by John New
About 16 people and 13 beagles came along to this brand new walk around Cremorne Point to Mosman Wharf. Before the walk started, we had a group photograph and two Sniffing Around Sydney Walkers awards were presented - to Matt and Monique Bownas (with Buddy and Elly) and to Norman and Diana Parris (with Rosie) for supporting the walks and Christmas in July at Cootamundra. It was also very nice to see a few newcomers on this walk, including one lovely puppy named Omo.
This is clearly a very popular walk, considering the number of non-beagles who walked by as we gathered at our meeting point. Just as we were starting off, one dog walked by and set off a tremendous amount of very loud beagle baying and barking. This continued for a while as the beagles tracked the dog's scent down the path.
We followed the path to Cremorne Point where we stopped to take in the lovely view of Sydney Harbour. Along the way, quite a few people paused to admire the beagles, and a few even took photographs. The beagles usually get a few amazed looks on our walks but they seemed to get more than usual during this walk. Not sure why, perhaps there aren't so many beagles in the area.
We continued around to Mosman Wharf, our half-way point. It was a lovely sunny day, but very humid, so it was nice to get to the wharf to have a short rest and to buy something cool from the shop at the wharf. One beagle was very fortunate when an ice-block fell to the ground and she was able to lick it all up!
One nice feature of this walk is that it has a shortcut back to the start. Being the first day of daylight saving time (with an hour less) most of us decided to take the shortcut. After a short climb up some steep steps and a hilly road we were back near the start of the walk. This meant that the second part of the walk was very quick.
This was a particularly enjoyable walk, with a group of very friendly beagles and Sydney Sniffers, and a lovely view around the harbour foreshore. We'll certainly do this walk again. Hope to see you at the next one.