by John New
This walk along the Cooks River is arguably one of the nicest inner-city walks around - it was about four years ago that we last did it. This time our group had about 13 people and 11 beagles, a bit smaller than last time.
We met at Mackey Park, Marrickville, where we watched a soccer game while waiting for everyone to arrive. Then we set off along a cycleway running parallel to the Cooks River. It was very pleasant walking, with a brisk breeze and initially some light rain until the sun came out and warmed everything up. We passed by a number of other parks, and then crossed a road to Marrickville Public Golf Course (where you can walk dogs on-lead). We kept to the edge of the golf course next to the river, all the time watching out for golf balls. There was plenty of sniffing because of the wet grass - fortunately no-one fell into the water!.
We wound through the golf course, dodging golf carts. At one point, some ladies drove their golf cart up to us and took a few action pictures of the beagles. We crossed some more roads, and eventually arrived at one of the footbridges that span this section of the river. We crossed over the footbridge to the opposite side of the river (one of the beagles wasn't too happy with the bridge and had to be carried across!) and started making our way back. The last stage of the walk along the cycleway took us back to our starting point at Mackey Park.
To finish up, a few of us decided to sit down at a nearby picnic table and have some afternoon tea. A very enjoyable way to finish a really fun walk.
by John New
This circular walk was cancelled a couple of months ago because of poor weather, but this time the weather was perfect. About 25 humans plus 20 or so beagles gathered together at the start of the walk at Mackey Park, including some new club members on their first walk. Parking was hard to find nearby because the ovals where we met were being used for sport. There were lots of balls flying around - at one stage, an errant football landed on one of our beagles making her squeak.
We set off along a concrete path alongside the Cooks River. Naturally, there were plenty of other walkers and many cyclists who dodged us while we dodged them. We passed by a number of parks where numerous kids came over to give the beagles a pat. After crossing a road, we walked through Marrickville Public Golf Course (while watching out for golf balls).
After winding our way around the course, we soon met up with another concrete path that we followed to one of four footbridges that span this section of the river. We crossed over the footbridge to the opposite side of the river (one of the beagles wasn't too happy with the bridge and had to be carried across) and started making our way back. The first part of the return trip was grass, then a level concrete path. At one point a small boy was heard to say "Look at all the Snoopys". The last stage of the walk took us back to our starting point at Mackey Park.