute appalling conditions back to the car. So still yet to fully complete the ride as originally intended.